For our first case study into this idea, we can turn our eyes upon the ‘protagonist’ of the story Jean Valjean. In his time before Cosette, Valjean had been a man representative of little value and even fewer possessions. Though the galley slave that he is, he tells himself that he can suffer through all the complications that life presents unto him, thusly it refers to him as a stone-hearted …show more content…
Where everyone else is vying for either self-redemption, or the quality of the people around them to improve, Marius has then, more simply, just been a deer in the headlights for Cosette. He is a complete dog for her as he has often stated that he could just die without her in his immediate presence. Now, while this may just be so whimsical writing on Hugo's part to bring a necessary romance to the novel (in a time when all literature had to), it can’t help but become noticeable that Marius is but a foolish young pup that doesn’t know the extent of his feelings, and walks into everything without fully thinking through