les miserables (spoiler alert)

    I finished reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo a while ago. It is a great book. The book is focused on several characters. The main character is Jean Valjean, who starts off as a peasant in Paris,  France. Jean Valjean commits a crime and is sent to jail. The book is about his life, the way he is treated and the way that he hides and begins a new life to escape his past.
   There are several interesting themes in this book. It starts off as crime and punishment, and as i progressed through the book i noticed it becomes more of a good and evil theme. What i think is so beautiful about this book is the main character is a good person who did something wrong, yet he gets a second chance. He hides from his past and begins a new life. Its difficult, but he finds what he always wanted, love. Jean Valjean is blessed with a daughter whom he adopts and saves from a life of abuse. these two individuals, Jean Valjean and Cosette, find eachother. Both of them struggle and go through terrible things, but when they find eachother, they find what they were missing.
    Jean Valjean was good person who did something wrong. Inspector Javert, who relentlessly persecutes Jean Valjean, belives that he is fighting for justice. Javert is a very interesting character because of this. He thinks it will be just to capture Jean Valjean, but what he is doing is wrong.
   At first the book is very depressing, I found myself frequently resisting the text. but later on, justice is served. Although Cosette is abused and not loved at the begining, she is adopted by a man who will love her as he would his own daughter. Together Cosette and Jean Valjean heal eachothers wounds. Cosette grows and becomes a beautiful woman.  She has everything that she deserves. And although her life and Jean Valjeans life have flaws, its a beautiful story.
 

resisting les miserables

Throughout the book so far, i have found myself resisting the text several times. this book is very emotional and very difficult to read sometimes. because this book takes place in the 1800s in France, this plot is very foreign to me. but the main reason i resist this book is because of the injustice. in the book there is a young working woman named Fantine who was in love with a man named Felix Tholomyes. Fantines friends were paired with Felix's friends and Fantine was pregnant with Felix's child. later all of them left Fantine, they left her to take care of the child alone. Fantine leaves her daughter with a family, the Thenardiers, and pays them to take care of her daughter, Cosette. the Thenardiers abuse Cosette and use her as a servant of the house. this is really where i began to resist the text. madame thernadier loved her own two daughters, she spent time with them and cared for them. As for Cosette, she was hated, beaten and forced to work. Cosette was given a tiny place to sleep in while the two daughters of the thernadiers were given much more luxury. the Thernadier daughters, Azelma and Eponine, were just like their mother, cruel and unkind to Cosette. and M. Thernadier demands more money from Fantine to "take care" of Cosette. by the time Cosette is five years old she had to sweep every room, the street, wash the dishes and carry heavy loads. all this work had made her thin and pale. "injustice made her sullen, misery made her ugly, only her eyes were beautiful, but they were painful to look at. large as they were they seemed to increase with sadness." and in the winter this poor child, shivering in her thin dress, not yet six years old, sweeping with a large broom, her hands red and her eyes filled with tears. this was Cosette. she was called the lark. "no larger than a bird, trembling, frightened, shivering, first to wake every morning in the house and the village, always in the street or fields before dawn. except that poor lark never sang." this particular quote makes the book difficult to read. Cosette is so innocent, shes still practically a baby. A young child being abused by a family that is not her own, she probably doesnt remember her mother. and her mother doesnt even know that this is how her daughter is being treated. this sense of not knowing is also a difficult part of the book. if only Fantine knew what was happening. Fantine is struggling to make money for her daughter, because the man she loved left her. she was fired from her job and forced into prostitution, just so that her daughter could be cared for, but even that is not happening.  I cant even begin to imagine what it must be like. the way that victor hugo describes the situation with Cosette and Fantine makes me resist this book. its heart-breaking to read about the misery of these characters. but there are people out there in our world who are much less fortunate than us. unfortunately life is not just.

Justice. Les miserables

i am currently reading les miserables. the main character, Jean Valjean, has been a convict for 19 years. 5 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, and 14 years for 4 attempted escapes. The main social issue in this book is punishment. It is quite clear that 19 years is too much for stealing some bread.  What really bothers me is the fact that according to his record he is a very dangerous person. What makes it so unjust is that no one knows the true reason why he was imprisoned. the report from his case says that he was sentanced for burglary and attempted escape. although this is true, it lacks detail and i would say that it exaggerates the real situation. and due to this Jean Valjean has now been stripped of his rights as a person. No one wants to help him because they are afraid of him.   this leads me to my point;  how do we know if the punishment fits the crime? and how do we decide on an appropriate punishment for a crime?  different people have different opinions on how to punish a crime. so how can everyone come to an agreement?  i believe that this is one of the biggest social issues of the world. its everyday that you hear stories on the news about some kind of crime and you always wonder whats going to happen to the person responsible for the crime. and sometimes you may think that the punishment is too harsh or sometimes its too mild. but how can we develop a system for punishing crime the right way so that everyone can be in agreement, and is it even possible to do so? les miserables takes place during the early 1800s, so right away you can see how far we've come to punish crime in a more fair way. but there are still places in our world where punishment for crime is not fair, and even in places where it is, there are exceptions. our world is far from perfect, but if everyone realizes the mistakes we may be able to create justice.

