This post is the first installment in a series of reports detailing, in
thus succession, the symbolism, the metaphor, and the psychology of
classic novels.
~
"Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy for you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God."
Les Misérables is a veritable mess of symbolism and analogy. This is partly why I'm so enchanted by it - Symbolism always gets to me. The meaning beneath the story, connexions and wonderful paragraphs loaded with poetry.
Since Les Mis is a mess (an amazing mess, but still sometimes a mess), it is up to you, the reader, to decypher it. And me, since I'm a blogger and writer and general overanalyzer.
The Silver Candlesticks, The Lady-Doll, and The Barricades are all beautiful examples of Victor Hugo's skill, so without further ado... Les Misérables.
The Silver Candlesticks, images of Rebirth and God's Grace, are the objects which, when used by the Bishop to redeem Valjean from a life of living death, follow Valjean throughout his life as reminders of the life he now has and the life he must keep - the love and mercy he must give to others because of the great love and mercy that has been shown him, that he did not either deserve or want, but when he had it he could not possibly leave behind.
A defining moment (after the initial Gift) of Valjean's relationship (could you call it a relationship?) with the Candlesticks is in the latter half of Volume One: Fantine, wherein he has a choice: To let a man go free, who was on trial for a crime that he himself committed, in exchange for his own confession and life sentence in the galleys - or to let the man go to prison in his stead. He {SPOILERS HERE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THIS WONDERFUL BOOK GO READ IT NOW} steels himself to abandon his morals and flee the town, leaving the innocent man to the judgement of the state. In a panicked rush, he burns all of the evidence of his past criminal activity (why he had kept it I am not quite sure...), and at the end of this process, nearly flings the Silver Candlesticks that he had kept close by him for ten years into the fire. As he contemplates these beautiful pieces of artwork, and what they mean in his new and reformed life, he realizes that he cannot burn them, and along with them the memory of the Bishop that had been so kind to him.
I love this scene, because his unwillingness to burn the candlesticks, in the scope of the story, symbolizes his desperate clinging to God. He does not want to go back on his promise which he made before the chapel door. He does not want to condemn an innocent man, even though all of his instincts scream otherwise.
And so he confesses to his crime.
The Silver Candlesticks symbolism is probably the most evident specimen - seeing as they truly change the course of the book - but there are other symbolisms, buried deep, that are quite a bit harder to see, such as the Lady-Doll and The Barricades.
The Lady-Doll is not quite as important as The Barricades, but it plays a small and significant part in a little girl's life.
Who is this little girl? A child who has been abused by two brutal innkeepers who she was left with when her mother could not support her. Valjean finds her in this state of misery and endeavours to adopt her. After having done so, he immediately gifts her with the Lady-Doll, a toy that she had been admiring for weeks but always unable to attain. This Lady-Doll, like the Silver Candlesticks, symbolizes her new life and safety from the horrible innkeepers. It also represents the deep filial love between her and Valjean, love which lasts throughout the book and penetrates all of Valjean's decisions from there on out.
The Barricades are later in the book. Much later.
After the little girl previously mentioned has both grown up and fallen in love, the streets of Paris erupt with a short-lived and tragic revolt. At first glance (or first read), this student's revolution is simply a plot device, used to get the characters where they need to be. This, truly, is the case, but it's no accident that all of the action climaxes there.
The Barricades symbolize freedom. Not just freedom from oppression or from tyranny, but freedom from suffering in the whole. All of the awful things that had happened in the former half of the book - Fantine's heartbreaking end, Valjean's incarceration and slavery, Cosette's abuse, the bloody Battle of Waterloo, Éponine's unappreciated heart full of love (Fans of the Movie/Musical: see what I did there?) that she never got to share, and Javert's hard heart, all of it comes together at the Barricades, and that is what the students are fighting against. Les Misérables - it's summed up in the name. The miserable people are the focus and climax of this book. Though the students are far from perfect, they will not stop until the earth is free from suffering. And although that could never happen through their own interdiction, the passion and the love that they show in trying outweighs the consequence of their eventual slaughter. Even the Miserable People will rise in loyalty and faith. And I believe that is what Victor Hugo tried to show in including this seemingly random Barricade in the otherwise grim novel. And like Valjean said, at the end of his life, with his adopted daughter and her husband at his feet, the Candlesticks by his side, the Bishop and Fantine welcoming him into his rest... "It is nothing to die, but it is frightful not to live."
