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Hi again, everyone!
In accordance with all appearances, I had, in fact, disappeared from the face of the earth for several months. After flying my X-wing into uncharted galaxies, helping to bring truth, justice, and lots more truth to all who needed it, and fighting an intergalactic battle, I’ve finally returned.
I had a lot of time on my hands while flying into outer space. So I read Les Miserables, like every sensible pilot. And in case you couldn’t tell from the topic title, I want to talk about it. Primarily about Jean Valjean, who is just fantastic, but, in general, about the entire book and why it worked.
First of all… why did it work?
Am I just abnormal, that I decided to read a 1200-page novel for fun, and that it held my attention the whole way through? (If that’s the reason, I believe it.) I mean, Les Miserables flies in the face of everything we are taught as writers, like, “Start the action in the first sentence.” Hugo apparently never heard that one, judging by the fifty pages of description of the bishop before there’s any plot. And “Keep the action going. Don’t give us ten-page commentaries on Life in random places.” Or, “Don’t have a drunk guy perform a ten-page soliloquy.”
I think, though, that it was the characters who kept me reading.
So if you haven’t read the book, tune out now, and go read it. Because there are spoilers.
First of all: Jean Valjean. Let’s just talk about how great Jean Valjean is. Talk about a multi-dimensional character. Dude is a ex-convict and thief who becomes a mayor and then a father and then a lonely old man and then breaks your heart in the last couple of pages by dying. I mean, what a fantastic character! From the very beginning, his struggle to re-enter society captured my attention, and the Bishop is amazing, and how about that “paying-it-forward” with Valjean rescuing Fantine? (That was stream of consciousness. I apologize.) But we see this utter selflessness that draws us toward Valjean.
Secondly, I think it’s fantastic that Hugo chose to write about the underdogs. An unmarried mother who becomes a prostitute, an ex-convict, an abused child, an unwealthy dreamer, a street urchin, some rebels, etc. He really showed us “the miserable” as they are, and inspired my sympathy for the people in our society who are often overlooked.
Thirdly, how do y’all feel about Marius, Cosette, and Eponine? At first, Cosette was my favorite, and I wanted to keep her and make everything okay. And then she grew up and became a beauty and caught Marius’ attention, and at first I was happy for her because I remembered who she once was, but once I met Eponine, I stopped caring about Cosette as much.
As for Marius, I also liked him at first, but once he got to the state of “Too-infatuated-with-Cosette-to-even-deal-with-the-world,” I stopped caring as much. I would’ve been okay with him dying at the barricade, to be honest.
And Eponine… After Jean Valjean, Eponine was my favorite character, because she was so empty and I wanted her to succeed, but no one else cared about her. I really wanted Marius to fall in love with Eponine. But alas, it could not be. Anyone else of my opinion? Or is it just me?
And now, Javert. Best villain ever. (Feel free to dispute me on that one, because Gollum is pretty close, and there are probably lots of other epic villains out there.) I couldn’t actually hate him because he wasn’t evil. He misunderstood justice, thinking that there could be no mercy in Justice. Because Jean Valjean understood the nature of Christ, he was able to be well-rounded– justice and mercy. He was able to redeem Fantine, redeem Cosette, and redeem himself. But, because Javert could not understand redemption, he didn’t know what to do when shown mercy. I ended up just feeling really bad for him, because he could’ve been so much more, but he didn’t know how. But, again, he isn’t a one-dimensional character. All of Hugo’s characters are so deep.
Please tell me your thoughts on Les Miserables. Because I could go on all day… Thenardier, Gavroche (*sob*), Azelma, Enjorlas, Jean Valjean, Jean Valjean, Jean Valjean… but I want to hear what y’all have to say. Why did the book hold your attention? Should I rewrite the musical? (I want to. 🙂 But it’s not a super-serious consideration.) Who’s your favorite character, and why?YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com@his-instrument Why rewrite the musical. It’s great the way it is.
Er, yeah, let’s see. I’d pretty much agree. I do think Hugo should have cut down on some of his fluff, but the vast majority of it was great. I have some slightly different personal opinions, such I don’t think I liked Eponine quite that much and Javert’s only in the top five or so, not the very best, but I’m right on board most of the way.
What was your favorite scene from the book? Mine was when Jean Valjean went to reveal himself at the trial.
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What?! A Les Miserables thread? And dedicated to Jean Valjean no less!! Wow. So you love Jean Valjean as much as I do?