independent reading book entry#1

The point of this blog post is to explain some really hard problems that are going on in a book. the book that I am currently reading is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I am sure that many of you have heard of it for it is ranked among the greatest novels of all time and is also quite a famous musical. Now as for the really hard things going on in this book, there are many. The book was written in 1862, therefore it is full of history. It explains the history of France, monarchy,the concept of good and evil, and love.  The novel focuses on the struggles of Jean Valjean and his journey to redemption. Jean Valjean is a noble peasant who is imprisoned for simply stealing a loaf of bread in order to feed his starving family. That is one of the main problems in the book, the lack of  justice. Jean Valjean is imprisoned for 19 years. Even after he has paid out his debt he is marked a convict denying him many rights as a person. This is an example  of a lack of justice in Paris during the 19th century. Also during this time period there was no free education.Jean Valjean is educated in prison.  Jean Valjean is relentlessly persecuted throughout the book. Although I am not very far into the book the main themes are already clearly evident. Victor Hugo immerses the reader into moral philosophy, or the theme of good and evil. The book was originally written in French hence the title. The literal translation of Les Misérables is the miserable ones giving you a hint of what this book is about. And although the title may sound a bit mournful, the book itself is a heart warming classic. And despite the conflicts and the constant battle between good and evil and the undeniable theme of crime and punishment , this book is beautiful and deeply meaningful.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. CS Lewis archetypes

 The book begins with four children in an old house during the war. Their mother sent them to live their because of air-raids. At the begining Edmund is really obnoxious, selfish and really mean to his little sister Lucy. even as the story progresses edmund remains that way, he chooses the wrong side and turns against his siblings. But in the end he realizes that he was wrong to side with the white witch because this whole time she had been lying to him. He is saved by Aslan and he joins his two sisters and brother in the battle against the white witch. at the end of the book (page180) it says "when at last she was free to come back to Edmund she found him standing on his feet and not only healed of his wounds but looking better then she had seen him look-oh for ages; in fact ever since his first term at that horrid school which was where he had begun to go wrong. he had become his real old self againand could look you in the face. and there on that field of battle aslan made him a knight." And since Edmund has changed so much during the book it makes him the hero. He was meant to be killed by the witch but Aslan sacrificed his own life to save Edmund and to come back to life and to kill the witch. Edmunds journey is the quest, he is searching for himself, the way he used to be. Edmund began his school year badly and since he has always had a negative outlook on everything. his attitude and his personality have changed. so the day that he entered Narnia it was really no surprise that he joined the side of the white witch. From there, he completely distanced himself from his brothers and sisters in hopes that the witch would keep her word and make him a king. But instead she tried to use him to gain access to his brothers and sisters so that they could be killed. Edmund realizes that he has made a mistake when the witch is no longer kind to him. and after he is saved by aslan, aslan has a talk with him. "a talk that he never forgot" and after that Edmund apologizes to his brother and sisters. and in the battle at the end he shows plenty of courage when he fights the white witch, and is made a knight by Aslan.

charlotte's web archetypes

The hero of this book is Wilbur. He starts off as the runt of the litter, and he is changed by the journey. Wilbur's journey is the loss of innocence because throughout the book he is maturing and changing. Charlotte is the mentor, she assists the hero, and she shows wisdom, knowledge, and experience. She repeatedly teaches Wilbur and helps him out. Charlotte's journey is the task, she has to make sure that Wilbur is not killed when the colder weather comes. The shadow of the story is everyone who is in the plot to kill Wilbur. The Zuckermans, the Arables, and Lurvy. They are the conflict, they oppose Wilbur. Templeton is the shapeshifter of the book. He never really wants to help, but sometimes he does. Wilbur starts off as the runt of the litter, and he is saved from death by Fern. From their he is raised by Fern until he grows too big. He is sold to Homer Zuckerman. As Fern grows more and more distant he finds a new friend, Charlotte. Charlotte is very wise and experienced unlike Wilbur, who is still just a child. Charlotte teaches Wilbur many things. She supports him like a mother. then, Wilbur finds out that he is going to be killed around Christmas time. Charlotte's task is to prevent this from happening. Wilbur had to sacrifice his food in order to be able to save Charlotte's eggs.

E.B White's lists

EB white frequenly uses lists throughout Charlotte's Web. The lists that he makes are very specific, each thing is described with sensory detail. whenever it lists what is in Wilbur's meal, it almost makes it exciting for the reader.wilbur's food includes a lot of odd things mixed together, thats why its interesting to read.  One of his lists (page 46) has a great description of Templeton. "the rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything" This list was written to show what everyone thought of Templeton. i think that EB White was stressing how bad Templeton is so that it would come as a surprise when he did something good like saving Charlotte's eggs at the end. E.B white also a great list on pages 25 and 26. The list is Wilburs plan for the day. the list is written from hour to hour. the reason why i love it so much is that the activites are very unrealistic. for example on page26 it says "from 11-12 he planned to stand still and watch flies on the boards, bees in the clover, and watch swallows in the air."

Charlotte's web. Charlotte replaces Fern

At the very begining of the book (page 4) Fern first recieves her pig. her father was going to kill it because it was the runt of the litter, but Fern convinced him to let her keep the pig and take care of it. Fern names the pig Wilbur. she takes care of him as if he were her child (and shes only 8 years old). she feeds the pig, plays with him, and looks after him. she sometimes carries him in a carrige along with a doll. everywhere she goes Wilbur tags allong. Wilbur is quite fond of Fern. Fern is his best friend, he plays with her and goes where ever she is. but after 5 weeks Wilbur grows a lot. Fern's father tells Fern that he must be sold. Wilbur is sold to Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Although Fern visits every day, she's not allowed to take Wilbur out of his pen. All she does is sit on a milking stool and watch the animals. since Fern is not always there, Wilbur becomes lonely. he cannot go anywhere and he has no friends. one day he meets Charlotte, a grey spider. Charlotte and wilbur become great friends. Charlotte is wise, she knows many things that Wilbur doesn't. shes always using big words that Wilbur doesn't understand. she teaches wilbur. and even when Fern is there, Wilbur always talks to charlotte. Charlotte begins to take on this motherly role for wilbur. she comforts him when hes sad, she teaches him, she cares and looks out for him. but at this point, Fern never talks to the animals. she just watches and listens.