~
"Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy for you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God."
Les Misérables is a veritable mess of symbolism and analogy. This is partly why I'm so enchanted by it - Symbolism always gets to me. The meaning beneath the story, connexions and wonderful paragraphs loaded with poetry.
Since Les Mis is a mess (an amazing mess, but still sometimes a mess), it is up to you, the reader, to decypher it. And me, since I'm a blogger and writer and general overanalyzer.
The Silver Candlesticks, The Lady-Doll, and The Barricades are all beautiful examples of Victor Hugo's skill, so without further ado... Les Misérables.
The Silver Candlesticks, images of Rebirth and God's Grace, are the objects which, when used by the Bishop to redeem Valjean from a life of living death, follow Valjean throughout his life as reminders of the life he now has and the life he must keep - the love and mercy he must give to others because of the great love and mercy that has been shown him, that he did not either deserve or want, but when he had it he could not possibly leave behind.
A defining moment (after the initial Gift) of Valjean's relationship (could you call it a relationship?) with the Candlesticks is in the latter half of Volume One: Fantine, wherein he has a choice: To let a man go free, who was on trial for a crime that he himself committed, in exchange for his own confession and life sentence in the galleys - or to let the man go to prison in his stead. He {SPOILERS HERE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THIS WONDERFUL BOOK GO READ IT NOW} steels himself to abandon his morals and flee the town, leaving the innocent man to the judgement of the state. In a panicked rush, he burns all of the evidence of his past criminal activity (why he had kept it I am not quite sure...), and at the end of this process, nearly flings the Silver Candlesticks that he had kept close by him for ten years into the fire. As he contemplates these beautiful pieces of artwork, and what they mean in his new and reformed life, he realizes that he cannot burn them, and along with them the memory of the Bishop that had been so kind to him.
I love this scene, because his unwillingness to burn the candlesticks, in the scope of the story, symbolizes his desperate clinging to God. He does not want to go back on his promise which he made before the chapel door. He does not want to condemn an innocent man, even though all of his instincts scream otherwise.
And so he confesses to his crime.
The Silver Candlesticks symbolism is probably the most evident specimen - seeing as they truly change the course of the book - but there are other symbolisms, buried deep, that are quite a bit harder to see, such as the Lady-Doll and The Barricades.
The Lady-Doll is not quite as important as The Barricades, but it plays a small and significant part in a little girl's life.
Who is this little girl? A child who has been abused by two brutal innkeepers who she was left with when her mother could not support her. Valjean finds her in this state of misery and endeavours to adopt her. After having done so, he immediately gifts her with the Lady-Doll, a toy that she had been admiring for weeks but always unable to attain. This Lady-Doll, like the Silver Candlesticks, symbolizes her new life and safety from the horrible innkeepers. It also represents the deep filial love between her and Valjean, love which lasts throughout the book and penetrates all of Valjean's decisions from there on out.
The Barricades are later in the book. Much later.
After the little girl previously mentioned has both grown up and fallen in love, the streets of Paris erupt with a short-lived and tragic revolt. At first glance (or first read), this student's revolution is simply a plot device, used to get the characters where they need to be. This, truly, is the case, but it's no accident that all of the action climaxes there.
The Barricades symbolize freedom. Not just freedom from oppression or from tyranny, but freedom from suffering in the whole. All of the awful things that had happened in the former half of the book - Fantine's heartbreaking end, Valjean's incarceration and slavery, Cosette's abuse, the bloody Battle of Waterloo, Éponine's unappreciated heart full of love (Fans of the Movie/Musical: see what I did there?) that she never got to share, and Javert's hard heart, all of it comes together at the Barricades, and that is what the students are fighting against. Les Misérables - it's summed up in the name. The miserable people are the focus and climax of this book. Though the students are far from perfect, they will not stop until the earth is free from suffering. And although that could never happen through their own interdiction, the passion and the love that they show in trying outweighs the consequence of their eventual slaughter. Even the Miserable People will rise in loyalty and faith. And I believe that is what Victor Hugo tried to show in including this seemingly random Barricade in the otherwise grim novel. And like Valjean said, at the end of his life, with his adopted daughter and her husband at his feet, the Candlesticks by his side, the Bishop and Fantine welcoming him into his rest... "It is nothing to die, but it is frightful not to live."
