Les Misérables

Victor Hugo

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Important Quotations Explained

1. [Valjean] strained his eyes in the distance and called out . . . “Petit Gervais! . . .” His cries died away into the mist, without even awaking an echo. . . . [H]is knees suddenly bent under him, as if an invisible power suddenly overwhelmed him with the weight of his bad conscience; he fell exhausted . . . and cried out, “I’m such a miserable man!”


2. [T]he poor little despairing thing could not help crying: “Oh my God! Oh God!”
At that moment she suddenly felt that the weight of the bucket was gone. A hand, which seemed enormous to her, had just caught the handle, and was carrying it easily. . . .
. . . The child was not afraid.


3. “Here, I am going to write something to show you.”
. . . [S]he wrote on a sheet of blank paper . . . “The cops are here.”


4. To owe life to a malefactor . . . to be, in spite of himself, on a level with a fugitive from justice . . . to betray society in order to be true to his own conscience; that all these absurdities . . . should accumulate on himself—this is what prostrated him.


5. [Valjean] had fallen back, the light from the candlesticks fell across him; his white face looked up toward heaven, he let Cosette and Marius cover his hands with kisses; he was dead.


gavroche

by kiiiiid, January 30, 2013

and gavroche dies and the rest of france build a barricade and end the french revolution

9 out of 43 people found this helpful

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Les Miserables Analysis

by Adi31415, March 28, 2013

Les Miserables is based around the turning point in French history, and it explores the nature of this change in terms of society, and uses this as a basis for explaining the revolution. It explains how the ‘miserables’, or ‘victims’, damned into a life of thievery and being the scum of the Earth aren’t inherently bad. The society which has not given them a chance forces them to be bad, or do bad things. Instead of understanding their inner goodness and their plight to change their ways, or giving them some kindness or hope, they a... Read more

82 out of 89 people found this helpful

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