How Does Jean Valjean Change In Les Miserables

Improved Essays
In the movie, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, Les Miserables by Columbia Pictures 1998, Jean Valjean during the whole movie, he experienced stages in his life, which change his perspective. Valjean, at first, was not a good man at all. He was found with all the wrong morals, but someone chose to overlook that factor about him.
In the beginning, Val Jean was poor and starving, so he stole a piece of bread. That single piece of bread, put him in prison for 19 years. Today stealing a piece of bread would be considered nothing, you especially wouldn’t go to prison. Once Jean Val Jean got out of prison, he found himself going to the Bishop’s door asking to stay. Bishop Myrine let him into his humble home and fed him. Little did he know that Valjean would steal from him. Later on, Jean Valjean was found by guards with silverware in his backpack. Val Jean
…show more content…
She had a child out of wedlock, and she was fired because of her actions were looked down upon at his factory. At the time he was not aware of how being fired affected Fantine, and he did not care at the time because he was more worried about being exposed. This event forced Fantine to go into prostitution due to lack of money. Soon, the circumstance of Fantine were brought to Valjean’s eye, when Javier arrested her when she wasn’t at fault. Fantine was brittle, poor, and extremely sick. Valjean being the honorable man he was couldn’t help himself but to take care of her, for as he saw it as his fault. Valjean’s sudden action was to take care of her in any way he could. Fantine was deathly sick from tuberculosis, and Valjean fell helplessly in love with her. Eventually he fulfilled her last dying wish, taking care of her daughter, Cosette. During this time, Valjean was becoming a better man because he took on tasks that he didn’t have to, but did it out of the generosity from his heart. The tragedy of her death, shaped him into a better

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Essay Montag was a very normal fireman, at the beginning. Fireman are men who, when there is a fire go and make the fire go out. But, that is not the case in this dystopian world that Ray Bradbury has made up, it is very different. Fireman in this book do not take fire’s out, Fireman start the fires. But it is not like the fire men go and just start random fires.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    D’Artagnan and Monsieur Bonacieux’s Personalities In this passage, it includes specific examples of compare and contrast between D’Artagnan and Monsieur Bonacieux. In chapter eight, D’Artagnan meets Bonacieux for the first time and finds out he is the landlord. Although, the two individuals have several differences D’Artagnan is eager to help him in any problem or issue that he may experience.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life over after a saintly bishop inspires him to live honestly, but he is tirelessly sought after by a police inspector named Javert. Throughout the story, Valjean and his adoptive…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A man named Montag was a fireman. And books were banned in the city so anyone who had on they would either burn with the house or the fireman would just burn the books.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Essay In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag meets a young girl named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse sets off a chain reaction and starts to change Montag's beliefs. Now, Clarisse is the person that starts all of this, but doesn't keep it going on throughout the book.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Love is Caustic: A Look into the Similarities and Differences of Laustic and Bisclavret Throughout Marie de France’s many lais, she focuses on the many facets of human nature, such as who can be trusted, who will act accordingly to their rank and status in the court, who will be honorable and treat others with respect, and most importantly, who is most deserving of the love of another. By the very definition of the lais, being a love ballad of sorts, this is nothing surprising. What is far more shocking about the works of Marie de France is that she holds nothing back when it comes to the repercussions that her characters experience for their actions. The idea that love can nurture and help one grow is noted by Marie, but the opposite being…

    • 1658 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Glass Castle is a nonfiction book that was later turned into a movie. The book was written by Jeannette Walls, and the book is about her life. This story is a mostly about the family dynamic of a family who moves around quite often and where each member of the family has their own sets of difficulties. I think the book was turned into a movie for two reasons, one is that the book has parts that would not be super appropriate for younger readers, so they made it into a more of a kid friendly story. The second reason is that not everyone wants or has the time to read a book, it is much easier to see a movie trailer and then think I can spare two hours to go watch this movie.…

    • 1820 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Les Belles-Soeurs is a story of the struggle of the lower-middle class. Les Belles-Soeurs is a play about a group of women in Montreal who are just trying to get by in their mediocre lives. The women take advantage of each other, and seem to be friends only because of their proximity to each other. The women interact as though they are all just there because of their circumstance, not because they chose to be in their situations. This causes the women to act selfishly, ignoring common courtesy, only acting in self interest.…

    • 995 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the two case studies examined, I found many similarities as well as differences between Fannie Lawrence and Sylvia Ashley. In this paper, I will first address the distinct emotions felt by Fannie and Sylvia and the situations that caused these emotions. Second, I will identify the sources of stress for the individual members of each family and the effects of those stresses. Let’s start with Fannie. Fannie Lawrence seems to have it all together from an outside point of view.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout Jeanette Wall’s memoir The Glass Castle, the author utilizes diverse and creative language, diction, and style to convey themes about nonconformity and self-sufficiency, while teaching strong lessons on individuality, endurance, and strength. Although both of Jeanette’s parents, Rose Mary and Rex, are irresponsible, selfish, and reckless, they did instill valuable life lessons and reflect meaningful sentiments onto their children, Lori, Jeanette, Brian, and Maureen. Rex Walls creates false pretenses to replicate a lifestyle of wanderers or explorers and to make up for insufficient income; however, he inspires young Jeanette radically and becomes a catalyst for her hopes, dreams, and uniqueness. The parents manage to teach their kids to be thoughtful, intelligent, brave, and hardworking, despite suffering and unfavorable conditions.…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rue 4 de Vaurobel, a six story townhome, where an innocent sixteen year old girl’s free will is robbed right from her. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, juxtaposes two very complex and different stories; a blind adolescent girl who is trying to find her way in a new environment and an obedient teenage boy who turns soldier after learning how to configure radios. Marie-Laure and Werner’s story are from two utterly contrasting ends of the spectrum but connect during the same time period. The definition of free will is stated as the power of acting without the restraint of necessity or fate. Marie-Laure LeBlanc has limited free will which has been developed thus far in the novel, described through two major characteristics:…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Positivity and Adversity in the Face of Poverty Can you imagine what it would it be like to experience true poverty, and how it would shape your worldview? In Les Misérables, Victor Hugo addresses such a topic using multiple characters’ experiences of living on the margins of society. Each characters’ outlook on life and attitude towards poverty has a dramatic effect on their experiences: Fantine views poverty with deep resentment, Jean Valjean sees his impoverished experience as something he can change, and Marius views his experience as an opportunity for growth. Marius, Fantine and Jean Valjean’s contrasting stories are used to show how one’s outlook on poverty changes depending on how you experience it.…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jeanette is lucky with her responsibility, maturity, intellect, and bravery, but each of those qualities came with a price. She isn’t fortunate, seen by her home life and health, but it is good for her that she was able to have those…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1) Reading the opening section again, Jeanette’s mother seems to both have an extreme sense of frugality and a true unawareness of the changing world around her. She chose to live her life the way she wanted to live it. For example, when Jeanette and her mom are seating seafood, her mom tells Jeanette that “You’re the one who needs help. Your values are all confused.” (pg. 13).…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the book The Stranger, death is immediately brought into the main character 's life. Monsieur Meursault finds out at the beginning of the book that his mother had just died. Living far away because of his job, he did not maintain as strong of a relationship with his mother as he had in the past. When he arrives at the funeral, he is not as upset as many of the guests are. He doesn’t even know how old his mother was when she died.…

    • 1553 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays