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les miserables
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Setting France in the 1800's during the period of the Restoration. The major action is in Paris, but some episodes take place in neighboring towns. Major Characters Jean Valjean The ex-convict who had been imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. Primary protagonist. Setting France in the 1800's during the period of the Restoration. The major action is in Paris, but some episodes take place in neighboring towns. Major Characters Jean Valjean The ex-convict who had been imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. Primary protagonist. Monsiegneur Bienvenu The benevolent priest of the first book whose generosity and self sacrifice changes Valjean. Cosette The child of Fantine whom Valjean raises as his granddaughter. Javert The inspector of police who’s lifelong ambition is to put Valjean back behind bars. Marius College student and idealist who falls in love with Cosette. M. Gillenormand Grandfather of Marius. Representative of the old bourgeois . Thenardier The paragon of evil both in character and in representation of other negative forces. Minor Characters Fantine Cosette’s mother. Has Cosette during a relationship with a college student who leaves her without marrying her or providing for the child. Fantine is forced to leave Cosette with someone who will supposedly take care of her while Fantine works for her support. M. Fauchelevant An old gardener whom Valjean rescues when a cart falls on him. Later helps provide a place of refuge for Valjean and Cosette. Eponine Daughter to Thenardier. Enjolras College student-primary leader of the insurrection. His mistress is France Gavroche Son of Thenardier. Felix Tholomyes, Listolier, Fameuil, Blacheville Students Champmathieu Another convict who is captured and believed to be Valjean. Sister Simplice, Sister Perpetue The nuns who take care of Fantine. Colonel George Pontmercy Marius’ father. Conflict The novel contains multiple conflicts and subplots. The major conflict threaded through the book is between Valjean and Javert. Valjean has served his time and earned release from prison, but it is release with a yellow passport-meaning everywhere he goes, everyone from employers to landlords will know that he is an ex-con. This makes him suspect even when he is innocent of any wrong doing. Javert sees the law as an answer for everything, and no exception should be made regardless of how small the crime. The situation is complicated when Valjean takes upon himself the care of Cosette, as he feels responsible for the death of her mother. With Cosette, Valjean learns to love and the bitterness of the years of injustice melt away. He thinks of himself as a convict and makes no excuses; his only reason for hiding and avoiding Javert is to protect Cosette and his fatherly relationship with her. Additional minor conflicts occur between Marius and his Grandfather, between Marius and Valjean, and between Valjean and Thenardier. Book Fourth: Entrust is Sometimes to Abandon Fantine has been abandoned for nearly two years. She has sold all of her own finery, keeping only bear essentials in an attempt to care for her baby Cosette. She decides to return to her native town, called simply M-sur-m, but on the way she happens across Madame Thenardier who is sitting outside an inn with her own two children. The youngest child is the same age as Cosette and the children seem to play well together. The Thenardiers agree to keep Cosette for a monthly fee-which soon goes up-some additional expenses and her wardrobe. Fantine sends money faithfully, but as the child grows, the Thenardiers soon abuse and neglect Cosette, even to the point of using her as a slave. Fantine never knows her child’s true condition. Book Fifth: The Descent Upon returning to M sur m, Fantine finds her town greatly changed. An unknown man has changed the method of manufacturing a popular glass trinket (know as jet work) and has turned it into a highly profitable industry with jobs for many. The man is Jean Valjean. On the day he entered the town, a fire had broken out in one of the buildings. Valjean had rushed into the building and saved the lives of 2 daughters of one of the gendarmes (French police). He is consequently dubbed “Father Madeleine.” As Madeleine, Valjean does so much for the town, including the building of two new factories and additions to the hospital, that he is offered several different promotions. He refuses them all, but eventually has the title of Major all but forced on him. Major Madeleine continues doing good deeds in secret and spends time teaching the poor how to do things to make their lives easier. (Subsection IV) Valjean receives word of the death of Monseigneur Bienvenu and is seen in mourning. Thus people begin to assume that he was related to the Bishop somehow. Subsection V introduces Javert, the police inspector of M sur m. He is a man completely devoted to his duty under the law-or at least to his perception of his duty. He has no pity for any one who breaks the law, no matter how slight the offense. In his youth he was stationed in the galleys at Toulon. He is convinced that he knows Monsieur