Les Misérables part.2 — Victor Hugo

Les Misérables, Vol. 2

Author

Victor Hugo

Publisher

Mineumsa | published 2012-11-05

Category

Novel

Book description

Jean Valjean, the poor ex-convict, is reborn as a saint! A 19th-century French masterpiece...

In Vol. 2, I ended Part 1 without saying a single thing about Javert, which leaves me wanting. Still, let me talk about the book. What does the Battle of Waterloo, which appears early in the novel, signify? Actually, I wanted to study the French Revolution a bit, and I became curious about Napoleon and Waterloo precisely because of the opening — but writing while unable to even print papers or do anything is frustrating. I came to think of the Battle of Waterloo, the relationship between Napoleon and Wellington, as the relationship between Jean Valjean and Javert. Had Napoleon ever fought a battle as starved of heaven's luck as Waterloo? He was a genius at war, and especially an officer who handled 'artillery,' the most important thing in 18th-19th-century warfare. He graduated the military academy youngest and with honors. That such a genius was defeated by the calculating Wellington owed partly to the weather that day and partly to the sunken road of Ohain. Moreover, his intuition collapsed against Wellington's calculation. It was no longer a day for him to remain 'emperor'; perhaps it was time for him, too, to step down. Heaven's will, indifferently, raised Wellington's hand. Early in the battle he held the advantage. Of course, the rain kept falling so he couldn't move the artillery quickly, and even if he couldn't wage an overwhelming battle using numerical superiority, a genius was a genius. But his cuirassier cavalry was mercilessly broken, Blücher appeared to aid Wellington, Prussia cut into the war between England and France, and as nearly forty cannon mouths that had been utterly unseen appeared, Napoleon was defeated. Just as Jean Valjean is ultimately exposed to Javert.

From Vol. 1 the author had been mentioning the French Revolution. Because of this Battle of Waterloo, the freedom won through the 'French Revolution' reverted to the 'Bourbon Restoration,' but Hugo knew. He knew that this French Revolution would sprout 'freedom' across all of Europe and topple monarchies. Perhaps Hugo, viewing through a 'religious lens,' knew that the power of 'civil society' — which convened the Estates-General in 1789 and tried to abolish the Ancien Régime — was necessary, even if it made him a little uncomfortable. After the revolution began, after civil society began, after the National Assembly began, in less than 100 years Louis XVIII's reign began (and at the same time Napoleon fell) and the so-called 'Restoration' returned, but I think the revolution has value of existence in itself.

Louis XVIII's reign at the time heralded the appearance of the 'bourgeoisie'; what the French Revolution means here is that an attempt to break down the boundary between ordinary citizens and the nobility instead divided things into 'noble,' 'bourgeois,' and 'mere citizen'

Javert threw 'old man Madeleine' into prison. The prisoner number also changed from five digits to four. After Monsieur Madeleine confessed his crime and revealed that Champmathieu was not the criminal, Javert succeeds in dragging him — without his being able to do the thing he meant to, saving 'Cosette' — back into Toulon prison. Javert, who with his peculiar tenacity and persistence tracks Jean Valjean down to the very end, came across as a very dangerous and cruel being, in that the lives of Jean Valjean and Cosette hung in the balance. Only, if there's one problem, it's that the one who committed the crime is Jean Valjean, and it's right that he must atone for it. Atonement is atonement. Only, how long and how much that atonement must continue is the ambiguous part, and I think opinions will differ greatly on this. Because very, very rational people of the rule of law would generally say that even if Javert is a bit cruel, it's 'natural' that Jean Valjean be punished, whereas people who place more importance on religious tolerance would likely say he should still be 'forgiven.' For me, it's hard to take either position. Until recently, before reading Anna Karenina, I didn't have a good grasp of this concept of 'forgiveness,' but these days I think forgiving is also necessary. Maybe it's because a little warm water of feeling has been poured into cold reason, so now it's lukewarm. Still, judging by what he's done so far, I do think Jean Valjean became an object of 'forgiveness.' Even so, Javert is not a person to forgive. If Javert came out as a forgiving character, this novel couldn't evoke its dramatic feel and its pathos. It's thanks to people like Javert that we can feel sorry for Jean Valjean and view Cosette with compassion. I almost wandered into another topic, but anyway Javert is himself a kind of 'Hades.' The 'god of the underworld' as one usually imagines.

