Caused by his upbringing, Javert turned into a strict, ignorant inspector of the law, who feels that people deserved to be punished even if they need help. Javert, the inspector who imprisoned the main character, Jean Valjean, is serving time in the French prison, the galleys. JVJ is serving time for stealing bread for his starving niece and nephew, and Javert made the decision to imprison him, regardless of JVJ’s situation. However Javert himself “was born in a prison. His mother was a fortune teller whose husband was in the galleys. He grew up to think himself without the pale of society, and despaired of ever entering it. He noticed that society closes its doors, without pity, on two classes of men: those who attack it and those who guard …show more content…
Later he made a choice to become the man, who would oppress his childhood self. Seeing what his parent’s life brought him, shame, however he tries to erase this shame with strict rule-following. Ultimately deciding that he didn’t want this miserable life for himself anymore, and starting pursuing men of his own upbringing. While Javert did become a man of the law, his perversion of the rules was out-dated and harsh, instead of understanding and compassion, yet strict. Javert believes in the simple aspects of the law, such as murder being unlawful and wrong, however he takes all crimes and puts them on the same scale. Murder and theft are two different crimes that deserve two different punishments, but in Javert’s eyes all crimes deserve harsh punishable and the people who commit these crimes are worthless. Javert knew the rules “very simple and good in themselves, but he almost made them evil by his exaggeration of them: respect for authority and hatred of rebellion; in his eyes, theft, murder, all crimes, were only forms of …show more content…
However not every crime is committed for a bad intent, some people, such as Jean Valjean, stole because he had no money to feed his starving niece and nephew. Despite being only a petty crime that Jean Valjean commits to save children, Javert fuels his hate of criminals, and throws him in prison for his crime. Javert lacks compassion and understanding of people’s situation to fulfill his demented idea of the law. Not only does Javert’s hate come from Jean Valjean and him stealing, but also Fantine a poor struggling girl, who just needs help. Fantine, a single-mother, sent her child to live with innkeepers in another city, while she tries to earn money to send to her. Prostitution ends up being the only way she earn enough money to upkeep her child, which is illegal in 1830s Paris. However Fantine falls sick, for she is living on the streets of Paris, and is hurt by the men she has sex with. At one instant, a man hits her and she begins to yell at him, when officer Javert comes to inspect the situation: immediately comprehending her job, and begins arrest her for
Because of her association with the young man, the police were planning to arrest her, but her father sold all of his worldly possessions, including his house in the city land his father had given him, and gave the money to the police in exchange for his daughter’s freedom. After fleeing from the city to the country, the girl writes a letter to her lover relating that “you must love him for this, manman says, you must. it is something you can never forget, the sacrifice he has made.” P.22. Sadly, her lover dies in route to America and she remains in Haiti bound to the sacrifice her family made to save her life. There is no freedom from oppression and suffering for the young man, no freedom from suffering and guilt for the young woman, and presumably, no freedom from poverty for her family in the years to
Javert, born in jail, saw himself as an ostracized adolescent with but two paths open to him. He could choose either to be a policeman or a criminal. He chose to be on the right side of the law. Valjean, a peasant, spent time in jail as a young man and came out of it hating society. He believed himself to be apart from it, and chose to live in hatred and crime. Fortunately, the action of a kindly old bishop prevented him from wasting the rest of his life. Valjean switched to tread the path of life on a more morally upright road. He became mayor, protector of society.
A society, that has placed him as the lowest common denominator, demands (Used him and his to much edit later)him to understand his place in a society that wants him to be less than what he is. A society that is held in place by those like Bledsoe who was the same as the narrator. But in exchange for his position Bledsoe has become
Conflict- This can be seen as one of the conflicts that A.J has with the world. His negative impression on society gives him a feeling discrimination due to his belonging in a minority group. Bearing this negativity view, it causes A.J’s isolation from society because he blocks out the discrimination and assumptions focused on him thus blocking him
pleasures of the old society he managed to break. It can be seen as '
Since he cares little for the affairs of the world, claiming they do not mean anything, then justice—a major concern of the world—also means nothing to him. His actions both before and after his decision to kill a man without provocation demonstrate his apathetic view of the world, and his indifference to justice. Therefore Meursault’s search for justice, culminated by the court’s decision to execute him, remains an example to all of the inability of society to instill justice in criminals. Meursault’s perpetual refusal to acquire a sense of morality and emotion instigates skepticism in all who learn of his story of society’s true ability to instill justice in the
Les Misérables (1862), a novel set in early nineteenth century France, presents a story of obsessions in honor, love, and duty, and through it redemption and salvation. It is the story of the poor Jean Valjean, condemned to an unfair amount of time in prison and a life on the run for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family. The kind act of forgiveness from a Bishop with whom Jean Valjean stays one night, changes the course in which he chooses to live his life. Under a different identity, he becomes wealthy from a business he starts and later is elected mayor of the small town of Montreuil. He falls madly in love with Fantine, one of the workers in his factory. Because Fantine, one of the very poorest and most pitiful residents of Montreuil, has a child born out of wedlock, Jean Valjean as the respected mayor must keep his love for her a secret. When Fantine dies unexpectedly, Jean Valjean vows he will raise her daughter Cosette, and shield her from all the evils in the world. Through all of this, Jean Valjean is being pursued by Javert, a policeman whose entire life has been dedicated to finding Jean Valjean. While running from Javert, Jean Valjean and Cosette find themselves in Paris in the middle of the 1832 Revolution. As Cosette matures, she falls in love with Marius, a young revolutionist. Despite the objections of Jean Valjean, Cosette continues to secretly visit Marius at night. During the revolution, Marius is injured badly and Jean Valjean, after finding a love note from Marius to Cosette, quickly comes to the rescue of the wounded gentleman. Eventually Jean Valjean and Marius' Grandfather consent to the wedding of Cosette and Marius. In this novel, "there is a point at which...
