Les Misérables

Les Misérables was wrote by Victor Hugo, who is one of the most influential writers in the history of French literature. It's first published in 1862. The novel tells the story of the leading character Jean Valjean’s extraordinary life. He had been imprisoned, but he also had been mayor. He had been helped by others, and he also had help Cosette escape from misery. He is small but great, who change himself into a hero. Even though he had been forced to commit a crime by dark society, he was not completely defeated. After being helped by Bishop Myriel，he polished himself and became a hero. His adopted daughter Cosette and son-in-law Marius inherited his spirit and went to humanitarian paths.      By describing the miserable lives of Jean Valjean, Fantine and others, the novel reveals the unfortunate and unfair fate of this good working people in the society at that time. Hugo also criticized the harsh legal system of that time and the callous bystanders. At the same time, history such as the battle of Waterloo is put into the novel, which makes the novel more realistic and reflects people's living conditions and social environment at that time. In addition to the great background, the details in this work are also impressive. Compared with other works, the psychological descriptions in Les Misérables are unique. Hugo's psychological descriptions has strong subjective characteristics. First, almost all the character's psychology is talked by him. Second, his psychological descriptions are often concentrated and have long paragraphs. Except these, Hugo also used many slang words, such as sewers, nunneries and so on, which make the novel closer to reality and in line with the language habits of people at that time. Hugo is a representative writer of positive romanticism in the early 19th century, a representative of humanitarianism, and an outstanding bourgeois democratic writer in the history of French literature. He wrote many poems, novels, plays, various essays, literary criticism and political essays, and had a wide influence in France and the world. His novel is filled with the brilliance of humanism, creating one impressive character after another. Others commented on his works, Les Misérables, which exposed the sharp contradictions and the gap between the rich and the poor in the capitalist society. It described the miserable fate of the lower class, and raised three urgent problems in the society at that time: poverty leads to man's failure, hunger leads to women's degradation, and darkness leads to children's weakness. He attacked the hypocrisy of bourgeois law. The novel is popular with people all over the world. I first saw it when I was 10. It is an animation. Then I became interested in it because of its unique architectural style and culture. I was moved by Jean Valjean's love for Cosette. I was also touched by his kindness to the citizens. I saw the brilliance of humanity in him. He wasn't perfect. He had made mistakes, but he was unquestionably a good man. It is because of people like him that human nature still exists.