Ok so I decided to do a kind of series of posts on Les Miserables, the musical, because I am marveled by it and because I see a lot of Christianity in it. The original story comes from a novel written by Victor Hugo and I want to read it sooooo badly!!! To give you a little bit of background it is based on how life was during the French Revolution in France. Here are some big characters you need to know:
Jean Valjean (24601)
Fantine
Javert
Marcus
Cosette
Eponine
Enjolras
Monsieur Thenardier and Madam Thenardier
My goal is to post about each and everyone of these characters but we'll see.
With this post I'm going to explain the story of Jean Valjean. He is an ex convict who went to jail for 5 years simply because he stole a loaf of bread to feed his sister's dying and starving child and to feed the rest of his starving family. He tried to run from jail and got caught so they gave him another 14 years. In total he spent 19 years in jail. While he was in jail they gave him a number, he was prisoner 24601.
After the 19 years he is finally free to go on parole. While on his parole he tries to go back to being a good citizen but no one wants to hire a con and people treat him as if he was less than dirt. One day, he receives some kindness from a bishop who allows him to stay the night in the church. This is where I get my first little splash of christianity. In the song the bishop tells Valjean: "There is vine here to revive you, there is bread to make you strong" That's exactly what Christ is, his blood is the wine that gives us a new life, that frees us from suffering in hell if we just choose to believe in him, his body is the bread that makes us strong when our flesh is weak, when we can't go on.
In the middle of the night Valjean steals some silver and runs, after stealing the silver he is caught by the police. The police brings him back to the bishop, Valjean lies to the police and tells them that the silver was a present from the bishop, when the police asks the bishop about it he does something unexpected, he tells them they are correct and in fact he gives Valjean two silver chandeliers. They let him go and the bishop tells Valjean to use this silver to become a good man. This really gets to him, this really touches his heart and it shakes something in him, this guy was the first person to show him kindness in a very long time and the first person to give him a second chance. This reminds me of my relationship with Christ, how many time have I not cheated him and yet his grace is sufficient, I mess up and mess up and he forgives me, he forgave me a long time ago for every time I mess up! Don't ever judge a person based on their mistakes, instead show them that they can do better, you could be saving their life.
Jean Valjean breaks his parole and starts a new life. He becomes the mayor of a city and he has thousands of workers who depend in him. However, Inspector Javert has been after Javert ever since he broke his parole and is determined to put him in jail again. One day Valjean meets Fantine at one of his factories and she is forced to leave the factory after being involved in a brawl with another woman. Fantine is a sick, poor woman who goes through hardships in order to feed her child Cosette who lives under the protection of the Thenardiers. One of those hardships is prostitution, after being fired from Valjean's factory she is forced to sell her hair and 2 front teeth to send money for Cosette, she then becomes a prostitute. One day she refuses to be with a costumer and he gets violent with her so she hits him back, Javert gets there ready to arrest Fantine but Valjean saves the day. He tells the police to take her to the hospital, he recognizes that this happened because of him, had he not fired her she wouldn't have been forced to loose her dignity.
In the middle of Fantine's arrest Valjean is confused, he recognizes her face but he doesn't see how she could have ended in a place like a prostitute bar. She tells him it was his fault, he allowed her to be fired when she had done nothing wrong. Valjean is a noble character, he shows that kindness is not lost on anyone, one day someone showed kindness to him and he now shows kindness to others. He wants to help Fantine, he sees she needs help and at the same time he feels guilty. Do you know how strong he is? I mean to recognize that he was wrong and that because of him this woman suffered a lot is pretty bold. While Fantine is in the hospital she is under his protection.
Javert discovers that the mayor is prisoner 24601, or Jean Valjean, because one day a man is stuck under a wagon and Valjean helps him get out, he is still strong for his age and Javert knows that Valjean is strong and nobel. Fantine dies in the hospital but before her death Valjean promises to rescue Cosette and raise her as his child. Javert confronts Valjean but this one escapes and is able to pay for Cosette and raise the girl under good conditions. However he is forced to stay hidden from Javert.
I'm going to leave it at this for now and I'll continue his story later but Jean Valjean is one of my favorite characters because he is always looking for the good of others, he is always looking to serve others. After that night with the bishop he learned his lesson and changed, that's how all of us should be. We should be able to change after we give our heart to Christ, yeah it's not easy but it's what we are called to do, it's what we are meant to do. Valjean becomes a rich man but his heart is still soft for the hardships of others, he went to jail for stealing bread to save someone else's life and the world ALMOST hardened his heart, the bitterness almost consumed him but Christ rescued him!
I mean do you get it?? Do you get how each and every single one of us has a little bit of Jean Valjean in us? We are prisoners of this worldly views on things like love, sex, friendship, compassion, life overall and when Christ wants to free us from that we don't listen!! But he gives us countless of chances until we change. Valjean was a prisoner of the law and an outcast and this priest gave him a chance, he gave him hope. Christ gives us new life, he gives us the chance to break our parole and renew our mind (2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 12:2), to live a new life by his side, IT IS OUR CHOICE WHETHER OR NOT WE TAKE IT! This world can make your heart hard and bitter, Christ can change that :)
Valjean is an amazing character and I can't wait to get to Part 2 of this :) I hope you liked it!!
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