Guilt In Valjean's Virtue

Trapped in a cold cellar, or forced to do back breaking labor for hours a day. We wonder if time spent locked up can really shape a person to do good instead of evil. When Valjean takes Petite Gervais’s silver piece, his actions and words following shows to me that he feels grief. This makes me believe that he has become a changed man, through the bishop’s actions and through his encounter with Petite Gervais. Valjean’s guilt is legitimate, and can be shown through his words. “At that instant he perceived the forty-sous piece/It was like an electric shock, “what is that?” Through this line in the book, and what Valjean says after it, you can see that it took him by surprise. I can relate to Valjean at this moment. When I feel guilty about something I did or said, usually the moment after, it’s

Guilt can be a very powerful influence, if you get guilt tripped, it could change your entire prospective of something. “Guilt trips make you feel guilty but also resentful.” (psychologytoday.com) Psychologytoday.com says research shows that when someone is guilty of something, they will more than likely try to make up for it. Whether it is through compensation or through help and apologies. Related to this statistic, when Valjean began to feel remorse for what he had done, he ran around desperately trying to find Petite. “Then he called out with all of his might, “Petite Gervais! Petite Gervais!” When Valjean’s desperation to find Petite shows, you can tell he feels real guilt and remorse through his words and actions. Desperate to try and find Petite, he runs around yelling his name. He also stops and asks a priest if he had any information to offer at all about the boy. He even tells the priest that he needs to have him arrested, but that kind of just freaked out the priest. To further prove my point, Valjean has essentially a breaking point. “That was his last effort: his knees suddenly bent under him, as if an invisible power overwhelmed him at