Quote:
Originally Posted by Lost_in_the_woods
He stole a loaf of bread to feed his niece.
There are many themes.
Each character serves as a totem for a theme or part of a theme.
Young Cosette is "the cinderalla" of the story. On the surface literally...but underlying she serves as the personification of the pre-revolutionary dream of a democratic France.
When we meet her again as a young adult she embodies the duality of the outcome of the Revolution. She retains her innocence and purity of the dream...hence Marius' instant devotion to her..as he sees the cause take form in her vision. Contrariwise, her ignorance, beauty, self serving oblivious childish nature is a caricature of Marie Antonnete...who's gruesome death was not truly deserved...necessary perhaps but in no way was she the cruel uncaring monster history has made her out to be..no she was just an ignorant child. She was not even French. If you want to discuss a woman truly enslaved from birth!!
I could go on about the many classist themes..Victor Hugo had a very humanistic progress POV..but that is a discussion for another time.
Valjean and Javier  
Great Match up!
So much complexity between these adversaries!
The whole existential journey of the human soul...I could write a full dissertation.
But for the sake of everyone's sanity...  
I will nutshell instead...
Long and short..Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Hierachy.... a running theme woven into the whole thru all the characters indivually each serves as a developmental stage..but the process and inner battle is played out between these two amazing characters.
Simply astonishing 
Valjean actually goes through all six stages of development as we follow his journey through the plot. Javier serves as the great societal debate sparked by Kohlberg's Theory. In the end he can not come to terms with having abandoned his own moral principles in his obsessive pursuit of Valjean and when he comes to the epiphany that Valjean may actually be more moral then himself...His inability to resign to either of these truths drives him to take him literally over the edge! (Horrible pun..I know)
I could go on forever with my many thoughts on the novel/Operetta. ..but once again for the sake of everyone's sanity...
On a lighter note...Mon.&Madame Thenardier..a wonderful little nod to the genius of Shakespeare 
P.S. Sorry Dicken's! Tale of Two Cities ain't got nothin' imagerywise when compared to Hugo's Masterpiece! ;P
For Scarlett,
Love, Victoria |
I mentioned niece/nephew because I only watched the movie, and in the movie Valjean said "my sister's child was starving to death", so, it wasn't clear to me. Also, I didn't say Cosette's childhood was the only enslavement!! Again I was making a point, and the scene came to my mind as a good example how suffering dominates our lives and make us wish things were different.
Anyway, thanks for the elaboration. Admittedly, I haven't read the novel, and I haven't explored Hugo's view of life. My subjective view of the movie, however, is that misery is the central theme (well, the novel's title is Les Misérables). The revolution and the political and social struggles are ways to lessen the suffering and misery, not eliminating it. I'm not sure if we can do better. I read once an article to a philosopher who said it's an obligation to end humanity by stop procreating. At first I was interested in this view, but then I realized it isn't realistic. We are animals after all, and procreation is programmed in our genes. We've evolved exactly to procreate. We are just vehicles to our genes. So, we are in a way stuck in life.
But it seems to me that people don't acknowledge the fact that life is full of misery. They tend to forget in a moment of joy maybe. Or they are good in numbing their emotions with regard to this. Suffering is inevitable, but we bring children to give our suffering a meaning, which in turn makes them suffer. As I said, we are stuck. Sure materialistic things make life easier, but our societies have transformed us into robots and machines to produce wealth. Relationships are just mutual interests. People don't have intrinsic values in themselves. No wonder why Christianity has attracted many people. It offers the missing (but much needed) love in humans in a higher divine character. Regardless if He's imaginary or not, the idea has comforted people to know that they are loved. It comforted me when I was in pain and believed. All I read now is how to become fit in a flawed society. How to become more productive, or more sociable, but rarely any one teaches us how to be a humans how to understand, how to listen, how to empathize. How to be in touch with the angelic part of our nature. Maybe because it's something unteachable, I don't know. Maybe suffering is the key to be a human by seeing others suffering through our own suffering, but again most humans deny life's suffering in the first place.
This is my view, and I tend to see everything with respect to it.