Social Classes in Revolutional France in Les Miserable by Victor Hugo

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Les Miserables by Victor Hugo demonstrates the prevalence of social classes in revolutionary France. The protagonist Jean Valjean experiences numerous social injustices throughout his life but learns many valuable lessons in the process, which help Valjean become a better person and learn that being honest is very important. He learns that he cannot run away from the past but rather he should learn from it so he can lead a better life.
The book starts off with Valjean in a jail cell, and then he escapes. This is where he learns about the importance of honesty. Later on in the book Valjean becomes a father to Cosette he learns the importance of love and family. He realizes how much Cosette means to him and that he would do anything to protect her and give her a respectable life. Finally when Cosette marries Marius, Valjean has a complete family that loves him. As the book goes on Valjean realizes that stealing is not the way to get something, and he will never gain respect or love from anyone from doing so. Once he starts being honest good things start to happen. He finds a Cosette who is like a daughter to him and then realizes he should never commit another criminal act for the sake of his daughter. “Valjean comes to value his own existence more because the girl is dependent upon him and loves him” (Reeves 5). He was able to live a happy peaceful life once he was able to embrace his past and move forward and learn that what he did was wrong.
In Les Miserables by Victor Hugo Jean Valjean experiences social injustices, and learns the importance of love, honesty, and family which is illustrates through disguises, pseudonyms, and symbols.
In addition, Valjean is able to learn about the importance of love, honesty, and family with...

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...rom the past by having an alias. He understands that he should embrace his past and learn from it. By the end of the book Valjean no longer has any alias and is known as Jean Valjean which is completely fine by him because everyone still respects and loves him because of all the noble and honorable things he did since he got out of jail. “In his struggle against fate, Jean Valjean becomes a Christ-like figure who expiated the sins of humanity” (Taylor). Others like Thenardiers have to change their name due to shame of what they have become. They never learn their lesson and continue to try to hide their past instead of compensating for the horrible things they have done. Through all the hardships and disguises Valjean was able to learn what was important to him which was having a loving and compassionate family, which he was able to learn by leading an honest life.

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