In the beginning of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo we see a man once a slave in the galleys. A man broken and beaten, Jean Valjean a sliver of the man he was before. He is forced to beg even for a place to lay his head and find a bite to eat. Trudging house to house, looking for shelter here and there. Until, upon a cold, dark night there forms a light in the doorway, the light of the Bishop. The man who invites Jean Valjean into his church, feeds him and gives him a place to stay and, most importantly, forgives him. Repairs the path of a broken man and, in a way saving him. Without this act of kindness and forgiveness Jean Valjean wouldn’t be the honest and selfless man he is throughout the rest of the book. When a person is at their lowest it is
…show more content…
“Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man” (Hugo 33). To everyone around him they might have seemed like just regular candlesticks, to Valjean, they represent a promise. A promise to change into the man the Bishop saw in him. In being an honest man he must not be just honest with those around him but to himself as well. Throughout the book you see him fighting with himself over the decision he makes. Take an easy way out, or do what he knows is right. Though the struggle is not needed when, in the end, he will choose the path that would help those around him. “” Monsieur” said Jean Valjean, “I have one thing to tell you, I am an old convict “” (Hugo 359). This shows us that even though all of this happened long ago Valjean still feels the need to let his future son in law know. He could’ve gone the rest of his life not telling Marius and he would never have known but Valjean tells him in order to make sure he leaves nothing behind that could make him dishonest, he doesn’t even like Marius all that much but he still tells
“Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man” (Hugo 33). To everyone around him they might have seemed like just regular candlesticks, to Valjean, they represent a promise. A promise to change into the man the Bishop saw in him. In being an honest man he must not be just honest with those around him but to himself as well. Throughout the book you see him fighting with himself over the decision he makes. Take an easy way out, or do what he knows is right. Though the struggle is not needed when, in the end, he will choose the path that would help those around him. “” Monsieur” said Jean Valjean, “I have one thing to tell you, I am an old convict “” (Hugo 359). This shows us that even though all of this happened long ago Valjean still feels the need to let his future son in law know. He could’ve gone the rest of his life not telling Marius and he would never have known but Valjean tells him in order to make sure he leaves nothing behind that could make him dishonest, he doesn’t even like Marius all that much but he still tells