Marie had just traveled from her hometown of Ville Rose, where discarding your child made you wicked, to the city of Port-Au-Prince, where children are commonly left on the street. Marie finds a child that she thinks could not be more beautiful, “I thought she was a gift from Heaven when I saw her on the dusty curb, wrapped in a small pink blanket, a few inches away from a sewer as open as a hungry child’s yawn” (79). Marie has suffered many miscarriages, so she takes this child as if it were her own, “I swayed her in my arms like she was and had always been mine” (82). Marie’s hope for a child has paid off, or so it seems. Later, it is revealed that the child is, in fact, dead, and Marie fabricated a story to sanction her hopes and distract her from the harsh reality of her life, “I knew I had to act with her because she was attracting flies and I was keeping her spirit from moving on… She smelled so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to kiss her without choking on my breath” (85). Her life is thrown back into despair as her cheating husband accuses her of killing children for evil purposes and sends her to
Moreover, Jurgis does everything he can to help his family and himself survive, but regardless of his actions, the corrupt society plows through him without remorse or regret. Jurgis's op...
Several people in Jean Valjeans life allow him to rediscover the meaning of love. The good bishop is the one responsible for initiating this rediscovery. Jean Valjean's new life begins when the bishop utters the words, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!” (30). This opens Jean Valjean to the good of the world and allows him to immerse himself in the love Cosette offers him, something he couldn't do without the help of the bishop. The bishop assists Jean Valjean in seeing that there are people who will help him despite his rocky background. This creates a reason for Jean Valjean to act on the experience to rebuild his life and become an honest man. This change of heart helps him feel the love that Cosette displays for him, which he has never known. He slowly begins to love and care f...
“Let us watch the world burn,” said no one. In the history of the world, nobody has done anything just because they want to make the world worse. Yes, even Hitler thought he was doing the right thing when he was murdering millions of people for characteristics they could not help but have. So, with this in mind, why is Javert any different from us? In Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, Inspector Javert is the antagonist of Jean Valjean, a selfless and beloved man; he is constantly seen obsessing over catching Jean Valjean.
Matter of fact, he acknowledges that it is not only a specific group, but everyone - including his own race - that feels uneasy, even when they have no prior knowledge about his personality. This demonstrates how deep the roots of racial bias reach because it is to the point where even those facing the same issues are rejecting him. They do this not because they are afraid of him specifically, but rather because the idea of being in danger has been repeatedly enforced in their minds, to the point where they too see themselves as dangerous. This highlights the negative influence of society’s view on self-worth, because their personal perspective doesn’t necessarily reflect the truth.
For awhile through the book he doesn’t change until the end. His moral character in the beginning is a law-abiding citizen who holds everyone else to his standards. “In his eyes theft, murder, all crimes, were only forms of rebellion.” pg 47. But that sort of changes in the end, because Jean Valjean spares his life Javert also spares his.
Crimes are not ‘given’ or ‘natural’ categories to which societies simply respond. The composition of such categories change from various places and times, and is the output of social norms and conventions. Also, crime is not the prohibitions made for the purpose of rational social defence. Instead, Durkheim argues that crimes are those acts which seriously violate a society’s conscience collective. They are essentially violations of the fundamental moral code which society holds sacred, and they provoke punishment for this reason. It is because of these criminal acts which violate the sacred norms of the conscience collective, that they produce a punitive reaction. (Ibid)
Criminals are born not made. The basic definition of the word criminal is someone who commits offending behaviour within society (Harrower, 2001). The crime may range from petty theft to murder. Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes.