Feel the Power of Love: The Lessons of Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables"

As long as through the workings of law and customs there exists a damnation-by-society artificially creating hell in the very midst of civilization and complicating destiny... as long as there are ignorance and poverty on earth, books of this kind may serve some purpose. - Victor Hugo

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo is rightly considered one of the great novels of the 19th century.  The reason why is because Hugo touches upon themes that are universal and transcend race, religion, politics, etc.   Indeed, there is a reason why this book is so beloved by people and spawned one the greatest Broadway musicals of all time.

Frankly, I am a little nervous to be adding my own provincial scribblings to this fine work of art, as if a mouse had anything of worth to say to a demigod.  Nevertheless, I am going to try to put into words some of the things that I have learned as I have struggled through this novel for the past 10 months(!) in the hopes that others will not be intimidated by this book's physical and thematic weight.

Here are some things I learned from reading Les Misérables:

• Love can change the world- For anyone who has read this book or seen the musical either on stage or on film, you know that the hits just keep on coming for those who are not wealthy or in power.  Jean Valjean, the hero of this novel, is disproportionately imprisoned for the crime of stealing bread to feed his sister (who dies once Valjean is thrown in jail).  The town he becomes  the mayor of for a time and helps resuscitate ends up falling back into squalor when the police arrest him again.  Fantine is forced into a life of poverty and prostitution due to the prudish social mores of her co-workers.  Finally, the people of Paris have no recourse but to revolt when the powers that be refuse to grant them a voice in politics.  Yet, through all of the pain and injustice that this book catalogues, one factor makes things better: love.  It is the Christian love and forgiveness that the the priest Myriel shows to Jean Valjean at the beginning of the novel saves him from falling further in criminality and destitution.  The love that Jean Valjean shows to Cosette keeps her from falling into total despair at an early age.  And that same love saves Marius' life when he is wounded on the barricades. And each act of love that is conveyed to someone in this novel has a strong positive impact on their life.  It is one of the key themes of this novel.  Love is a powerful tool for positive change and if we want to change this world for the better, we must start with love.

• Not all the poor are secret do gooders- One of the most pernicious ideas to have infected America's body politic is the idea that the poor are lazy moochers living off of the government's largesse.  It is a shameful ideology that has led to such stigmatizing and unnecessary laws as drug testing of welfare recipients and withholding of social entitlements from "undeserving" folks.  Yet, the political Left has a tendency to overcorrect for this by lionizing the poor.  While the pernicious moochers ideology must be combated, Hugo has no illusions about who is good and who is bad.  The Thenardiers are poor, but they are also cruel thieves who fleece the tenants of their inn, take advantage of Fantine, terrorize Cossete, and try to ambush Jean Valjean.  And both Monsieur and Madam Thenardier live ignominious lives after the end of the novel.  Madam Thenardier dies in prison and Monsieur Thenardier moves to America and becomes a slave trader.  If there is one lesson about the poor that should be remembered from this book, it is that there are good and bad poor folks just as there are good and bad rich folks and our policies should not assume that either socio-economic class are inherently good or bad.

• Books like this are still necessary- I quoted Victor Hugo at the top of this post because it lines out the reasons why he wrote this book and why people should still be reading them.  Sadly, there is still a need for books like Les Misérables.  Jean Valjean could certainly sympathize with African-Americans who serve longer jail sentences for lesser crimes than their rich white counterparts.  Fantine could probably sympathize with LGBTQ men and women who are ostracized from their communities by the social mores that pervade them.  And protests and revolts like the June 1832 revolt that Marius and his friends take part in will still happen so long as the rich and powerful continue to control our politics and ignore the concerns of the people.  What has changed though is how few novelists are writing about the social ills that afflict our nation and politics.  There are a ton of nonfiction books about these topics, but novelists have seemingly abandoned the muckraking novels that characterized 19th century and Progressive era literature.  Where are today's Les Misérables or today's The Jungle by Upton Sinclair?  Novels like this are still necessary and I hope more novelists will tackle these issues and help our nation write their way out of them.

Les Misérables is a brutal book, both in its subject matter and it's physical massiveness.  It is not a book that should be treated lightly.  However, the issues that this book deals with still are still around.  Poverty, ignorance, and injustice still plague or world.  Because of this, just like Victor Hugo said over 150 years ago, novels like this are still necessary.  And, above all, love for our fellow man is still necessary.  Indeed, it will always be necessary.

Thank you for reading this week's book blog.  Next week, I will be reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.  If you like what you read, be sure to read some of my back issued posts, follow this blog and share it with your friends.  Until next week, keep on reading!