Essay on Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

“If you don’t leave your past in the past, it will destroy your future. Live for what today has to offer, not for what yesterday has taken away” -Unknown. It’s important to keep the past and future separated, in order to be one’s best self.  Victor Hugo uses Jean Valjean’s appreciation of the candlesticks’ symbolism to show that a reminder of one’s past mistakes fuels their desire for a better future.

Les Miserables starts with Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who looks all over the town for a place to stay‌ ‌the‌ ‌night. He had given up until a woman pointed him in the direction of the Bishop’s home. ‌Jean Valjean and the Bishop are described as polar opposites, with the former being ragged and wretched, while the latter is innocent and pure. This contrast gives off a sort of light and dark imagery that shows the path Jean Valjean takes throughout the book to reach a point of salvation. “Madame Magloire understood him, and going to his bedchamber, took from the mantle the two silver candlesticks, lighted the candles, and placed them  on the table.” (Hugo 17). This is the first of many times the candlesticks are mentioned. The candlesticks symbolize the light that the Bishop is showing and ultimately transferring to Jean Valjean. The way the candlesticks are “placed” on the table, illustrates a soft nudge in which the Bishop is trying to open JVj’s eyes up to the redemption in upholding God’s word. Yet that night, JVj stole silver from the Bishop. The next morning JVj is brought back to the Bishop’s house by the police. The Bishop has him released, gives him the candlesticks, and has him promise to “use the candlesticks to become an honest man” (Hugo 34). ‌This‌ ‌line‌ ‌almost implies the journey the candlesticks will take alongside Jean Valjean to help him ‌fulfill his ‌ ‌ promise. ‌Valjean had almost not taken the Bishop's words seriously until he‌ ‌met‌ ‌a little‌ ‌boy. JVj steps on this boy’s coin and zones out as the boy tries to move him to get his coin. ‌After failing, the boy runs away crying, and it was only then that Valjean realized what the boy was shouting ‌about. ‌In spite of trying to track down the boy to return his coin, Valjean cannot find him. Feeling horrible for stealing from a little boy, Valjean’s “heart swelled, and he burst into tears. It was the first time he had wept in nineteen years'' (Hugo 38). Hugo mentions the length of time since Valjean has last cried because it shows the significance of him crying now. He had just made a promise to become an “honest man”, yet he stole from a little boy. Valjean feels like he has failed the Bishop, and this misstep allows him to change for the better.

The second phase of Jean Valjean's life begins as Father ‌Madeline. ‌He‌ ‌has taken on‌ ‌a‌ ‌new‌ ‌identity‌ ‌where‌ ‌he‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌mayor‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌town. ‌ A person known as Jean Valjean has been captured and is being taken‌ ‌to‌ ‌court‌ ‌for‌ ‌his‌ ‌crimes. In Maladine's mind, he is torn between confessing what he really is and freeing the man, or just living his life and continuing to do good. ‌Making this excruciating debate worse, Madeline starts tossing things into the fire from his previous life. He “stirs the embers with one of the candlesticks'' (Hugo 94), but ultimately puts “the candlesticks on the mantle” (Hugo 95). ‌After thinking of the Bishop and his promise to him, Madadeline decides not to burn the candlesticks. In the course of the story, Valjean meets Cosette, a young girl to whom he becomes a father figure. He takes Cosette to a house and the candlesticks are mentioned once again as “he struck a light with a flint and steel and lit a candle” (Hugo 181). Before Valjean met Cosette, she was being abused by the family she was staying with. They treated her like dirt, and Valjean “bought” her freedom. The candle represents the light that Valjean is bringing into Cosette’s life, just as the Bishop had brought into his. However, at the same time, Cosette has brought a sense of purpose into Valjean’s life, and has given him something to live and fight for. In a way, Cosette “struck a light”  in Valjean, helping him want to continue to be that “honest man” he had promised the Bishop to become. Becoming a father to Cosette is truly a milestone in his journey to be redeemed in the eyes of God.

 By the end of the book, Valjean has proved himself a changed man in many instances. He tells of his past and previous self to Marius, his daughter’s fiance, entrusting him with Cosette’s safety and happiness. Marius learns the truth of what happened to Javert from a disguised Thenardier. Marius joyfully exclaims that Valjean is a “wonderful man…He is a hero! He is a saint” (Hugo 583). Hugo purposely adds Marius’s new input on Valjean to show a full circle. He has fulfilled his task of becoming an honest man, and is a “saint” just as the Bishop was. Valjean falls very sick, and he makes peace with the fact that his time has come. As Marius and Cosette held his hands on his deathbed, Valjean fell “backward, the light from the candlesticks fell upon him; his white face looked up towards heaven” (Hugo 594). It only makes sense that since the candlesticks were there during his “rebirth”, that they should be by him as he passes. Hugo uses the description of “his white face” looking up “towards heaven” to clearly show Valjean going to meet the Bishop up in heaven.  

When his time came, Valjean had made peace with how he turned his life around. He truly redeemed himself from the convict he was first introduced as. Using the candlesticks’ symbolism, Victor Hugo emphasizes how a reminder of one’s mistakes motivates a person to pursue a better future. “I learn from my mistakes. It’s a very painful way to learn, but without the pain, the old saying is, there’s no gain.” -Johnny Cash.