*long sigh* There’s too much! I feel the same as you with most of what you said, so I’ll not waste time repeating it. But first, Javert—I’m not entirely sure of my terminology, but I think he’d technically be considered an antagonist, not villain…I think Thenardier would be the villain. (One of the most despicable yet so well done villains I’ve ever read.)
But YES, he’s one of the most amazing villain/antagonist-y characters ever. He’s actually very near the top in my list of favorites, with his last chapter. You said:But, because Javert could not understand redemption, he didn’t know what to do when shown mercy.
Yes, he didn’t know how to cope with the mercy, from a CONVICT, in seeming contradiction of all he’d ever believed, so he ended his life. BUT NOT BEFORE RETURNING THE FAVOR! Even though he couldn’t understand, he knew deep down, in his just awakened conscience, that it was the right thing to show mercy back to J VJ. So he did it, and earned my undying respect, even though what he did to himself afterwards he shouldn’t have (to state it mildly). So I think there that he did understand redemption; he couldn’t quite understand it, but he found it was true. He discovered its wonder, even though he couldn’t understand it. That chapter was so. beautiful. With him finding his conscience, and that he had a heart, and that the law is not all! Uuuh, I love it. Yep, Javert’s…so. well. done.
ALL the characters are so well done, and multi-dimensional! Victor Hugo earned his place as genius up with Tolkien for me. For that and so many other aspects.
I’m trying to keep this post from being too abominably long, so I’ll hop in as other subjects unfold. I could go ON and ON about Les Mis so I have to stop somewhere. But my top favorite several characters are Jean Valjean (first and foremost no question about it—his extremely relatable struggles (even though I’ve never had any of his magnitude, I knew exactly what he was going through), and selflessness, and sweet, sweet everything!!! make him one of my top favorite characters in all literature I’ve read), then in an order I can’t quite decide, Javert, Enjolras, Gavroche, Courfeyrac, and Marius at times.
When I started this post no one else had posted yet, but it’s taken me a bit…if I repeat anything that’s been said while I was writing, my apologies. 😉
@His-Instrument Oh look! A Les Mis RANT THREAD! :’D
@EMMA-FLOURNOY GET OVER HERE NOW.*ahem* Love this topic. I could probably write a book about everything Les Mis did amazingly… you covered a lot of it. I’d also like to point out what a great job Hugo did of recycling characters— bringing them in again in all the most unexpected places and making it all work together thematically and plot-wise. And how practically everyone is everyone else’s foil— that’s some awesome stuff right there.
All the characters were amazing. Even (maybe even especially) the minor characters. My favorite after Valjean is Gavroche, then Javert, then Enjolras.I loved Cosette as a child, but as she grew she seemed to get a little shallower and I didn’t like her as much. Marius I loved in the way one loves any adorable anyone who takes themselves too seriously and causes a lot of trouble for themselves they could just avoid if they talked to people more (I’m one to talk XD)… I laughed at him so much, but I really did feel for him, poor guy. And Eponine I loved as well. I like the way it turned out though. Liked that Marius was faithful to Cosette, and that Eponine understood that, and Cosette got to be happy…
You’re right. The strength is in the characters. I confess I skipped the part that was a treatise on the history of the architecture of the sewers… *cough* and I did wonder a bit why all the details about the layout of the bishop’s house were necessary… *cough* But all in all the book was beautiful. It’s my favorite of the classical genre. (Sorry @Daeus *shrugs**smiles*).
Ha! Aaaand she already posted. 😀 I leave you in the hands of a dedicated fan, @His-Instrument. 😉
Yes @Kate-Flournoy, isn’t it wonderful. Rant threads are nice. *huge grin* I like ranting.
Oh and btw @His-Instrument, welcome back. 🙂 Glad you brought lots of truth to whatever galaxies you were in.
@kate-flournoy *GASP!* You can’t be a true Les Mis fan if you haven’t read about the sewers!
Yeah. Sure. Whatever. It’s still one of my favorites, so I can forgive you. Actually, you’re totally and 100% right, I’m just righter.
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@kate-flournoy, the sewer scene wasn’t actually too bad. Go read it. It’s not as long as the Battle of Waterloo thing. Which I read, but it went completely over my head, because I don’t know anything about Waterloo except what I learned in a Classical Conversations history sentence in fourth grade, and I only remember that because it was in a song. And I quote: “Napoleon Bonaparte of the French Empire was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by British General Wellington soon after the War of 1812 in the United States.” There it is, folks. That’s all I know.
