1. Personification- “The crucifix above the mantelpiece was dimly visible in the moonlight, apparently extending its arms toward both (27)”.
This usage of personification utilizes the motif of God, by using the crucifix to emphasize the immorality of Valjean's robbery.
2. Metaphor- “with the stealthy and timorous carefulness of a cat (26)"
This metaphor compares Valjean's quick movement, while stealing the silver from the Bishop, to the quickness of a cat.
3.Simile- “He stood still, petrified like the pillar of salt (26)”.
This simile shows the hesitation of Valjean while entering the Bishop's room when he is about to steal the silver.
4.Simile- “which is like the echo of a demon’s laugh (23)”
This simile is a another reference to the motif of God (and religion), by comparing Valjean's immoral act to a demon.
5. Personification- “she felt the fearful darkness of her hatred melt within a flow away (66)”.
This usage of personification shows the fear of Fantine's live slowly leaving as Valjean enters it.
Throughout the episode of Fantine, Hugo uses the symbolic archetype of light versus darkness through the setting when Valjean is in the galleys, when Valjean steals from the bishop, and when Valjean steals from Petit Gervais. In the dark and dreary galleys of France, “there was no sun (23)” which led to the “hatred of the human race (23)”. One of the major motifs of Fantine is the futility of the French penal system, and Hugo further shows that hatred by archetypally depicting their main form of imprisonment, the galleys, as a horrible place. Since dark, and in this case the lack of light or sun, is symbolic of evil, Hugo makes the connection between the galley’s lack of light and its tendency to turn petty offenders into harden criminals filled with hatred. Furthermore, as Valjean goes on to steal from the Bishop of Digne “a dark cloud had darkened the sky (26)” but “a ray of moonlight… lighted up the bishop’s pale face (26)”. Once again, Hugo displays the archetype of darkness symbolizing evil, while light symbolizes good, by assigning them to their corresponding characters in the book. Once again, Hugo illustrates the effects of the penal system on Valjean, by originally portraying him as an innocent character, but after nineteen years in the penal system, he becomes an evil man with a dark soul. Finally, as Jean Valjean steals the forty-sous piece from the small child, Petit Gervais, “the sun had gone down (32)”. This symbolizes how at that point Valjean had reached a new low and a new level of immorality. Through the extinguishing of the sun, and the loss of light, Valjean is shown to have lost all righteousness within himself, until he goes through his rebirth “when he wept, [and] the light grew brighter and brighter (34)”. For the duration of the book Fantine, Hugo uses the symbolic archetype of light versus darkness to explain the change of Valjean from an innocent man to a product of the merciless penal system back to his original identity.
Hugo illustrates his mastery of characterization in his portrayal of Fantine by her thoughts, the author’s side notes, and other character’s comments. “When Fantine realized how she was living, she had a moment of joy. To live honestly by her own labor, what a heavenly boon!” (51) By the usage of her thoughts, Hugo shows Fantine’s love for life. This quality is symbolic of the extent of the poverty in France at those times by illustrating the great excitement of Fantine just for having a job; additionally, it shows the blind dedication of the working poor to their job. Fantine is later shown to be the equivalent of “society buying a slave… from misery. From hunger, from cold, from loneliness, from abandonment, from privation” (58). By making this side comment, Hugo shows the history of Fantine, along with the current poverty of her life. This also shows his anger at the state of the working poor of the nation. When Jean Valjean orders Monsieur Laffitte to let "this poor woman" (79), Fantine, go, he is further showing not only his humanity towards other, but the social vulnerability of Fantine. Furthermore, he is symbolizing how the hero of the story, Valjean, who parallels the goodness of the Revolution in many ways, goes on to help the working poor of France. So, by using her own thoughts, some of his own side notes, and the ideas of other characters, Hugo is able to successfully depict Fantine as a typical lower class citizen of 19th century France.
1.Anaphora- "that he had a brother (the prioress gave a start), a brother not young (second start of the prioress, but a reassured start); that if it was desired, this brother could come and live with him and help him; that he was an excellent gardener; that the community would get good services from him, better then his own; that otherwise, if his brother were not admitted, as he the oldest, felt that he was broken down, and unequal to the labor, he would be obliged to leave, though with much regret, and that his brother had a little girl that he would bring with him, who would be reared under God in the house, and who, perhaps- who knows?" (184)
Hugo employs the use of anaphors in a narrative in order to explain the conversation between Valjean and Fauchelevent in a way which overuses "that" and "he" to convey a tedious feeling.
