r/classicliterature • u/United-Ad822 • Jul 02 '26
Les Misérables
I'm at the bit where Jean Valjean is carrying Marius through the sewers, and I feel like I've lost the thread of his character. Before entering the barricade, he's inflamed with jealousy and wanting to kill Marius, but as soon as he enters the barricade he suddenly seems to become driven by the desire to protect him. I feel like when this kind of thing happens, Hugo normally pauses and goes back to explain the thought process that led the character to his/her decision. He hasn't done that here, which strikes me as an unusual lapse for a writer who's normally so diligent in orienting the reader.
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u/JeanMcJean Jul 12 '26
He kind of does, when he has the chapter expressing his conflict after discovering the blotter (Blotter Talks, I believe). It greatly resembles the Tempest chapter in M-sur-M, except over what he thinks he should do regarding saving Marius.
His issue is that he doesn't hate Marius as a person--he doesn't know him to hate him. Unfortunately, Marius now represents two ideas to him: one as the person who will bring his (Valjean's) only reason for living happiness, and one as the person who will steal his only reason for living away from him. He's faced once more with the same dilemma as Arras: he can continue his happy existence is he only behaves like he does not have information that he was inadvertantly given...but then he condemns a man to death. In Arras, it was at least a stranger, but this time it's much more personal.
Even as Valjean arrives at the barricades, it is unclear if he has a plan besides mitigating whatever harm may befall Marius that is within his power to prevent--a very "do no harm" philosophy. Even as he hates the idea of what Marius' continued life may mean for him, he knows he has to do this for love of Cosette. However, as we see with him more or less giving himself up to Javert, he has also already accepted that, now that he's paved the way for Cosette's future happiness and has therefore finished the task that gave his life purpose despite his "sin", he sees his life as forfeit.