Yeah, I loved Marius’ faithfulness to Cosette, and their purity in relationship (apart from the kissing that happened before they even got each others’ names). I mean, looking at it from the standpoint of my beliefs, I was like, “Cosette, talk to your dad about it. Cosette, don’t kiss him, you aren’t married. Marius, don’t kill yourself just because she moved. She’s not dead.” But they lived in a different time and a different place.
What blew me away was the way the law was respected. I mean, Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread, and what does he get? Hard labor. Fantine had a kid out of wedlock, and she got fired. If this was our modern day society, police officers would be like, “You stole a loaf of bread? Wow. Big deal. Pardon me while I go deal with a double-homicide.” Ya know?
@daeus, I have a couple favorite scenes. I did love the scene when Jean Valjean went to the trial. I also loved the scene where Marius was listening outside of the Thenardiers’ apartment and trying to decide whether to betray his father or his love. And I loved the part at the end where Thenardier tries to reveal to Marius the nature of Jean Valjean, and Marius is like, “Dude, I know,” and Thenardier ends up turning Marius back toward Jean Valjean rather than away from him. And call me weird, but the I love (and hate) Jean Valjean’s death, because it was so perfect but I loved his character so much. It was one of the rare books that I cried over, but I was so connected with the characters, especially Jean Valjean.Javert’s only in the top five or so, not the very best, but I’m right on board most of the way.
That’s right… Kylo Ren is your favorite. Okay, I forgive you for that, because Ren is pretty fantastic, too. Who are the other five? (Is Gollum on the list?)
And I only saw the high school version of the musical, sung by highschoolers whose voices hadn’t quite settled yet, and with that obnoxious background music that’s like– what– organ/guitar? Do you know what I’m talking about? The low-quality background-of-musicals music. Anyway, I love writing music, so I was like, “I’m gonna do it myself.” So maybe when I’m like 75 and have nothing else to do but sit around and rewrite Les Mis, I’ll indulge myself and do it.
@emma-flournoy, everything you said about Javert was perfect.
And Gavroche rocks, too. Except that all of his little ditties were in French in my book, so I had to get on Microsoft Word and translate them.
Guys, what about Fantine? What about the lullaby she sang for Cosette about buying fabric in the faubourgs? (Remember that one? That had a translation in my book, so I could read it in French and English.) Saddest lullaby I have ever heard. Poor Fantine! My family was a little confused during the couple of days when I would randomly say, “Ah! Fantine!” or “My poor little Cosette!”
Just curious, have any of you studied French? I’ve been trying to learn it using Rosetta Stone, but with life getting in the way, I have trouble finding time. But I feel like it helped when I read the book because every now and then I was like, “Hey! They just said buy in the midst of that long sentence of French that for some reason Charles Wilbour didn’t translate.”YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com@his-instrument. Oh, you did classical conversations? That’s neat. I was in it from 8-17.
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@daeus I was in it up until 6th grade, when our campus was too small to do a Challenge program and I didn’t feel like drawing maps anyways. 🙂 Can you still sing your history sentences? I still regularly sing the Christopher Columbus song whenever I feel like it. Honestly, my skip counting songs have been helping me on math tests for years. And my history sentences have provided the most lasting historical information in my brain. And doing presentations in class made me comfortable with public speaking. It was a great program.
YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.comA topic on Les Miserables!!! *glares at @emma-flournoy,* why didn’t you call me over here sooner. JK, (but seriously) 😉
First of all, I read this book probably about a year ago, but lately I have lived and breathed Les Miserables. (Pretty much literally.) (The character of Cosette is now in my bloodstream.) After just rolling off of four performances and hours upon hours of rehearsals, line memorization, and character work, I have come to an even deeper understanding of this beautiful and dramatic story. The themes of Grace vs. Law, redemption, love and innocence, are interwoven so well. The characters are so realistic and wonderful I and I have such a love for them, (especially Fantine and Jean Valjean.) I wish I had time right now to really write down all my thoughts because there are so many I have about this story and the characters. Maybe I should just write an article on Les Miserables… 😀
Theater kid. Currently depressed because I can't stop listening to sad musicals.
@his-instrument Well, if you got me started on them I bet I could remember the rest.
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@christi-eaton Wow! You’re Cosette in a production of Les Mis? Is it a musical or a play?
@Daeus English King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, limiting the king’s power. Later, England’s king… (finish the sentence) 🙂YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com@his-instrument Edward III claimed to be king of France and began the hundred year’s war in…1347.
Is that right?
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