Mayor, but can’t place him. Madeleine gives away his true identity one day when he rescues an old man, Monsieur Fauchelevent who has fallen under his cart as it was sinking in the mud. When no one is available to lift the wagon, Madeleine crawls underneath and lifts the wagon on his back. Javert, who watches the episode, says that the only person he ever knew with the strength to lift such a wagon was a convict in the galleys. That convict was of course Valjean, but if Javert truly believes Madeleine is Valjean, he is unable to do anything about it. The entire town virtually worships Madeleine. (Subsections VIII-XII) Fantine enters M sur m and takes a job at the jet work factory. The job enables her to send money twice a month for Fantine. Her letters bring the suspicion of her co-workers who soon discover where her letters are going. Someone investigates the Thenardiers and discovers that Fantine has a child. The woman foreman, Madame Victurnien, fires her for lack of morals. Fantine takes a job mending shirts, living on nothing for herself, refusing even to light a fire for heat. When that is not enough, she sells her hair and teeth for money, then soon turns to prostitution. Her situation is made more desperate by the Thenardiers demands for additional money on the pretext that Cosette is sick. Finally Fantine gets arrested by Javert for attacking a dandy who threw a fistful of snow at her bare back-after several minutes of insulting and ridiculing her. Madeleine comes to the rescue and refuses to allow Javert to put her prison. Fantine mocks Madeleine’s generosity, blaming him for her condition in the first place. When Madeleine hears her story, he takes on the responsibility of providing her with sustenance and promises to get her and Cosette back together. Book Sixth: Javert M. Madeleine enlists the help of a couple of nuns to take care of Fantine. Meanwhile he tries to send for Cosette, but the Thenardiers only respond with continued demands for more money. Javert comes to Madeleine’s office and tries to resign as prefect of the police after confessing that he had written to the Prefecture of Police at Paris to denounce Madeleine as Jean Valjean. Meanwhile, another individual named Champmathieu has been arrested and identified by two other convicts as Jean Valjean. Madeleine refuses Javert’s resignation. Book Seventh: The Champmathieu Affair Madeleine is torn between going to find Cosette and going to Arras to speak up for the man who has been identified as him. He agonizes over the dilemma of revealing himself for the sake of a man whom he doesn’t know or continuing to hide his identity for his own sake as well as for the good of the people he is serving as mayor. The illness of Fantine enables him to decide for Cosette, but the candlesticks on his mantle cause him to change his mind again. In the end he heads for Arras in spite of numerous petty interruptions. Meanwhile, Fantine is near death but rallies a little at the promise of Cosette’s return. Madeleine arrives in Arras as the trial is underway and has to obtain entry into the court by means of a favor. There he proves to the court that he, and not Champmathieu, is Jean Valjean. He leaves the court to return to Fantine. Javert follows him and intrudes into the sick room. Book Eighth: Counter Stroke (Sections I-IV) Valjean returns to Fantine who asks again for Cosette. He tells her that Cosette is with him but that she, Fantine, is not yet well enough to see her. Fantine hallucinates when she hears a child laughing in the courtyard; she believes it is Cosette. Javert enters and speaks cruelly to Fantine as well as to Valjean. The shock of seeing the man who once tried to arrest her is the last straw for Fantine who goes into convulsions and dies. Valjean speak tenderly to her, arranges her head on the pillow, then gives himself up to Javert. (Section V) Valjean is placed in the city prison. Within two hours all of M sur m except for three or four loyal friends turn their backs on him, forgetting all the good he has done. He escapes from the prison by breaking a bar out of the window and returns to his room where he leaves instructions regarding the burial of Fantine, money to repay Petit Gervais, and packs up his own meager belongings (being particularly careful to wrap up the candlesticks) and hurries away. COSETTE Book First: Waterloo The narrator summarizes the story of the rise and fall of Napoleon. He describes the Plain of Waterloo, known at the time as the Plateau of Mont St. Jean. In June 1815, Napoleon was lined up for battle against the English, but heavy rain prevented him from moving his artillery until late in the day. This gave an advantage to the English who were able to hold out a bit longer although they were outnumbered. By 4:00 in the afternoon, the English were nearly beaten . Napoleon ordered his cavalry to move forward for an intended charge, but, unknown to him, the road of Owain, which he had to cross, had caved in under the heavy rain. This created a deep ravine into which horses and men tumbled until the ravine was full. The remaining calvary crossed literally on the bodies made of their own forces. This was the beginning of the end for Napoleon. Thus, according to the