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♡ Bring Out the Jean Valjean in You ♡

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♡ Bring Out the Jean Valjean in You ♡
It takes a man with great courage to sacrifice his own happiness in order to ensure the happiness of others. In the novel, Les Miserables, Victor Hugo demonstrates the value of sacrifice through one of the prominent characters, Jean Valjean, an ex-convict on the run. Valjean is in prison for committing a petty crime and after escaping, makes a promise to God to become a good man. He makes a promise to Fantine, a dying woman, that he will rescue her daughter and finds himself dedicating his life to make sure she is happy. Victor Hugo shows through Jean Valjean’s life the value of self-sacrifice and the positive effects it can have on the people in the world. Self-sacrifice and love go hand in hand. Most of the time people make sacrifices for the ones they love because seeing them happy is rewarding. Jean Valjean sees the link between sacrifice and love firsthand through the Bishop of Digne. Jean Jacque Rousseau’s “Noble Savages” asserts that, “man is by nature good; society is the cause of corruption and vice” (Rousseau 1). Jean Valjean ends up in jail after stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family. Valjean finds himself wandering the streets, looking for shelter after getting out of prison, and the Bishop takes him in. After receiving a full meal and a place for rest, Valjean steals his silver, only to be caught by the police and taken back to the Bishop’s house. To save Valjean, the Bishop lies to the police saying he gave the silver to him, and tells him:
Do not forget, ever, that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man… Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God! (Hugo 33)
The Bishop explains how sacrifice and forgiveness can be used as a form of love to benefit two people and society, and after his spiel, Valjean vows to change himself for the better. In a similar novel, Jane


Cited: Hugo, Victor. Les Miserables. Trans. Charles E. Wilbour. New York: Random House Modern Library, 1992. The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/self-sacrifice> 2002. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Social Contract & Discourses. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1913; Bartleby.com, 2010. www.bartleby.com/168/ Jeff, Pastor. Pastor Jeff 's Ramblings. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. <http://pastorjeffcma.wordpress.com/2011/
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