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Jean Valjean (French: [ʒɑ̃ val.ʒɑ̃]) is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables.The story depicts the character's struggle to lead a normal life and redeem himself after serving a 19-year-long prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his sister's starving children and attempting to escape from prison.
Valjean tells them of Fantine's death and initially requests to take Cosette with him, but the Thénardiers attempt to con Valjean, falsely claiming they love Cosette as if she was their own daughter, have had to purchase expensive medicine to treat her for frequent illness, and are worried about the treacherous people she may encounter in the ...
When the real Jean Valjean turns himself in, Javert is promoted to the Paris police force where he arrests Valjean and sends him back to prison. After Valjean escapes again, Javert attempts one more arrest in vain. He then almost recaptures Valjean at Gorbeau house when he arrests the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette. Later, while working ...
Eugène Vidocq, whose career provided a model for the character of Jean Valjean. An incident Hugo witnessed in 1829 involved three strangers and a police officer. One of the strangers was a man who had stolen a loaf of bread, similar to Jean Valjean, being taken to the coach by a police officer. Nearby, two onlookers, a mother and daughter, had ...
The students mourn her death, resolve to fight in her name, and take her body away. In the novel, Mabeuf was the first to die and is mourned, and only Marius is with Éponine during and after her own death. In the stage musical (but not the 2012 film), the spirit of Éponine appears with Fantine to take Valjean to heaven.
Later, Valjean receives word that another man is mistaken as being him and is about to be arrested. Valjean arrives at court where the man is being tried and reveals his identity that he is the real Valjean. Valjean then returns home and finds Fantine at death's door. Before she dies, Valjean promises Fantine that he will raise her daughter as ...
All the after-struggle is secondary to the great event of the beginning, which is the salvation of Jean Valjean, not from the law or the prejudices of society, but from the power of evil. Javert is an accident, though a striking one; the real matter is much higher; it is the work of Bishop Myriel, not of the penal code.
The novella also contains a blueprint of Jean Valjean, the hero of Hugo's Les Miserables. As the Condemned is waiting to be executed he meets another condemned man who recounts his life story. The man tells him that he was originally sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread to save his sister's family. [2]