Les Misérables
question
Some thoughts about the end of the novel
Mike
(last edited
Jan 07, 2013 09:57PM
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Jan 07, 2013 09:32PM
For those who haven't read this novel and/or don't want to know what happens, I've left a little spoiler space below.
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I recently finished LM. The last time I read it was many moons ago, so I had forgotten a lot of the details. For instance, I did remember that Jean Valjean had gone through a sewer, but I thought maybe he was trying to outrun Javert there. I also knew that Jean Valjean died at the very end, but I wasn't sure exactly how--maybe he was wounded in battle?
Anyway, now I know exactly what happened, and I wanted to make a few comments.
I thought the novel was going wonderfully toward the end--a great build-up in which Marius learns the real truth about Jean Valjean from the scuzzball Thenardier. But then it seemed to end way too quickly--and in a major letdown. Instead of ending with a bang, the novel seemed to end with a whimper. It's funny how Hugo goes into pages and pages about stuff most folks couldn't care less about (French history, argot, convents, etc.), but then he leaves out some details you'd be dying to know about. If he had to die, I would've liked to see Valjean hang on for several more days at least, and maybe pass on at Marius and Cosette's place or something like that. I would also have liked to read a few chapters about how they coped with his death, paid tribute to him, etc. But it's kind of like the book just . . . ended. And personally, I thought the ending was rather manipulative. (Although I think the book is a masterpiece overall, I can at least understand why the critics of Hugo's day weren't that impressed by it.)
In addition, I was very disappointed with the tone of Valjean's death. I mean, Eponine went out with a bang. She did confess to having some ulterior motives (she wanted to die before Marius, since she had brought him there to the barricade to die too), but just the same, by putting her hand over the gun, she saved Marius's life. So, while it was sad, she did die somewhat nobly. Same with Gavroche. Perhaps he wasn't being very careful, but he was shot down doing what he wanted to do, and sad though it was, he departed nobly as well. Gavroche went down fighting. Not so with Valjean. His death was merely sad IMO. Instead of going out with a bang, he only went out with a whimper.
Although Valjean is certainly a hero for all the wonderful things he had done earlier in the novel, I didn't think there was anything particularly admirable or noble about the way he died. It seems to me that he was basically wallowing in self-pity. If Cosette had died or something, or if she had said to him, "Don't ever come back here, you dirty dog!", I could have understood it. But he just seemed to want to feel sorry for himself.
I realize that he confessed to Marius because of his "conscience," but he seemed to have a very "selective" conscience indeed. For instance, his conscience did *not* seem to bother him about:
1) Failing to turn himself in to the authorities (even after confessing to Marius). I don't blame him for that, of oourse, but it's still inconsistent.
2) Pushing Cosette rather coldly away, calling her "vous" and "madame," and not allowing her to call him "father" anymore.
3) Lying to Cosette several times about not having returned from his "trip."
It was also not admirable the way he kept saying essentially, "I'm not worth anything," "I don't deserve anything good," etc. In fact, his behavior all seemed rather self-centered to me. It was all about *his* feelings. He kept saying to Cosette, "You be happy!", but did he truly care about how she felt? Knowing that she loved him, if he really cared about her happiness and feelings, then why did he just give up and stop eating? How would she have felt to lose her "father"? It seemed like Valjean just wanted to play the victim.
Some lines from the song "You're Not Alone" by Amy Grant say a lot here:
"I saw you walking by yourself,
Your eyes were crying out for help.
I know you think your pain is more
Than anyone's been hurt before.
"I know love hurts when it's over,
If you wanna cry it's all right.
You're like a fallen soldier,
But you just can't lay down and die."
However, it seems that's *exactly* what Valjean did--he just lay down and died. These lines from the Aimee Mann song "Humpty Dumpty" sum up his approach pretty well:
"So get out while you can....
Get out while you can,
'Cuz, baby, I'm pouring quicksand,
And sinking is all I had planned,
So better just go!
"Better take the keys, and drive forever.
Staying won't put these futures back together.
All the perfect drugs and superheroes
Wouldn't be enough to bring me up to zero."
If Valjean had to die at the end, I would've at least liked to see him die nobly, like Eponine, Gavroche, and some of the others. But I thought his death was very disappointing, depressing, and anti-climactic. For being such a great hero, I thought Valjean deserved a much better ending than that.
A few other points:
Why were we never told what happened to the two youngest Thenardier siblings? It was strange that they were never mentioned again.
I guess Marius eventually found out that Cosette had lived with the Thenardiers (assuming she actually remembered their name)?