2.Personification- "The moon was an evil genius on this plain." (121)
While the newly dead and dying lay on the battlefield after Waterloo, many looters were walking through the area, and the moon gave them the cover they needed to do their evil.
3.Personification- "a harsh cold blast, the blast that had frozen his youth, careered across that grated moat and manacled the vultures; but a wind still more biting and more cruel beat upon the dove cage." (189)
Obviously Hugo was not merely describing a gust of air, but rather the "winds of change" that caused all of Valjean's discomfort and the pain he suffered in his middle years. This wind was evidently blowing again, this time pointing at a younger person.
4. Anaphora- "Everything around him, this quiet garden, these balmy flowers, these children, shoting with joy, these meek and simple women, this silent cloister, gradually entered into all his being, and, little by little, his soul subsided into silence like this cloister, intofragrance like these flowers, into peace like this garden, into simplicity like these women, into joy like these children." (189)
Hugo uses anaphora in this list of comparisons to make them drag out and sound like a lot more things than they actaully are.
5. Personification- "Night, probably, knew more of his doings than day!" (121)
This usage of personification is used to show that Thenardiers conducts his dastardly work of looting corpses at night, however, night cannot actually know of him or his deeds, since night is not human.
One of the “seven major archetypes” presents itself in the book of Cosette from Les Miserables, the divine child. Cosette represents the divine child through her innocence and vulnerability, transformational power, and overall the force of individuation. Her innocence comes with the fact she is in fact a young child in this book. “‘Can I play?’” (Hugo 146) she asked with a smile across her sweet little face. How can a creature so vulnerable and fragile bear the power to change so much. Cosette’s influence is shown through Jean Valjean. “Jean Valjean bent down and kissed the child’s hand.” (Hugo 160) The child transformed him into an even greater caring and compassionate man. Instead of just having to take care of himself, Valjean now had another life to watch over. Cosette prevent Valjean from returning to a life of crime too, again showing her life-alternating power. “And then he reflected that two houses of God had received him in succession at the two critical moments in his life, the first when every door was closed and human society repelled him; the second, when human society again howled upon his track, and the galleys once more gaped for him; and that, had it not been for the first, he should have fallen back into crime, and had it not been for the second, into punishment.” (Hugo 189) During Cosette’s stay with the horrible Thenardiers, her character does not change, proving her strong sense of individuation. Cosette will always be the ray of sunshine that lights up life; she is the divine child.
The book of Cossette, although inherently not as sad and depressing as Fantine, still conveys quite a bit of sadness. One of the most featured antagonists in the first half of this book is the Thenardiers, and although the reader had exposure to their devious and appalling ways, more was needed to understand their characters. It is because of this reason that Hugo was so descriptive in the opening few pages of the book, when Thenardier was rummaging through the battlefield in the aftermath of Waterloo, looting the dead soldiers. In order for the reader to fully understand what the full extent of the evil of Thenardier’s soul, Hugo has a string of dialogue issued from Thenardier. This dialogue does not further the plot as much as it gives the reader and indication as to how uncaring and unfeeling this man is. For instance, when a near dead man grabs his capote, he does not rush to his aid, but instead “began to laugh. ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘it’s only the dead man. I like a ghost better than a gendarme.’”(122) This cold and repulsive dialogue emanating from Thenardier helps the reader to understand this character, and consequently, the effect he has on the book. Hugo employs the use of vivid imagery as well to show detail. For instance, instead of merely remarking that Cossette is malnourished or very skinny, she is described as having a “whole dress made of nothing but a rag…black and blue spots could be distinguished, which indicated that places where Thenardiess had touched her. Her naked legs were red and rough. The hollows under her collar bones would make one weep.” (143) The reader now has an incredibly vivid image of Cossette, and is therefore much more understanding of the desperate situation she is in. Another area in the book when the utmost attention to detail and imagery is used is during Jean Valjean and Cossette’s evasion of Javert and his soldiers. While it would suffice to say that Jean Valjean and Cossette climbed over the wall, Hugo instead tells how “Valjean seized her, put her on his back, took her two little hands in his left hand, lay down flat and crawled along the top of the wall. As he had supposed, there was a building there, the roof of which sloped very nearly to the ground, with a gentle inclination.” (174) This descriptive and detail-ridden paragraph gives the reader the sense that although Valjean was desperate to escape from Javert, he still took the utmost care to refrain from hurting Cossette, delicately placing her in every which way he could. This demonstrates once again Jean Valjean’s kindness and goodness towards all, especially Cossette.
