Poverty in Les Miserables Essay

"Impoverished"

Poverty was a major issue in France in the early nineteenth century as it is today. In the book Les Miserables, Victor Hugo, the author, tries to make poverty more apparent to those ignorant to its occurrence. Victor states that as long as there is poverty there will be misery. He portrays these troubles through three key characters in his book. These characters being Fantine, Jean Valjean, and Cosette.

Fantine is one of the characters who portrays poverty and it's problems. Here is a example of one situation in which poverty is portrayed: "' Will you keep my child for me?' ...' I will give six francs a month'"(p.45 Victor Hugo). This is a sad situation in which poverty forces Fantine to give her child up to a complete stranger. Fantine is unable to raise a child in her current situation and giving up her child may be the only way for her daughter to live a healthy, stable life. Another example for her poverty is '" ...Where did you get the louis d'or?' ....'I got them,' answered Fantine. The candle lit up her face.... the corners of her mouth were stained with blood...'"(p.66). Here, Fantine must take out her two front teeth to pay for Cosette's faked sickness. This is an example of how far an impoverished women must go just to "protect" her child. Fantine is greatly affected by this impoverishment that affects so many people.

Another character in Les Miserables who portrays poverty is Cosette. Cosette deals with all the downfalls of poverty throughout her life because she is practically sold into slavery. An example of that is "Cosette was musing sadly: for, though she was only eight years old, she had already suffered so much that she mused with the mournful air of an old woman"(p.149). The poverty and misery she has dealt with so far in her life is already comparable to an old woman's, as stated in the quote. She is being raised in an impoverished house with no one to love her. She is technically a fulltime maid minus the pay which is really depressing especially since she can't live a normal life. Another example of her poverty is" She breathed with a kind of mournful rattle; sobs choked her, but she did not dare to weep, so fearful was she of Thenardiess, even at a distance. She always imagined that the Thenardiess was near"(p.156). This is very saddening because poverty has caused this girl to live in such fear that she dare not weep. This manual labor she must do is too, a chore not even a man would find easy. This unfair treatment Cosette obtains is just one of the hundreds maybe even thousands of troubles poverty causes children.

Jean Valjean is alas another character who portrays poverty. Jean is extremely poor and has to resort to stealing and crimes to feed his hunger and starvation. Jean is much like a lot of impoverished men in the sense that they turn to evil to try and solve their poverty. He also displays the lack of help some people are willing to give to those in need as shown here: "'Ah, bah! But I am dying with hunger.' 'I have nothing,' said the host"(p.9). The host is obviously lying and he is not willing to give a helping hand to a man in need of food. This lack of help is quite common among most people and is a major contributor to poverty. Since people are unwilling to help some may turn to crime as shown in this example: "'See there is where he got out; he jumped into the Cochefilet Lane. The abominable fellow! He has stolen our silver!"'(p.32). Jean is so unaccustomed to help that he takes advantage of the bishops hospitality and steals his silver. This is how many criminals are and they will have no hesitation to steal from someone who is helping them. This would not be a problem though if people were more hospitable to others, but until then we will continue to deal with criminals and thieves who have no compassion towards the hospitable.

With poverty comes misery and that will always remain true. Ignoring it will do nothing and wont fill the miserable gap in the world. In fact it will actually increase the gap. The only way to decrease the impoverished people is to reach out and lend a helping hand. But as long as there is ignorance to this major problem there will always be people with familiar circumstances to Jean, Fantine, and Cosette.