narrator, the defeat of Napoleon was at the hand of God rather than any army. The English infantry was badly decimated, but the delay caused by the rain allowed for the arrival of the Prussian reinforcements which created the turning point in the battle. We are brought back into the story at the point when the battle is over and marauders are looting the bodies. One looter happens to be Thenardier who spots a ring on a hand under the pile of dead cavalry men. The body is alive, so Thenardier pulls him out from under the pile. The fallen soldier thinks Thenardier has intentionally saved his life and, after giving his name as Pontmercy, promises that he will remember Thenardier. Book Second: The Ship Orion The story of Jean Valjean’s recapture is told. He was accused of being one of a band of armed robbers from the south and was condemned to death, but the king commuted the sentence to hard labor. The city of Montreuil-sur-mer along with the business Valjean had built up suffers economic collapse. Before being recaptured he was successful in hiding the profit he made from the factories; he buried the money in the ground in a secret spot in the woods. A common laborer named Boulatruelle sees him enter the woods and attempts to follow but loses him. Thereafter Boulatruelle takes every opportunity to dig holes in the forest in search of wealth he imagines is hidden there somewhere. 1823 is the time of the Spanish War. Valjean has been working on board the ship Orion which has been put into port for repairs. During the work, one of the sailors falls from the upper rigging and dangles above the sea by a rope. Valjean gets permission to rescue him, breaks the chain from his ankle with one blow of the hammer, and rescues the seaman. Immediately after, he appears to fall overboard himself and is presumed drowned Book Third: Fulfillment of the Promise to the Departed Montfermeil-at the Inn of the Thenardiers. It is Christmas evening. The Thenardiers are entertaining several men in their tavern. The three year old boy is crying in another room. Cosette sits on the crosspiece of the kitchen table knitting wool socks for the Thenardier children. She is in rags and wooden shoes herself. We receive an image of the Thenardiers. M. Thenardier is boss of the home even though his wife outweighs him and gives the appearance of having control. His primary goal is to get rich. One of the guests complains that his horse hasn’t been watered. Cosette is forced to go out into the black night to fetch water-a task requiring her to enter the woods carrying a heavy bucket. The Thenardiess gives Cosette a 15 sous piece, telling her to get a loaf of bread at the baker’s on the way back. Terrified of the night, but even more terrified of her mistress, Cosette goes after the water. She stops for a moment to admire a doll in one of the shopping booths but hurries on at a threat from Thenardiess. In the woods, Cosette reaches the spring and fills the bucket, but unknowingly drops the money in the spring. She is struggling to carry the heavy bucket back to town when a mysterious stranger lifts it away and carries it for her. The stranger is Valjean who goes to the inn with her and soon realizes her identity. He watches her all evening, defending her against the Thenardiess, replacing the missing piece of money that had slipped out of Cosette’s pocket into the spring, and even going out to the Christmas booth to buy the doll Cosette had admired. In the night, he wanders about the tavern, finding Cosette in a tattered bed in a hole under the stairs. The Thenardier girls’ shoes have been placed in anticipation before the fireplace, and Thenardiess has place a new 10 sous piece in the shoes of each of her own daughters. Valjean drops a gold louis in Cosette’s shoe. In the morning, after paying an outrageous sum for his room, Valjean gives Thenardier another 1500 francs for Cosette and takes her away. Book Fourth: The Old Gorbeau House Valjean and Cosette take up residence in an old dilapidated house near the old quarter of the horse market in Paris. There the two become happily content and attached to each other, having contact with none other than the landlady who does their cooking, cleaning and marketing. Valjean goes out walking sometimes in the evening and is occasionally handed a coin by some passerby who takes him for a beggar. When this happens, he finds someone else who actually is a beggar and gives the money away; thus he becomes known as “the beggar who gives alms.” The landlady discovers that there is much more to Valjean than she had thought when he asks her to change a thousand franc bill for him. Later in the day when Valjean is out sawing wood in his shirt-sleeves, the woman has opportunity to examine his yellow coat. She finds that the linking is padded with money and that the pockets are filled with a variety of things that could be called survival tools. Apparently she betrays Valjean, for a few days later another person takes up residence in the Gorbeau house-a person who seems to be watching Valjean.
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Title: les miserables
Words: 13346
Rating: None
Pages: 53.4
submitted by: luzviminda
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