I wasn't particularly impressed with the way the ABC Society and the rest of the insurgents conducted themselves during the barricade. They almost seemed like opportunists--or even anarchists.
I had some serious criticisms of Marius as well:
1) When he found out that Cosette might be moving to England, he basically just gave up (just like Jean Valjean at the end), didn't seem to think of anyone else but himself, and opted to use the barricades as a way of escape. (Just because Cosette might move to England, that didn't mean they could *never* be together, or that Cosette would stop loving him.)
2) Marius killed two people during the attack on the barricade. But then later, he considers Jean Valjean a "murderer." Hello?? What about those *two* people that Marius himself killed? I thought it was extremely ironic that he looked down big-time on Valjean the convict, when Marius should have been sent to prison himself for far worse crimes. I wonder if Hugo intended for readers to notice the irony there?
3) I had no respect at all for the cowardly ways that Marius used to try to get Valjean to stop coming to their house: a) putting out the fire, b) moving the armchairs, c) finally removing the armchairs altogether. He had promised to allow Valjean to continue to see Cosette, but obviously he wasn't a man of his word. If Marius had had real integrity, perhaps Valjean wouldn't have died for a long time.
I wonder if Hugo was trying to teach his readers any particular lessons through some of his characters? For instance, with Javert, was he trying to say that it's dangerous to hold too firmly/blindly to certain ideals? And with Valjean, was he trying to say that obsessive/possessive love is dangerous as well and can even kill a person in the end?
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts for now. Feel free to join in. :)
s
p
o
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r
s
p
a
c
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I recently finished LM. The last time I read it was many moons ago, so I had forgotten a lot of the details. For instance, I did remember that Jean Valjean had gone through a sewer, but I thought maybe he was trying to outrun Javert there. I also knew that Jean Valjean died at the very end, but I wasn't sure exactly how--maybe he was wounded in battle?
Anyway, now I know exactly what happened, and I wanted to make a few comments.
I thought the novel was going wonderfully toward the end--a great build-up in which Marius learns the real truth about Jean Valjean from the scuzzball Thenardier. But then it seemed to end way too quickly--and in a major letdown. Instead of ending with a bang, the novel seemed to end with a whimper. It's funny how Hugo goes into pages and pages about stuff most folks couldn't care less about (French history, argot, convents, etc.), but then he leaves out some details you'd be dying to know about. If he had to die, I would've liked to see Valjean hang on for several more days at least, and maybe pass on at Marius and Cosette's place or something like that. I would also have liked to read a few chapters about how they coped with his death, paid tribute to him, etc. But it's kind of like the book just . . . ended. And personally, I thought the ending was rather manipulative. (Although I think the book is a masterpiece overall, I can at least understand why the critics of Hugo's day weren't that impressed by it.)
In addition, I was very disappointed with the tone of Valjean's death. I mean, Eponine went out with a bang. She did confess to having some ulterior motives (she wanted to die before Marius, since she had brought him there to the barricade to die too), but just the same, by putting her hand over the gun, she saved Marius's life. So, while it was sad, she did die somewhat nobly. Same with Gavroche. Perhaps he wasn't being very careful, but he was shot down doing what he wanted to do, and sad though it was, he departed nobly as well. Gavroche went down fighting. Not so with Valjean. His death was merely sad IMO. Instead of going out with a bang, he only went out with a whimper.
Although Valjean is certainly a hero for all the wonderful things he had done earlier in the novel, I didn't think there was anything particularly admirable or noble about the way he died. It seems to me that he was basically wallowing in self-pity. If Cosette had died or something, or if she had said to him, "Don't ever come back here, you dirty dog!", I could have understood it. But he just seemed to want to feel sorry for himself.
I realize that he confessed to Marius because of his "conscience," but he seemed to have a very "selective" conscience indeed. For instance, his conscience did *not* seem to bother him about:
1) Failing to turn himself in to the authorities (even after confessing to Marius). I don't blame him for that, of oourse, but it's still inconsistent.
2) Pushing Cosette rather coldly away, calling her "vous" and "madame," and not allowing her to call him "father" anymore.
3) Lying to Cosette several times about not having returned from his "trip."
It was also not admirable the way he kept saying essentially, "I'm not worth anything," "I don't deserve anything good," etc. In fact, his behavior all seemed rather self-centered to me. It was all about *his* feelings. He kept saying to Cosette, "You be happy!", but did he truly care about how she felt? Knowing that she loved him, if he really cared about her happiness and feelings, then why did he just give up and stop eating? How would she have felt to lose her "father"? It seemed like Valjean just wanted to play the victim.
Some lines from the song "You're Not Alone" by Amy Grant say a lot here:
"I saw you walking by yourself,
Your eyes were crying out for help.
