Bishop Bienvenu - The first major character you are introduced to. Hugo also introduces his minute attention to detail with the good Bishop. I know the blueprints to his house and his daily schedule, among other things. THIS MAN is Jean Valjean's savior. Hang on, we'll get to him in a minute. When Jean Valjean steals from him, he clears his name by "giving" him the stolen goods out of grace. He says he claims his soul for God. Don't cry yet, it's only been 100 pages.
JEAN VALJEAN (aka Madeline, man in the yellow jacket, Fauchelevent, Jean, Leblanc, + others) -
Jean Valjean, his conversion and his life and his grace, is the center of this novel. He has been abused by the system and, because of Bienvenu, decides to live out his life helping others, and eventually one person. He does nothing but assume another name and strive to lead a good life despite being a former convict over and over and over again. He is known by his size, his plant knowledge, his slight gimp, and his monstrous strength. He acts as benefactor to numerous people, including Fantine, and acts as Father Figure to Cosette. He is EVERYBODY'S savior. Christ figure, anyone?
Javert - is the complete antithesis of Jean Valjean. He IS the law and thinks that nothing is greater than Justice. Since being an Inspector in the town where Jean Valjean (JVJ) is mayor (yeah, that happens) he continually figures out JVJ's disguise and hunts him down under the belief that JVJ being a former convict must be and evil man and serve his justice behind bars. Forgive the french, they had not conceived community service beyond chain gangs at the time. Javert is the man hunting down Jean Valjean
Fantine - is the mother of Cosette. Strangely, the musical focused on her prostitution much more than the book, who just accepted it as a way of life. Huh. Anyhow, betrayed by her boyfriend of two years (whom she loved very much) she is left with a child. This child, Euphrasie aka Cosette is left in the charge of two friendly innkeepers (HA) so that Fantine may live alone and make money to send them for her child. The innkeeper being an extorter, she eventually sells her wealth, then her dignity, then her soul, and eventually her sanity for Cosette. She is redeemed by JVJ and dies, I won't tell you when, where or how. But this leaves Cosette to the care of JVJ
The Thenadiers - the Innkeeper is an extorter, his wife is the mother of his two daughters, adored, and his three sons, abhorred. He plays very much so into the plot. If you want any other information, you might as well listen to Master of the House on the Les Mis soundtrack. Half of it is dragged straight from text anyhow. Now for their children, in summary.
Eponine - Once loved, she is driven to near insanity by poverty by the time she is 16 and ends of falling in a sort of love/devotion/infatuation with Marius and makes sacrifices for his sake, even though he could care less. Tear.
Gavroche - The eldest son becomes a gamin, a parisian boy of the streets, and ends up having a good heart despite circumstances. A noble thief of ...what? ... 13? Tear.
Azelma/ the two other boys - You...see them around.
Baron Marius Pontmercy - I have saved the best two characters for last, which is fitting. Marius is a very politically confused young lad and thinks his life is just dandy until he *gasp* falls hopelessly in love with Cosette. He makes noble sacrifices, is of course, saved by JVJ once or twice, and is very pretty.
Cosette - Oh. Cosette. Jean Valjean is the backbone of this novel, but she is the heart. She gives renewed life to JVJ and falls in love with Marius back. She is the star everyone revolves around. Remember my post about the Stargirl stereotype (look it up yourself, I'm lazy!) ? She is Stargirl. Pure and good. Which is possibly why she gets the most boring songs in the musical. C'Est la Vie.
You thought that was it? You were wrong.
Kinda. According to Victor Hugo, there are two characters and I have only mentioned one:
"This book is a drama whose first character is the Infinite.
Man is the second."God is the major character and is mentioned over and over as the impetus and savior in the novel. It's amazing how God is woven into the manuscript by Hugo. Really. Not that it's pounded over your head that he's there, well, maybe in the convent section. But he is always watching over the doings of man, and eventually their souls. GAH. This book is amazing.
I know I've written way to much, but my next venture is A Prayer for Owen Meany and Redigging the Wells. Today I finished Searching for God Knows What and read Grendel in it's entirety. Still not a fan of modern novels....goodness. After Les Mis and because it's been a slow week, my reading at work is voracious. I finished two books today and still had 1 hour and 20 minutes left. I was bored out of my mind...Oh well. More Les Mis posts to come. Yayayyaayayaayayyayaa!!!!!!!!!y
You seriously cried only 100 pages in? We read the bit where Bishop Bienvenu saves Valjean in French class ages ago and I don't remember being very touched. Intrigued, but not really touched.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Les Miserables, but I remember an episode of Seinfeld where George had Master of the House stuck in his head and Elaine's dad thought he was gay because of it.
Finishing books has a weird effect on me. I get to the end and like, I'm compromised. Kind of overwhelmed, especially if I did a huge chunk all at once. It's almost like shell-shock or something. I remember being real tore up at the end of Battle Royale. I guess it's got to do with the psychological investment of reading the book all of a sudden ending.
Wait. What? I didn't really cry til the last 10 pages. But I wanted to cry every time someone died or when Jean Valjean was redeemed. And I have only cried or teared up for two other books so I don't think my tears came from psychological investment.
ReplyDeleteThe "don't cry yet" bit made it sound like you cried, or almost did.
ReplyDeleteBy psychological investment I mean that you spend a lot of time and effort reading the book. When you're done, all of that energy is spent, and all you have to show is the end of a book.
Who says you have to show it? The beauty of a novel is that it's in your head and will be until you die, depending on your memory. The ideas and words will still be somewhere in your head and the fact that you have been exposed to beautiful or exciting language once again will live with you. You can't prove it, but it's there.
ReplyDeletethere's a REALLY big disconnect here I think
ReplyDeleteI'm saying that it's an exhausting affair to finish a book. It's hard to do, and when you're done, all the work you put into reading it hits you all of a sudden, especially if you read it really fast.
I don't disagree with you, you're just seeming to miss my point.