1. Metaphor- “He had quite ingenuously spread his wings and taken flight.” (Hugo 193)
This metaphor describes how well the abandoned son of the Thenardiers, Gavroche, can function on the street all by himself.
2. Simile- “It was like a rising tide, complicated by a thousand ebbs; the peculiarity of the ebb is to make mixtures; thence very singular combinations of ideas; men worshiped at the same time Napoleon and liberty.” (Hugo 213)
This simile serves as an allegory to the gradual change from royalists to democrats that was beginning to take place in France and would lead up to the revolution.
3.Personification- “Life became stern to Marius.” (Hugo 224)
Personification is used in this example to show what has become of Marius’ life after the death of the father he admired, but never knew.
4.Imagery-“Volcanoes are full of blackness, capable of flashing flames.” (Hugo 245)”
In this case, the imagery of the volcano is used to further exemplify the effect that even the lowest class can have on a society.
5.Hyperbole-“You warm your feet; you have Socoski pumps, you have wadded overcoats like archbishops, you live on the first floor in houses with a porter, you eat truffles, you eat forty-franc bunches of asparagus in the month of January, and green peas; you stuff yourselves and when you want to know if it is cold you look in the newspaper to see at what degree the thermometer of the inventor Chevalier, stands.” (Hugo 280)
Thenardier uses a hyperbole to exaggerate the ornate and elegant lifestyle of Monsieur Leblanc and as a reason for why he steals.
The symbolic archetype of light vs. darkness presents itself in the book of Marius from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Monsieur Leblanc represents the light in this book, in fact Valjean is the underlying hero of the entire story. "…and the father Monsieur Leblanc [White]…" (Hugo 236) represents light, or symbolically, rebirth and goodness. His benevolence is shown through his care of Cosette, he takes another child in and cares for them as if they were his own. His rebirth is shown through his transition from a normal man to a father. On the other hand, the Jondrettes (Thenardiers) embody true darkness through their shady and sleazy actions; they are "bandits!" (Hugo 279). They lie, cheat, and steal their way through life, everything they do only benefits jman31312: themselves. They threw their own son, Gavroche, out of the house because they didn't want to have an extra mouth to feed. The fight between light and darkness is shown at the end of Marius when the Jondrettes try to rob Monsieur Leblanc. Monsieur Leblanc refuses to sign over any of his money and when the cops arrive, Leblanc gets away. "The rope ladder was still trembling." (Hugo 290). This symbolic event proves light will always prevail over darkness in the end.
Victor Hugo’s style in Les Miserables’s Marius is very soothing and tranquil, yet intelligent and thought provoking too. In revealing Marius’ love for Cosette, Hugo’s style shows lots of imagery and flows very smoothly. “Sometimes he would stand for half an hour motionless behind some Leonidas or Spartacus, with a book in his hand, over which his eyes, timidly raised, were looking for the young girl, while she, for her part, was turning her charming profile toward him, suffused with a smile.” (Hugo 243) “Beautiful with a beauty which combined all of the woman with all of the angel, a beauty which would have made Petrarch sing and Dante kneel.” (Hugo 242) The arguments between the political views of Marius and Gilganormad give two opposing viewpoints on the future of France. “He was reading the bulletins of the Grand Army, those heroic strophes written on the battlefield; he saw there at intervals his father’s name, the emperor’s name everywhere; the whole of the grand empire appeared before him; he felt as if a tide were swelling and rising within him; it seemed to him at moments that his father was passing by him like a breath and whispering in his ear; gradually he grew wandering; he thought he heard the drums, the cannon, the trumpets, the measured tread of the battalions, the dull and distant gallop of the cavalry; from time to time he lifted his eyes to the sky and saw the colossal constellations shining in the limitless abysses, then they fell back on the book, and saw there other colossal things moving about confusedly.” (Hugo 207) Hugo’s style is better classified as an intricate blend of multiple different styles. Because of this refined style of writing found in Marius and the rest of Les Miserables that made this novel world-renowned.
