les miserables

Les Miserables

author`s biographical and literary background

Born on February 26 , 1802 in Besancon , France , novelist Victor-Marie Hugo grew up during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte . Napoleon Bonaparte was the general during the French Revolution and the first consul of the French Republic . Victor Hugo 's family then resided mostly in Corsica and Spain , famous bailiwick of Napoleon Bonaparte . His father Joseph-Leopold-Sigisbert Hugo was an army officer and eventually rose to the ranks of a general under Napoleon Bonaparte

However , his parents got separated eventually . With this , the young Hugo

spent a large part of his childhood in Paris with his mother . Although this has been the case , the young Victor did not lose with literary ambitions

Victor Hugo 's literary prowess sprung the moment he was born . The literary talents of Hugo started when he was young . At an early age of 15 , Hugo won a poetry writing contest . Two years after , he established a magazine together with his brother . After attending school in Paris , he married his childhood sweetheart Adle Foucher in 1822

His literary career started with the publication of Hermani in 1830 then the famous Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831 . However , Hugo lost his daughter in 1841 and had influenced him to be involved with politics which was at that time liberal in nature . With this idealism , Hugo was exiled for 19 years in Brussels where he had written literary compositions attacking the Napoleonic Empire . As his exile ends , Hugo was able to write the legendary Les Miserables in 1862 . Upon returning to France in 1870 , he held government positions but later on resigned In 1878 , he suffered a stroke and died on May 22 1885 due to pneumonia

author 's style

Hugo 's writing style is traditional in nature . It follows the natural story structure which consists of : rising action which was depicted by Valjean 's disclosure of his true identity at trial and his rescue of Cosette climax which consist of dramatic interactions at the barricades between Valjean and Javert and falling action which was depicted during Marius and Cosette 's wedding and Javert 's suicide . The author employed also the perspective of an omniscient narrator which knows the thoughts of characters especially particularly in politics and society

author 's thesis

The theme of Les Miserables is centered with the fundamental and universal ideas of the importance of love and compassion . In Les Miserables , it depicted that although a person may be called as social deviants , Jean Valjean was able to prove that there exists a way for him to transform and become someone better . He was able to learn how to share love to others especially with Cosette , who made him happy in times he was down and desperate

In addition , Hugo also depicted the social ills during the nineteenth century in France . Les Miserables showed that society needs to reform the education system , criminal justice and the treatment of women . In the story , Jean Valjean became a victim of a partial...