I know you think your pain is more
Than anyone's been hurt before.
"I know love hurts when it's over,
If you wanna cry it's all right.
You're like a fallen soldier,
But you just can't lay down and die."
However, it seems that's *exactly* what Valjean did--he just lay down and died. These lines from the Aimee Mann song "Humpty Dumpty" sum up his approach pretty well:
"So get out while you can....
Get out while you can,
'Cuz, baby, I'm pouring quicksand,
And sinking is all I had planned,
So better just go!
"Better take the keys, and drive forever.
Staying won't put these futures back together.
All the perfect drugs and superheroes
Wouldn't be enough to bring me up to zero."
If Valjean had to die at the end, I would've at least liked to see him die nobly, like Eponine, Gavroche, and some of the others. But I thought his death was very disappointing, depressing, and anti-climactic. For being such a great hero, I thought Valjean deserved a much better ending than that.
A few other points:
Why were we never told what happened to the two youngest Thenardier siblings? It was strange that they were never mentioned again.
I guess Marius eventually found out that Cosette had lived with the Thenardiers (assuming she actually remembered their name)?
I wasn't particularly impressed with the way the ABC Society and the rest of the insurgents conducted themselves during the barricade. They almost seemed like opportunists--or even anarchists.
I had some serious criticisms of Marius as well:
1) When he found out that Cosette might be moving to England, he basically just gave up (just like Jean Valjean at the end), didn't seem to think of anyone else but himself, and opted to use the barricades as a way of escape. (Just because Cosette might move to England, that didn't mean they could *never* be together, or that Cosette would stop loving him.)
2) Marius killed two people during the attack on the barricade. But then later, he considers Jean Valjean a "murderer." Hello?? What about those *two* people that Marius himself killed? I thought it was extremely ironic that he looked down big-time on Valjean the convict, when Marius should have been sent to prison himself for far worse crimes. I wonder if Hugo intended for readers to notice the irony there?
3) I had no respect at all for the cowardly ways that Marius used to try to get Valjean to stop coming to their house: a) putting out the fire, b) moving the armchairs, c) finally removing the armchairs altogether. He had promised to allow Valjean to continue to see Cosette, but obviously he wasn't a man of his word. If Marius had had real integrity, perhaps Valjean wouldn't have died for a long time.
I wonder if Hugo was trying to teach his readers any particular lessons through some of his characters? For instance, with Javert, was he trying to say that it's dangerous to hold too firmly/blindly to certain ideals? And with Valjean, was he trying to say that obsessive/possessive love is dangerous as well and can even kill a person in the end?
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts for now. Feel free to join in. :)
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Sorry about your depression, Joanne; that can be a very rough road.
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I personally felt that his death was much more than what you are stating. The book is about love - not about being a hero. Throughout the entire story it shows Valjean learning about love, and giving that to others. Showing that when you are kind and respect others, you can be forgiven. I truly felt that his death came in peace, and the author wanted it that way. Valjean's journey was meant to show that good comes with love and forgiveness. That peace comes with love and forgiveness. And his death gave him peace. I also felt that it was (for me personally) the only place to end the story. It was meant to show that final lesson in love and forgiveness, and nothing further. Such a beautiful lesson to learn.
Perhaps the reason why Jean Valjean died in a wimpy way is so his life would stick with the readers more than his death would. For several characters, their deaths are the most memorable things they did. Another difference is that Jean had lived a full life, saving many people so he was ready to die and felt no need to fight it. "Ce n'est rien de mourir, c'est affreux ne pas vivre." In response to Marius criticism, I think Marius was intended to be a guy with some iffy qualities because Hugo wanted the readers to understand why Jean Valjean to dislike him while not entirely disliking him themselves. Also, the constant criticism of Valjean's past theft increases the readers' sympathy for him while emphasizing that the laws at this time did not expect people to reform.
About the Thenardier siblings: I read an analysis on this point somewhere that perhaps it's Hugo's way of saying, "Look, there are still miserable people out there and it's up to you what you're going to do with them." I think it's a charming idea. The last time those two mentioned the older one took care of the younger compassionately, and I love that scene so much.
I also think about Valjean the same way as you do. I mean, he's like torturing himself. Believe me or not, in real live there are people who choose the same way of torturing themselves as well. They are trapped between despair and desire (in Jean's case, it's the desire to still be Cosette's father). I was just mad when I read that part.
Marius, well, there are some points that I love in him.
1) His determination when he went out of his grandfather's house. He might be a proud bloke but he lived up to his pride. He's quite admirable in the third volume, before he met Cosette, that is.
