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 angel 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.