Who To Blame In Victor Hugo's Les Miserables
Who to blame?
Fantine is like a little girl who is buying a car, where the car company charges high interest, and she ends up paying an enormous sum. In Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, both society and Fantine are to blame for her decline, though society is much more at at fault than she. Firstly, Fantine is partially to blame since she is inexperienced and naive. Likewise, society is at fault because the population dehumanizes people living in poverty. Moreover, society is responsible because the general public is extremely disrespectful towards prostitutes. Fantine ends up paying for her life due to her decisions and society’s behavior toward her, which is a costly price to pay.
Since she is inexperienced and naive, Fantine is partly …show more content…
To illustrate, while walking along the street one evening, Fantine encounters Bamatabois. She is treated harshly when Bamatabois affronts Fantine for her missing teeth and disheveled appearance. The narrator describes how Bamatabois attempts to get Fantine’s attention, “...[Bamatabois] came up behind her with a stealthy step, and stifling his laughter stooped down, seized a handful of snow from the sidewalk, and threw it hastily into her back between her naked shoulders” (Hugo 69). Fantine then scratches Bamatabois’ face with her nails because he insults her, and she is unable to restrain from taking out her anger on him. As the two are fighting, the commotion created causes a large circle to form, and spectators start, “...laughing, jeering and applauding, around this center of attraction composed of two beings” (69). Bamatabois’ and the bystanders’ behavior is an example of how society is not only treating her cruelly physically, but psychologically. As a result of the same incident, Fantine is treated harshly once more when Javert sentences her to prison for six months for scratching Bamatabois. Javert sees Fantine as, “a creature who was an outlaw and an outcast” (70-71). Fantine was only defending herself against Bamatabois. However, she is viewed as someone so low in society that she isn’t seen as a citizen, and so Javert does not care about her story. Society would not have been as responsible for Fantine’s downfall if the general public had treated her decently, despite her being a
Fantine is like a little girl who is buying a car, where the car company charges high interest, and she ends up paying an enormous sum. In Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, both society and Fantine are to blame for her decline, though society is much more at at fault than she. Firstly, Fantine is partially to blame since she is inexperienced and naive. Likewise, society is at fault because the population dehumanizes people living in poverty. Moreover, society is responsible because the general public is extremely disrespectful towards prostitutes. Fantine ends up paying for her life due to her decisions and society’s behavior toward her, which is a costly price to pay.
Since she is inexperienced and naive, Fantine is partly …show more content…
To illustrate, while walking along the street one evening, Fantine encounters Bamatabois. She is treated harshly when Bamatabois affronts Fantine for her missing teeth and disheveled appearance. The narrator describes how Bamatabois attempts to get Fantine’s attention, “...[Bamatabois] came up behind her with a stealthy step, and stifling his laughter stooped down, seized a handful of snow from the sidewalk, and threw it hastily into her back between her naked shoulders” (Hugo 69). Fantine then scratches Bamatabois’ face with her nails because he insults her, and she is unable to restrain from taking out her anger on him. As the two are fighting, the commotion created causes a large circle to form, and spectators start, “...laughing, jeering and applauding, around this center of attraction composed of two beings” (69). Bamatabois’ and the bystanders’ behavior is an example of how society is not only treating her cruelly physically, but psychologically. As a result of the same incident, Fantine is treated harshly once more when Javert sentences her to prison for six months for scratching Bamatabois. Javert sees Fantine as, “a creature who was an outlaw and an outcast” (70-71). Fantine was only defending herself against Bamatabois. However, she is viewed as someone so low in society that she isn’t seen as a citizen, and so Javert does not care about her story. Society would not have been as responsible for Fantine’s downfall if the general public had treated her decently, despite her being a