1. Simile- “The Thenardiers had remained to her like two hideous faces of some dream.”(309)
This simile emphasizes how the Thenardiers have an underlying connotation of evil.
2. Anaphora- “Marius had told Cosette that he was an orphan, that his name was Marius Pontmercy, that he was a lawyer, that he lived by writing things for publishers, that his father was a colonel, that he was a hero, and that he, Marius, had quarreled with his grandfather who was rich.”(334)
Hugo uses this anaphora during a narrative describing Marius’ conversation with Cosette in order to draw out the sentence with the use of “that he” at the beginning of every clause.
3.Simile- “She was at the age when the maiden bears her love as the angel bears her lily.”(335)
This simile is used to compare how her love for Marius is fitting for her current situation.
4.Anaphora- “Never had the sky been more studded with stars, of more charming, the trees more tremulous, the odor of the shrubs more penetrating never had the birds gone to sleep in the leaves with a softer sound; never had all the harmonies of the universal serenity better responded to the interior music of love; never had Marius been more enamored, more happy, more in ecstasy.”(338)
Marius’ love for Cosette is displayed in another one of Hugo’s anaphors. He does this in order to stress Marius’ feelings in a way which the reader feels exhausted by the overuse of “never”.
5.Simile- “Mobs, as we know, are like snowballs and gather a heap of tumultuous men as they roll.”(379)
This simile describes the group of revolutionists, which currently is lead by Enjolras and adds to the context of the sentence by showing how people blindly follow the leadership of others, similar to how snowballs roll and accumulate more snow.
Marius’s desire during the episode of St. Denis is for a reformation of the government which is evident through his actions with the Friends of the ABC. His ambition is similar to those of a seeker hero archetype. Marius “feels in his soul a secret revolt against any act whatever of the state”(356). Even when he was young, he disagreed with his father and believed that there must be a uprising to change current situations. As the revolution begins, Marius’s old companions, the Friends of the ABC, prepare for the pending battle with the army. They built a barricade, which was used in as a headquarters for the revolutionists. The battle commences and the cries for a “French Revolution!”(388) is heard throughout the barricade. Following the first wave of attacks, Marius “had rushed into the conflict”(393) with pistols in hand, first saving Gavroche, then Courfeyrac. Showing that he would perform any deed in order to save or secure the revolution he exclaims, “I’ll blow up the barricade!”(394), while the National Guards as well as the revolutionists were inside. This threat frightens the guards and causes them to flee, saving many of his friends. Leading to this point, Marius acts according to yearning for “Fraternity!”(390) and “Equality”(390).
Hugo depicts an ironic tone when Eponine, the daughter of the mischievous Thenardiers, saves Marius. During the heat of a battle in the barricade, “a soldier aimed at him. At the moment the soldier aimed at Marius, a hand was laid upon the muzzle of the musket and stopped it.”(393) This hand belonged to Eponine. In previous sections of the book, Hugo makes it evident that Eponine loves Marius with all her heart, although “he had not thought even once of this girl”(326). This unrequited love Eponine had for Marius caused her demise because she was willing to give up everything, including her life for the man she loved. When Marius realizes that it is Eponine who saves him, he feels sorrow but still does not feel the romantic love Eponine feels for him. During her last moments of life while she is in Marius’s arms, she utters, “How kind it is! I don’t suffer anymore!”(397). This shows how she lives only to please Marius and pays the ultimate price, death, in order to be with the man she loves.
1. Simile- “his eyes, full of the interior sight, a kind of stifled fire…his fair hair waved backward like that of the angel upon his somber car of stars….” (Hugo 415)
Enjolras uses this simile when he is about to begin a bold and uplifting speech, convincing the troops in the barricades that although the impending attack from the army of Paris means certain death for all, the ideology that the A B C fights for will become immortalized and their deaths will eventually bring happiness to the future citizens of France.
2. Metaphor-“a sparrow, mocking at the hunters” (426)
An excellent metaphor that augments this character’s bravery applies to Gavroche, when the child daringly marches out of the barricade to collect ammo for the A B C. While bullets are literally flying all around him, he seemed to not have a care in the world.
