Les Miserables, Part Deux

It's interesting that at times we're able to get a look at something through someone else's eyes, and when we do, we come away with a different view, often a more appreciative one. It happened to me a couple of nights ago when my book group gathered to discuss Les Mis, a book I've been reading (and complaining about--see previous post) since late June/early July.

Two of us loved reading the classic, and two of us didn't. And I was one of the two who didn't. It was my turn to lead the discussion, and so I started off by asking, "So what did you two like so much about this?" And they told us. And while the novel still is not my favorite, I came away with a greater appreciation for it, wishing that I had read with eyes open to some of the nicer qualities that my reading sisters had seen all along.

Perhaps one of the richer themes of the story is the "advance from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsity to truth, from darkness to daylight, . . . from Hell to Heaven, from limbo to God." Hugo explores this theme through his main character Jean Valjean, who, at the beginning of the story, has just been released from nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. (Another theme--and there are many in a novel of over a thousand pages--is the injustice of French society at this point in history.)

Valjean, homeless and hungry, is taken in for the night by a kind priest. In probably the most famous scene from the story, Valjean steals some silverware and candlesticks from the priest after everyone has gone to bed. He is caught with the items, but when the local authorities return Valjean and the stolen goods to the priest, the priest shows mercy and tells the authorities that he has given these things to Valjean. After the gendarmes release Valjean and leave, the priest tells Valjean he wants him to take the silver and use it to become an honest man. He tells him, "You no longer belong to what is evil but to what is good."

The rest of the novel traces Valjean's journey, as he becomes an honest man and shows mercy to everyone who crosses his path, even to those who are his enemies and wish to bring about his demise.

In that way the novel reflects the message of the gospel: We who are completely unworthy of mercy, who are enemies of God even when He has shown great kindness to us, have been rescued so that we may become holy. Like the priest and Valjean, God has purchased our souls so that we no longer belong to what is evil, but to what is good. At the end of the novel, Hugo shows the reader (you'll have to read yourself to find out how--I'm not giving everything away)that Valjean has never forgotten the mercy shown to him as he "advanced from limbo to God."

And I'm so glad there were readers in my book group who let me see this through their eyes.