2) He treated Cosette as a lady. He didn't take advantage of Cosette's naivety. I feel a chaste and sweet love between the two and I love that.
Certainly, I don't really like him in the end. Your 1st and 3rd point being my greatest reasons.
I also don't understand why Marius despises Jean. I mean, the fact that he confesses all his crime to Marius is enough to tell him that this man has changed for good. Also Cosette's childhood story (if she tells it) would reveal the excessive kindness that Jean shows towards Cosette. Not mentioning Marius' own experience watching Jean giving money to the Thenardiers.
I love the guys in the barricade. I know some students who talk about change and do nothing to make it happen. But the Amis are different. I am more concerned about how Hugo seems to make an impression that the insurrection was in vain. I just feel that way. It's like, "They are dead, so, now what?" sort-of thing. But in reality things like that happened, right?
There are so many things that we can think about when reading Les Miserables.
I also think about Valjean the same way as you do. I mean, he's like torturing himself. Believe me or not, in real live there are people who choose the same way of torturing themselves as well. They are trapped between despair and desire (in Jean's case, it's the desire to still be Cosette's father). I was just mad when I read that part.
Marius, well, there are some points that I love in him.
1) His determination when he went out of his grandfather's house. He might be a proud bloke but he lived up to his pride. He's quite admirable in the third volume, before he met Cosette, that is.
2) He treated Cosette as a lady. He didn't take advantage of Cosette's naivety. I feel a chaste and sweet love between the two and I love that.
Certainly, I don't really like him in the end. Your 1st and 3rd point being my greatest reasons.
I also don't understand why Marius despises Jean. I mean, the fact that he confesses all his crime to Marius is enough to tell him that this man has changed for good. Also Cosette's childhood story (if she tells it) would reveal the excessive kindness that Jean shows towards Cosette. Not mentioning Marius' own experience watching Jean giving money to the Thenardiers.
I love the guys in the barricade. I know some students who talk about change and do nothing to make it happen. But the Amis are different. I am more concerned about how Hugo seems to make an impression that the insurrection was in vain. I just feel that way. It's like, "They are dead, so, now what?" sort-of thing. But in reality things like that happened, right?
There are so many things that we can think about when reading Les Miserables.
I read Valjean's actions towards the end a little differently - through the eyes of a depressed person. Partly because I've been depressed before.
His life turned around when he found Cosette and he could play the father role. After years of having her all to himself, he finds out that she's in love with another man and he never really had a right to her love.
Perhaps, he felt somewhat rejected and bereft of a raison d'etre after he found out she'd been sneaking around behind his back to be with her new love. It sounds like a trivial thing for him to fall into depression, but for people with low self-esteem who never felt like they deserved happiness or love, this can be a huge turning point.
Thereafter, he just wants to be alone. He sees himself as a hindrance to other people's happiness and pushes them away, thinking he'd doing them a huge favour by disappearing from their lives. In fact, he withdraws into himself so much that he just waits to die. (At least his religious convictions are so strong he doesn't resort to suicide, which is something many depressed people think of.) I know exactly how this feels.
Anyway, that's my little psycho-analysis that I'm sure many of you will find wayyy off!
I welcome any thoughts - rejection or otherwise!
His life turned around when he found Cosette and he could play the father role. After years of having her all to himself, he finds out that she's in love with another man and he never really had a right to her love.
Perhaps, he felt somewhat rejected and bereft of a raison d'etre after he found out she'd been sneaking around behind his back to be with her new love. It sounds like a trivial thing for him to fall into depression, but for people with low self-esteem who never felt like they deserved happiness or love, this can be a huge turning point.
Thereafter, he just wants to be alone. He sees himself as a hindrance to other people's happiness and pushes them away, thinking he'd doing them a huge favour by disappearing from their lives. In fact, he withdraws into himself so much that he just waits to die. (At least his religious convictions are so strong he doesn't resort to suicide, which is something many depressed people think of.) I know exactly how this feels.
Anyway, that's my little psycho-analysis that I'm sure many of you will find wayyy off!
I welcome any thoughts - rejection or otherwise!
I think your argument is pretty sound Joanne, but I do like Lauren's point about the ignoble death being so that we can remember the life rather than the death.
It has been a while since I have read the book, but I agree it seemed odd that he starved himself.
Perhaps this is a suicide to mirror Javert's?
I suppose also that many old folk do end up taking the choice to end their lives in this way, and I guess Hugo and Valjean both felt that this was the right time for their deaths.
I certainly feel that the ending was very very sad in many ways, but I do remember there being some joy in the ending.
