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.
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