Analysis: Books Four–Five
Valjean and Cosette’s escape from the Gorbeau House begins
a pattern of relocation and flight that continues throughout the
novel, revealing how French society can make it difficult to find
a home. Valjean and Cosette’s constant movement reflects the advantages and
pitfalls of the fluid social structure of the nineteenth-century city;
while it is easy for them to disappear, it is difficult for them
to settle down. Their neighbors are always strangers, which means that
they can easily hide their troubled pasts, but it also means that these
neighbors cannot be counted on for friendship and help when the
truth about Valjean and his past comes out. Nor can Valjean or Cosette
turn to their family for help, since the structure of poor families
in nineteenth-century France is so loose and casual that neither of
them knows where his or her surviving family members are. In a city
that guarantees anonymity, Valjean and Cosette can depend only on
each other. This is one of Hugo’s sharpest criticisms of Parisian
society, an environment whose families are dissolved and neighbors
are only friendly if they are spies for the police.
Valjean and Cosette’s flight from the Gorbeau House is
motivated partly by Valjean’s concern for Cosette. Although he has
made many escape attempts before, this is the first time his flight
is motivated by something greater than his simple instinct for self-preservation.
Valjean recognizes that if he is caught, Cosette will most likely spend
the rest of her childhood in the same kind of orphanages in which
Fantine grew up and will lose any opportunity to improve her circumstances.
Cosette’s presence therefore adds a degree of legitimacy and urgency
to Valjean’s escape. We have already come to appreciate Valjean
as a person, but now that his fate is tied up with Cosette’s, we
become even more concerned that his escape be successful.
The reappearance of Fauchelevent in the convent garden
emphasizes the positive effects of good deeds. Fauchelevent’s sudden appearance
is so implausibly convenient, but Hugo is willing to sacrifice realism
to show that good things happen to good people in times of need.
Valjean’s kindness thus far has brought him only trouble—his rescue
of Fauchelevent raises Javert’s initial suspicions, and the money
Valjean gives the poor starts so much gossip that it leads Javert
back to his trail. Now, however, Valjean’s courageous rescue of
Fauchelevent pays off when Valjean most needs help. With these turns
of fate, Hugo encourages us to recognize the worth of helping others,
even when doing so seems more trouble than it is worth. In return,
Hugo suggests,we can expect the help of others during our own personal
crises.
In Book Five, Javert’s determination to recapture Valjean
has become obsessive and maniacal, and his quest appears cruel and absurd.
We see that even Javert is aware of the obsessive nature of his
preoccupation with Valjean, since he keeps his suspicions to himself
for fear that his colleagues will think him mad. Javert’s manic
determination to hunt down Valjean contradicts his claim that he
is trying merely to uphold the law. His obsession with Valjean has
clearly become a personal vendetta. Javert has always seen Valjean’s
prosperity as an affront to society and now sees Valjean’s ability
to escape from seemingly impossible situations as an affront to
his own skills as a police officer. On a symbolic level, Valjean’s ability
to evade the police suggests that some higher force does not want
Javert to capture Valjean—a notion that infuriates the uncompromising
and logical Javert.
The inhumanity of Javert’s persecution of Valjean is
underscored by his lack of concern for Cosette. When Javert hears
that an old man has kidnapped a girl from Montfermeil, he pursues
the case not to ensure the girl’s welfare but merely to track down
his nemesis. Javert does not even inquire about the wretched conditions
that Cosette endured under the Thénardiers. We sense that, given
the chance, he would probably return the girl to their care. Javert’s
narrow-minded investigation into Cosette’s alleged kidnapping further undermines
his claim that he only wishes to uphold the law. By this point,
it is apparent that Javert’s only motive is to punish Valjean to the
full extent of the law.
