Les Miserables Preface

Hugo’s Preface

So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century---the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use.

My Reflection

Victor Hugo is saying in his preface that as long as punishments exist because of what society decides, Les Miserables will always need to be read. The artificial hells that he refers to are pronounced by society, meaning that the people are strongly stating punishments that should be given out, that are probably more serious than the crime originally committed. These hells are within everyday life all over the world. When Jean Valjean is released from prison he just goes into more of a prison. At least in prison he was with other people just like him. When he goes back into the real world he is the only one who has committed a crime and is looked down upon because of it. When Jean is released into what is supposed to be a new life, he is ironically treated the same or even worse than when he was in prison. The corruption of women through hunger can best be shown by Fantine. She becomes a prostitute because she has nothing and even sells her teeth and hair. She is corrupted by a hunger for something big; she hungers for a love after being dumped by the man she thought that she was in love with. All she wanted was to see Cosette and was corrupted by this hunger. An example of the crippling of children is how Cosette has to eat under the table at her foster parent’s home. Her lack of light is her lack of good parenting. By saying that until these issues of society are solved, Les Miserables, and book like it, will always need to be read; Hugo is saying that they will always be read. Society will always have these problems because we are human and these are the characteristics of a human society. The bottom line is that Les Miserables must always be read to teach the readers how to better live life.

My Preface

So long as there shall exist, by failed parenting, students who cannot create motivation for themselves, not working hard for the grade that they desire, and holding back those who actually want to learn; so long as the three great problems of the twenty-first century student- the procrastination of school work through x-box, the carelessness of students through a lack of determination, and the crippling of class time through unneeded conversation-are not corrected; so long as a student can value something more than an education;- In other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as self motivation and hard work do not exist in every student, the educators of the nature of Tim Ballard cannot fail to be of use.

Les Miserables Book Project

Jean Valjean’s Personality

Introvert, Sensor, Feeler, Perceiver

Jean Valjean is, in my opinion, a spontaneous open minded character. He is very dedicated to causes such as stealing bread for his sister’s children. After being released from prison I think Jean became a very compassionate being. You don’t really see this until after the bishop shows him such generosity. Jean isn’t quick to judge because he didn’t appreciate being judged by the people of Digne. Every inn that he went to wouldn’t allow him to stay because he was an x-convict. Jean believes in getting to fully know a persons’ story before judging them.

Parts of Speech that Relate to Jean Valjean

Verb

Accepting- Jean Valjean was treated very poorly in the town of Digne and after being shown what compassion was by the bishop he learned that being accepting of others is the right thing to do.

Noun

Dog- Jean was described as a dog when he says that even a dog would be happy than he. He is compared to a dog multiple times in the book.

Adjective

Spontaneous- He makes decisions without thinking all the way through such as stealing the bread for his sister’s children or even trying to break out of prison multiple times, which just added time to his sentence.

Dense Question

Text- Explain why Jean Valjean felt so honored to be treated the way that he was in the bishop’s home.

Other Lit/World- Describe how Jean Valjean’s experience at the bishop’s house is similar to how equality felt when he discovered the house form the unmentionable times.

Reader- Talk about a time when you have experienced an over whelming feeling of welcome from someone when you didn’t expect it.

After Spending sixteen years in prison, Jean Valjean was finally set free. I assume that he wasn’t treated very well in prison because of how much of a different man he is when he came out- a hardened man. The book says that he travels a long way on foot into the town of Digne, and he just wants a place to sleep and eat. He knocks on the doors of every inn in the town and each of them says the same thing when they find out that he is a convict. Not even the dog would let him stay with him. When he finally goes to the bishop’s house, the bishops treats him like a human- Jean was not used to this treatment. The simple word, “Sir,” made him ecstatic. Jean Valjean was not used to this generosity since he had been in prison so long and everyone had kicked him out.

                The similarity between Jean Valjean’s experience and that of Equality is that they both had a sense of freedom when they walked into the houses. Jean’s freedom was that he was finally being treated like a human again, and Equality’s freedom was just that, he was free from the society that wouldn’t let him be himself.

                I have had an experience like this before. It was when I went on a church mission trip with my youth group. I had not been that involved in youth group, so I was afraid that I wouldn’t have that much fun because I wouldn’t know anyone. To my surprise everyone was just so welcoming of me and made me feel like I fit in. Just like Equality and Jean Valjean a burden had been lifted off my shoulders.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Dense Question:

Text: Why does William switch from relying on magic and tradition to believing so strongly in what science can accomplish?

Other Lit/World: How can William’s experience be compared to that of Equality in Anthem?

Reader: Describe a time when you have done something that no one else around you has thought to do.

When William was young his family and village taught him tradition, just as every kid had been taught that grew up in Malawi. Williams lust for an educational triggers him to go to the library and start teaching himself, and he realizes that there is life outside of his African village. When he discovers the Electricity book he is amazed and begins to wonder how the concepts of electricity and producing electricity could help everyone in his community. I believe that William leaves his beliefs in magic and tradition because of his curiosity in what he could create using this new magic.

Much like William, Equality grows up in a society that teaches everyone to believe in the same thing. In Equality’s case, society took away everyone’s individualism so that no one would discover something that would make them think independently. Like William was taught about magic, Equality was taught that if something wasn’t for the group than it wasn’t right. Equality’s curiosity drove him to break the law and think on his own by finding the tunnel and creating the light from the unmentionable times. This curiosity eventually leads equality to become a dissenter of his society.

                Although this is not life changing or on the same level as William or Equality, one time my dad and I were trying to move a word saw to Wilmington for one of his friends from Raleigh. His friend didn’t tell him that the saw weighed a lot. We couldn’t lift the saw and its stand into the truck to move it. After spending thirty minutes trying to figure out what we were going to do, I came up with a great idea. I went into his friend’s garage and pulled out some old sheets of ply wood. With the wood I created a ramp to roll the saw up into the back of the truck. My idea actually worked out pretty well, so although I didn’t create light or a village powering windmill I did lead the way with a bright idea.