The prosperity of Montreuil-sur-Mer vanished along with Monsieur Madeleine, and everything he had foreseen on that night of anguish and hesitation came true. With him gone, it was as if the town had 'lost its soul.' After his fall, in Montreuil-sur-Mer occurred that selfish disintegration that happens after great figures collapse — that fatal dissolution of prosperous things that is wrought secretly, day by day, in human communities — a thing seen only once in history. Because such a thing happened after the death of Alexander the Great. The captains crowned themselves. Foremen became manufacturers overnight. Envious competition appeared. Monsieur Madeleine's broad factories closed, the buildings fell to ruin, the workers scattered. Some left the region, others left the trade. After that, everything shrank instead of growing, and people pursued profit instead of doing good. There was no longer a center; everywhere competition and bitter hatred ran rampant. Monsieur Madeleine had ruled and led everything. When he fell, each looked only to his own interest. The communal spirit turned into a spirit of struggle, harmony turned into harshness, the founder's goodwill for all turned into mutual hatred. The bonds Monsieur Madeleine had tied unraveled and snapped. People falsified the manufacturing methods, lowered product quality, and destroyed trust. Markets narrowed, orders dwindled. Wages fell, factories struck, bankruptcy arrived. And for the poor there was no longer anything. Everything had vanished.

Even the state realized that somewhere, someone had gone missing. Before four years had passed since the Court of Assizes confirmed that Monsieur Madeleine and Jean Valjean must be one and the same person, fattening the prison, the tax cost in the district of Montreuil-sur-Mer had doubled, and Monsieur de Villèle pointed this out in the Assembly in February 1827.

The existence of Jean Valjean / Madeleine can be seen as the city of 'Montreuil-sur-Mer' itself. Only, I felt a great deal through the city that crumbles so easily, showing how cunning the individual is. Hugo didn't draw this foreseeing the 21st century's 'individualism and collapse,' but this is one of the scenes commonly seen even in modern times. Only the object differs. To depict humans in their most philistine state, this Montreuil-sur-Mer may have been designed as a very suitable city. Succeeding thanks to Monsieur Madeleine in a small town, then this happening the moment Madeleine enters Toulon prison — how heartbreaking. But at the same time, this can be taken as the author's warning about human nature.

Compared with Javert's cruelty, the nuns of the Petit-Picpus convent are a stark contrast. Of course, they too, had they met the 'new person' who entered the convent, would have driven Jean Valjean out and sent him to Toulon prison by very cruel and brutal means; but in any case they don't discover Jean Valjean. Fortunately, thanks to the old man he'd helped in his 'Madeleine' days, that old man, seeing Monsieur Madeleine who had helped him, tries to help upon seeing him look so wretched, poor, and worn. Just then, hearing from the 'mother superior' that a dead 'nun' had to be buried, he seizes the chance and, as a brother, brings old man Madeleine into the convent, and 'Cosette' comes to be raised as a boarder at this convent. When rescuing Cosette from the Thénardier family, I felt how far human ugliness and vileness can go; the Thénardier family were nothing but filthy people. The feeling Cosette felt coming out from such a family, together with the doll she'd wanted and some unknown 'savior,' must have been a very happy and stable one.

The fact that Cosette enters the convent suggests yet another possibility of repentance for 'Jean Valjean.' That strange feeling Jean Valjean felt looking at the convent is likely to disappear as Cosette grows up and he watches her grow. Because it's foreshadowed at the end of Vol. 2 that Cosette will grow into a young lady here, so a guess is possible, isn't it?

Javert, the wolf chasing his prey, and Jean Valjean, who holds one like his own child (holding Cosette), are still in a standoff. From the moment Monsieur Madeleine told Javert to release 'Fantine,' these two have kept getting entangled. It's not over yet, but for now Jean Valjean can breathe in the convent. Together with 'Cosette,' more precious to him than himself.