The most important thing about his death is that he finally feels the pardon of those that he loves, for what has been a tormenting secret all his life.
I think that is the drama on which Hugo was turning the death of Valjean on.
It has been a while since I have read the book, but I agree it seemed odd that he starved himself.
Perhaps this is a suicide to mirror Javert's?
I suppose also that many old folk do end up taking the choice to end their lives in this way, and I guess Hugo and Valjean both felt that this was the right time for their deaths.
I certainly feel that the ending was very very sad in many ways, but I do remember there being some joy in the ending.
The most important thing about his death is that he finally feels the pardon of those that he loves, for what has been a tormenting secret all his life.
I think that is the drama on which Hugo was turning the death of Valjean on.
Mike, i'm afraid you have fallen into the trap of judging a then-and-there work with a here-and-now perspective. Hugo was speaking to his time and place. I see your points about what seemed to be lacking but i think we have to take literature as it is and try to see why. You must like the Liam Neeson movie where Valjean walks away at the end.
In my opinion, Valjean's death was a beautiful thing. It was the only part of the book that actually brought tears to my eyes. In a sense it was a happy ending for man who was miserable all his life to have his daughter and her husband (the man who inherited the job of taking care of Cosette) realize what a great man Valjean was, regardless of his past and to lay down the burden of his agonizing life and reaching eternal peace.
Let me add that I'm not a religious person, but I do believe that when we die, we join something higher, whether it be a sort of a Heaven, or God; or reunite with the forces of universe. Also I admire the beliefs of Buddhists and in reincarnation that we suffer in certain lives to cleans of our sins and come back to correct those errors and ultimately achieve nirvana.
He dies a happy and content man and regardless of your beliefs of what death brings, that is a beautiful thing.
Let me add that I'm not a religious person, but I do believe that when we die, we join something higher, whether it be a sort of a Heaven, or God; or reunite with the forces of universe. Also I admire the beliefs of Buddhists and in reincarnation that we suffer in certain lives to cleans of our sins and come back to correct those errors and ultimately achieve nirvana.
He dies a happy and content man and regardless of your beliefs of what death brings, that is a beautiful thing.
I finished the book last night and was thinking about Jean's death too.
I think perhaps he was just tired and ready to be done with this life. Think of the life he'd been through! Obviously he believed in an afterlife with God. And yes, he was sad about Cossette but yet he knew she was well taken care of. The law was not after him anymore: Javert was dead and as far as I can tell he was the only one who even knew Jean was still alive. His story had been told (perhaps not in the detail I would have liked) to Marius and Cossette. All the ends had been wrapped up, perfectly.
Perhaps he was just tired. He'd been in prison or running for, what, 40 years? From age 19 till 60 or so? Even his time as Monsieur Madeleine had to have been fraught with worry.
The book would not have been as powerful, I think, if he had gone on to live with Cossette in the Gillenormand house and died a peaceful death at an old age. How dull that would be compared to all that came before.
I think perhaps he was just tired and ready to be done with this life. Think of the life he'd been through! Obviously he believed in an afterlife with God. And yes, he was sad about Cossette but yet he knew she was well taken care of. The law was not after him anymore: Javert was dead and as far as I can tell he was the only one who even knew Jean was still alive. His story had been told (perhaps not in the detail I would have liked) to Marius and Cossette. All the ends had been wrapped up, perfectly.
Perhaps he was just tired. He'd been in prison or running for, what, 40 years? From age 19 till 60 or so? Even his time as Monsieur Madeleine had to have been fraught with worry.
The book would not have been as powerful, I think, if he had gone on to live with Cossette in the Gillenormand house and died a peaceful death at an old age. How dull that would be compared to all that came before.
Good analysis, Joanne.
I think, too, we might look at Valjean's self-demeaning/-denying statements near the end to Cosette and Marius as rather accurate portrayals of combined generous love and angry agony (to be losing his close life with Cosette--his place as first in Cosette's heart).
In the Neeson film version at least Cosette has some spirit and some sense--actually notices that her father's hurting and tells Marius they must act better toward him. I suppose the "real"--that is, Hugo's 19th-c.---Cosette more reflects what men of the time thought a good woman would think and act like.
I think, too, we might look at Valjean's self-demeaning/-denying statements near the end to Cosette and Marius as rather accurate portrayals of combined generous love and angry agony (to be losing his close life with Cosette--his place as first in Cosette's heart).
In the Neeson film version at least Cosette has some spirit and some sense--actually notices that her father's hurting and tells Marius they must act better toward him. I suppose the "real"--that is, Hugo's 19th-c.---Cosette more reflects what men of the time thought a good woman would think and act like.
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