The fact that Hugo interprets Waterloo as a defeat for
France due to bad luck shows us that unfairness and injustice are
not limited to the world of Valjean but have a part in larger events
as well. Hugo views Napoléon as a brilliant strategist and a defender
of equality who brings France to new heights. Nonetheless, Napoléon
loses at Waterloo. Even worse, according to Hugo, is the fact that
Napoléon loses the battle because of something as banal as the weather,
not because of any substantive blunders on his part or any significant ingenuity
on the part of the British. The defeat at Waterloo is as arbitrary
and unfair as Valjean’s imprisonment, but on a larger scale. The
unfair outcomes leave us hungry for justice, anticipating the unrest
that emerges in later chapters.
Stylistically, the battle accounts and fictitious newspaper excerpts
are a departure from Hugo’s straightforward narrative style. These
devices emphasize the fact that though Hugo’s characters are fictional,
the novel’s plot turns on actual events in the history of France.
The change in narrative mode also lends dynamism to the novel by
including a number of different perspectives.
