LES MISÉRABLES is a French Historical Novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.

*The Miserable*The Wretched*The Miserable

Ones*The Poor Ones*The Wretched

Poor *The Victims

He was a lyric poet, novelist, dramatist, and occasion -

polemical writer.

KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS

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.

Characters

JEAN VALJEAN Major Character:

The ex-convict who had been imprisoned for stealing a loaf

of bread. Primary

protagonist.

MONSIEGNEUR BIENVENU/FR.MYRI

ELMajor Character:

The benevolent priest of the

first book whose generosity and self sacrifice

changes Valjean.

COSETTE

Major Character:

Fantine’s daughter, who lives as

Valjean’s adopted daughter after her

mother dies.

JAVERT

Major Character:

The inspector of police who’s

lifelong ambition is to put Valjean

back behind bars.

Major Character:

FANTINECosette’s mother.

Fantine is forced to leave Cosette with someone who will

supposedly take care of her while Fantine

works for her support.

Major Character:

MARIUS PONTMERCY

An innocent young man, nonetheless

capable of great things and

manages both to fight on the

barricades and successfully

court the love of his life, Cosette.

Minor Characters:

The paragon of evil both in character and in

representation of other negative forces.

Daughter to Thenardier. She is

eventually redeemed by her love for Marius.

EPONINE

Mr. & Mrs. Thenardier

M. GILLENORMAND

Grandfather of Marius. Representative of the old bourgeois.

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.

ENJOLRAS College

student-primary leader of the insurrection. His mistress is France.

GAVROCHE Son of

Thenardier.

COLONEL GEORGE

PONTMERCY Marius’ father.

Minor Characters:

MAJOR CONFLICT    Valjean struggles to transform

himself from a thief into an honest man; over the years he struggles to stay a step ahead of the obsessive police officer Javert and tries to raise his

adopted daughter, Cosette.

RISING ACTION    Valjean’s disclosure of his true identity at Champmathieu’s trial; Valjean’s rescue of Cosette from the Thénardiers; Marius’s first sight of Cosette in the Luxembourg Gardens.CLIMAX  

  Marius, Valjean, and Javert’s dramatic interactions at the barricades

FALLING ACTION  Marius and Cosette’s

wedding; Javert’s suicide

THEMES  The importance of love

and compassion; social injustice in nineteenth-century France; the long-term effects of the French Revolution on French society

SUMMARY

The novel begins with Jean Valjean, a poor man who has stolen bread for his sister and her children. After serving 19 years in prison, the police inspector, Javert, gives Valjean a yellow passport with the record of Valjean’s criminal punishment, which must be presented to the police captain of any town that he enters.

When he arrives in the town of Digne, only an upright bishop,Fr.Myriel gives him food and shelter. Valjean, surprised and anxious by the Bishop’s generous hospitality,but he steals the silver in the house and runs away.

The police bring him back by morning, but the Bishop claims that the silver was given to Valjean, not stolen, and that in fact he had forgotten to take the most valuable pieces of the set. The bishop then commands Valjean to use his freedom to redeem himself and live as an honest man.

Valjean assumes another name, builds a factory, raising the living conditions of the entire region, and soon is appointed mayor of the town. The only person who opposes his goodwill is police inspector Javert, who does not recognize the mayor as the ex-convict he met years ago.

The narrative here turns to Fantine, a beautiful woman whose lover abandons her and their child, Cosette. In desperation she leaves Cosette in the care of the Thénardier family, who then use Cosette as a servant while requesting more and more money from Fantine.

To pay for Cosette, Fantine must resort to prostitution. When an incident brings her to the attention of Javert, who condemns her to six months in prison, Valjean stops the punishment and has her sent to the infirmary.

His efforts to bring Cosette to

Fantine are stalled by the ‘discovery’ of a man believed

to be Jean Valjean. Valjean

ultimately confesses his true identity, and then is confronted by

Javert as he returns to Fantine.

In her anxiety Fantine dies, and Valjean promises to her that he will find Cosette and care for her. He escapes Javert and rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers, and they live in the privacy of a convent until she grows up.

A young man, Marius Pontmercy, sees Cosette walking with Valjean and falls in love with her. Suspicious of the man following them, Valjean takes Cosette to their other house in Paris.

To find her again, Marius enlists the help of his friend Eponine, the daughter of the Thénardiers and secretly in love with Marius. Marius and Cosette spend a month in courtship before Valjean’s plans to travel to England to escape the political turmoil disturb their bliss.

Marius decides to end his life by fighting in the barricade, constructed by the students in protest to the unsympathetic government, and sends a note to Cosette. Eponine blocks Marius from being shot, and dies after confessing her love.

Valjean learns that Cosette loves Marius, and he too joins the barricade, first coming upon Javert tied up in one of the rooms. Valjean decides to let him go despite everything Javert has done to capture Valjean.

When Marius is wounded, he carries his body through the Paris sewers to escape. Valjean finds Javert waiting on the other side, and asks only to deliver Marius to his grandfather’s house.

Javert, finding himself conflicted between his

drive to imprison a criminal and his debt to

Valjean for sparing his life, drowns himself in the

Seine.

After Marius recovers from his injuries he and Cosette marry, with Valjean’s small fortune given as Cosette’s dowry. Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict, and Marius gradually distances him from Cosette in repugnance.

An exchange with Thénardier unintentionally reveals many of the good deeds Valjean has done, such as saving Marius in the sewers. Marius and Cosette return to Valjean on his dying bed, and he dies in the happiness of their embrace.

LES MISERABLES:LESSON

S MERCY, COMPASSION, and

LOVE are treatments for the miseries that all life must endure.

1.Forgiveness can change a life.2. People can change.3.A parent will risk everything for a child.4. Not everybody is good.5.Believed in the Providence of God.

Project in Literature

Submitted to:Ms. Laura Mariano

Submitted by:Barrameda,Jamaica N.Casubuan,Mary Rose C.Chua,Dianne Pauline G.Gerez,Christian Howell L.Pelayo, Elijah Mae M.