3. Personification- “bullets ran after him; he was more nimble than they” (426).
The bullets, of course, did not physically run after Gavroche, but the personification gave the reader the sense that they were actually playing a cat and mouse game, and that Gavroche was, so far, winning.
4. Personification- "more treacherous than the others… reached the will-o'-wisp child."
When he was finally struck down, the bullet is described as treacherous, however it is outlandish to think a bullet can possibly have such a quality.
5. Anaphora-"She is exquisite, this darling. She is a masterpiece, this Cossette! She is a very little girl and a very great lady. She will be only a baroness, that is stooping; she was born a marchioness." (474)
This quote is used by Gillenormand to show praise for Cosette. He expresses his views for the love of Marius and in his dialogue conveys that he accepts the mutual love shared between Cosette and marius.
Much of the book Valjean takes place within the barricades, where a closely knit and very idealistic group of men, Marius among them, are willing to die together in the hopes that the dogma they all believed in would one day be established. This archetype of the Hunting Group of Companions exemplifies the bond between these thirty or so men. For instance, after Enjolras informs the men that a third of the army of Paris is due to invade the barricade (spelling certain death for all who remain in the barricade), the first exclamation heard from the loyal members of the A B C is “Long live death! Let us all stay!” (413) They pay absolutely no heed to the fact that every single person in the barricade (except for Marius and Valjean) will die a gruesome death at the hands of the army of Paris. Only after much convincing do five men agree to leave the barricade because they have others to support. The Society of Friends of the A B C do not share merely the will to die, however. They appear to be completely in unison in their attacks, trusting each other to participate in the attacks. On Enjolras’ command, “The whole barricade flashed fire” (419) and this unity in the attacking lasted until the last man was killed. Loyal and devoted, the Society of Friends of the A B C stayed together throughout the battle. Their boundless devotion and reliance on their companions is also shown in their uniform distribution of supplies. For instance, when Gavroche manages to collect some ammo for the A B C to use (dying in the process), the bullets are distributed evenly, and Enjolras automatically “gave each man fifteen shots” (427), putting his trust equally in every man. Also, “a ration of brandy was distributed to all.” (418), and while this was not a completely necessary commodity, the Society of Friends of the A B C made sure that every man was given the same ration.
The book of Valjean is plagued with unnecessary death and sadness. First, in the barricades, innocent soldiers affiliated with the A B C and the army of Paris die one after another in seemingly pointless combat. Next to lose his life is Javert, and although he is by no means a protagonist, his depressing suicide does little to lighten the mood of the book. Finally, Jean Valjean himself dies, and while he dies a much less empty and disheartening death than the aforementioned people, it is still far from a happy ending to the story. Using a few stylistic twists, Hugo succeeds in endowing the last book of the novel with a depressing overtone. The first and most apparent stylistic element heavily used to convey sadness is Hugo’s terse sentence structure. Short and simple sentences frequent the more emotional sections of the book, and are in great contrast to the elaborate and descriptive wordings that so repeatedly occur throughout the rest of the book. For instance, during one of the most tragic points in the entire novel, when Gavroche is senselessly struck down by a National Guardsman’s bullet, instead of describing in detail the events which transpired, Hugo merely notes, “He did not finish [his singing]. A second ball from the same marksman cut him short. This time he fell” (427). Another important, but somewhat less apparent device that Hugo utilizes is the setting throughout the book. While much of the setting of the other four books featured open places and light, particularly Cossette and Marius, Jean Valjean trudged through miles of dark and dreary sewers to save Marius. Jean Valjean bravely “entered into this slime. It was water on the surface, mire at the bottom…He very soon had the mire half-knee-deep, and water above his knees.” (450) This grotesque and literally bile-rising description of the setting has an elongated effect on the reader’s view of the book, and accurately conveys Hugo’s intended mood for the section. The most simple but effective method Hugo makes use of is his word choice. He uses words pertaining to darkness and depression constantly, and when combined with his other two stylistic techniques, depicts a very depressing mood for the book. When Jean Valjean drags Marius through the sewers, words applying to dark and cramped pop up almost every sentence. The sewer was depicted as having “fewer air holes [where fewer houses are]. The darkness thickened about Jean Valjean. He nonetheless continued to advance, groping in the obscurity. This obscurity suddenly became terrible.” (450)
Related Links
Ms. Garbis's Les Miserables Lesson Plan
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