Literary Elements of Les Miserables *summary *character analysis

2. LES MISÉRABLES is a
French Historical Novel by
Victor Hugo, first published
in 1862, that is considered
one of the greatest novels of
the 19th century.
He was a lyric poet, novelist,
dramatist, and occasion -polemical
writer.

3. KEY
LITERARY
ELEMENTS

4. SETTING
France in the 1800's during the period of
the Restoration. The major action is in Paris,
but some episodes take place in neighboring
towns.
Characters

5. JEAN
VALJEANMajor Character:
The ex-convict who
had been
imprisoned for
stealing a loaf of
bread. Primary
protagonist.

6. MONSIEGNEUR
BIENVENU/FR.MYRIEMajor Character:
The benevolent
priest of the first
book whose
generosity and self
sacrifice changes
Valjean.

7. COSETTE
Major Character:
Fantine’s daughter, who
lives as Valjean’s adopted
daughter after her mother
dies.

8. JAVERT
Major Character:
The inspector of
police who’s lifelong
ambition is to put
Valjean back behind
bars.

9. Major Character:
FANTINE
Cosette’s mother. Fantine
is forced to leave Cosette
with someone who will
supposedly take care of
her while Fantine works
for her support.

10. Major Character:
MARIUS
PONTMERCY
An innocent young
man, nonetheless
capable of great
things and manages
both to fight on the
barricades and
successfully court
the love of his life,
Cosette.

11. Minor Characters:
The paragon of evil both in
character and in representation
of other negative forces.
Daughter to Thenardier.
She is eventually
redeemed by her love for
Marius.
EPONINE
Mr. & Mrs. Thenardier

12. M.
GILLENORMAND
Grandfather of
Marius. Representative
of the old bourgeois.
M. FAUCHELEVANT
An old gardener
whom Valjean rescues
when a cart falls on him.
Later helps provide a
place of refuge for
Valjean and Cosette.
ENJOLRAS
College student-
primary leader of the
insurrection. His mistress
is France.
GAVROCHE
Son of Thenardier.
COLONEL GEORGE
PONTMERCY
Marius’ father.
Minor Characters:

13. MAJOR CONFLICT
Valjean struggles to transform himself from
a thief into an honest man; over the years he
struggles to stay a step ahead of the obsessive
police officer Javert and tries to raise his adopted
daughter, Cosette.

14. RISING ACTION
Valjean’s disclosure of his true identity at
Champmathieu’s trial; Valjean’s rescue of Cosette
from the Thénardiers; Marius’s first sight of
Cosette in the Luxembourg Gardens.
CLIMAX
Marius, Valjean,
and Javert’s dramatic
interactions at the
barricades

15. FALLING ACTION
Marius and Cosette’s
wedding; Javert’s suicide
THEMES
The importance of love and
compassion; social injustice in
nineteenth-century France; the
long-term effects of the French
Revolution on French society

16. SUMMARY

17. The novel begins with Jean Valjean, a
poor man who has stolen bread for his sister
and her children. After serving 19 years in
prison, the police inspector, Javert, gives
Valjean a yellow passport with the record of
Valjean’s criminal punishment, which must be
presented to the police captain of any town that
he enters.

18. When he arrives in the town of Digne, only an
upright bishop,Fr.Myriel gives him food and
shelter. Valjean, surprised and anxious by the
Bishop’s generous hospitality,but he steals the
silver in the house and runs away.

19. The police bring him
back by morning, but the
Bishop claims that the silver
was given to Valjean, not
stolen, and that in fact he
had forgotten to take the
most valuable pieces of the
set. The bishop then
commands Valjean to use
his freedom to redeem
himself and live as an
honest man.

20. Valjean assumes
another name, builds a
factory, raising the living
conditions of the entire
region, and soon is
appointed mayor of the
town. The only person who
opposes his goodwill is
police inspector Javert, who
does not recognize the
mayor as the ex-convict he
met years ago.

21. The narrative here
turns to Fantine, a
beautiful woman whose
lover abandons her and
their child, Cosette. In
desperation she leaves
Cosette in the care of the
Thénardier family, who
then use Cosette as a
servant while requesting
more and more money
from Fantine.

22. To pay for
Cosette, Fantine must
resort to prostitution.
When an incident
brings her to the
attention of Javert, who
condemns her to six
months in prison,
Valjean stops the
punishment and has her
sent to the infirmary.

23. His efforts to bring
Cosette to Fantine are
stalled by the
‘discovery’ of a man
believed to be Jean
Valjean. Valjean
ultimately confesses
his true identity, and
then is confronted by
Javert as he returns to
Fantine.

24. In her anxiety Fantine dies, and
Valjean promises to her that he
will find Cosette and care for
her. He escapes Javert and
rescues Cosette from the
Thénardiers, and they live in
the privacy of a convent until
she grows up.

25. A young man,
Marius Pontmercy, sees
Cosette walking with
Valjean and falls in love
with her. Suspicious of
the man following them,
Valjean takes Cosette to
their other house in
Paris.

26. To find her again, Marius enlists the help of
his friend Eponine, the daughter of the
Thénardiers and secretly in love with Marius.
Marius and Cosette spend a month in
courtship before Valjean’s plans to travel to
England to escape the political turmoil disturb
their bliss.

27. Marius decides to end his life by
fighting in the barricade, constructed by the
students in protest to the unsympathetic
government, and sends a note to Cosette.
Eponine blocks Marius from being shot, and
dies after confessing her love.

28. Valjean learns that
Cosette loves Marius,
and he too joins the
barricade, first coming
upon Javert tied up in
one of the rooms. Valjean
decides to let him go
despite everything Javert
has done to capture
Valjean.

29. When Marius is
wounded, he
carries his body
through the Paris
sewers to escape.
Valjean finds
Javert waiting on
the other side, and
asks only to
deliver Marius to
his grandfather’s
house.
Javert, finding himself conflicted
between his drive to imprison a
criminal and his debt to Valjean
for sparing his life, drowns
himself in the Seine.

30. After Marius
recovers from his
injuries he and
Cosette marry, with
Valjean’s small
fortune given as
Cosette’s dowry.
Valjean confesses to
Marius that he is an
ex-convict, and
Marius gradually
distances him from
Cosette in

31. An exchange with
Thénardier unintentionally
reveals many of the good
deeds Valjean has done,
such as saving Marius in
the sewers. Marius and
Cosette return to Valjean
on his dying bed, and he
dies in the happiness of
their embrace.

32. LES
MISERABLES:LESSONS
MERCY, COMPASSION, and
LOVE are treatments for the miseries that
all life must endure.
1.Forgiveness can change a life.
2. People can change.
3.A parent will risk everything for a child.
4. Not everybody is good.
5.Believed in the Providence of God.

33. Project in Literature
Submitted to:
Ms. Laura Mariano
Submitted by:
Barrameda,Jamaica N.
Casubuan,Mary Rose C.
Chua,Dianne Pauline G.
Gerez,Christian Howell
L.
Pelayo, Elijah Mae M.