Reizel Mary Angela R.

Boa BSIT III-C

It is a story with a long and intricate plot, of the heroic life of a simple and good man in the person of Jean Valjean. He is a very memorable character who is morally upright but guilty of certain thefts for which he feels remorse. To avoid capture and life sentence, he assumes the identity of Monsieur Madeliene, soon becoming the mayor of the small town he has adopted. It is a very beautiful story packed with excitement. It talks about mans struggle to escape the past and reaffirm his humanity in a society wherein poverty and ignorance prevails. It shows the inhumane treatment of the convicts and ex-convicts. It also shows how a man can be redeemed by accepting suffering, and by following the dictates of his conscience even if it entails suffering and ostracism from many people. It is also quite romantic especially on the part of the love affair of Marius and Cosette that tickles your bones. However, it is more on being a melodrama that let your heart cry out especially on the ending part where it is shown how noble Jean was in his lifetime upon his deathbed. The character of Jean Valjeana who triumphs over evil in him and in others. He dared to expose himself, coined with it is accepting the suffering and sacrifices to prevent the conviction of an innocent man for a crime which he had committed in the past. This crime seems to be very forgivable. Thus, we can categorize it as a justifiable act of theft since it is done as a last recourse. Stealing a loaf of bread to feed a sister and her starving children is not bad at all, considering that life is the highest value that should be given stress. But Jean Valjean accepted his fate and has proved to himself that he has triumphed over his fear and had done justice. At least he had lived his life with love and he had been loved by Cosette, his socalled adopted daughter Cosette is also a very striking character. She too has her share of the cup of sorrow, being a daughter of Fantine who was left to the Thernadiers only to be maltreated. At least she found consolation, because she is well loved by Jean and had been rescued from the Thernadiers. Marius on the other hand, complicates the plot of the story when he thought of Jean as an evil person upon learning things about Jean from the past. He didnt even know that it was Jean who saved his life, when he was almost facing death. Another memorable character is Javert, the inspector who always followed Jean in the hope of capturing him. He is very much obsessed about it that leads to his death in his own hands. He cant accept that he who is trying to inflict harm to a person was saved by the same person. Moreover, the bishop who had a great influence on Jean is also a very remarkable character. Without him, Jean would not triumph over evil in himself and in others. It seems to be that he is an angel sent down from heaven to enlighten and inspire the principal character of the story. This novel teaches us many things. Such as we cant escape our conscience. Even if we have successfully hidden our secrets in the form of misdeeds in the past, it will continue to haunt us until we face it and divulge it in public. This novel also opens our eyes about the reality in our society we belong where there are lots of injustices, discriminations and the like. We should also put in mind that if there is life, there is hope. No matter how messy our past had come, we could still make amends to it and make our lives better. Life is difficult but it is in difficulty that we can appreciate its meaning. Nevertheless, the bottom line is It does not matter how many heartaches, sufferings and pains we encountered in life as long as we have loved and we have been loved.