Javert’s upbringing turned him into a strict, ignorant inspector of the law, who feels that people deserved to be punished even if they need help. Javert is introduced to the reader while the main character, Jean Valjean, is serving time in the french prison, the galleys. JVJ is serving time for stealing bread for his starving niece and nephew, and Javert made the decision to imprisoned him, regardless of JVJ’s situation. However Javert himself “was born in a prison. His mother was a fortune teller whose husband was in the galleys. He grew up to think himself without the pale of society, and despaired of ever entering it. He noticed that society closes it doors, without pity, on two classes of men: those who attack it and those who guard it”
