Jean Valjean
Blog Post 4
Topic D
May 9, 2015
By Tommy Lacher
Throughout the Saint Denis and Idyl of the Rue Plumet, Jean Valjean and his new life with Cosette and Toussaint has brought up the recurring motif and theme of secrecy and lies. Throughout the entire novel, Jean Valjean has lived a double life because of his criminal background from stealing the loaf of bread. This causes Jean Valjean to attempt to hide his past from those around him so he can live a normal life. We see it when he becomes the mayor in a small town. He changes his identity to become a public figure and do something that he would otherwise not be able to do becase of his crime filled past. This is only the first example. We see Jean Valjeas change his identity and lie in order to be accepted into places, one of those being the convent. After nearly being recaptured by the police detective Javert, Jean Valjean lies to the people at the convent about who he truly is in order to get them to allow them to let him stay. This is not even including the faked death aboard the ship while he was working from prison. The next time we see Jean Valjean lying and hiding his true identity is in the Saint Denis and Idyl of the Rue Plumet. He wants to rent a house/apartment to live in with Cosette and Toussaint, however he cannot do so with his true identity. This causes him to again lie and make himself a new person to be accepted into that place. He is "concealing his name, he was concealing his identity, he was concealing his age, he was concealing everything" about himself and proving that he still has habits and lives a life like that of a true criminal (246).
I agree that throughout the novel, false identites and lies have played a large role. Jean Valjean's multiple identites initially caused some confusion with the reading for me; however, it now adds a feeling of secrecy to the book that couldn't have been achieved any other way. I am interested to see if these multiple identies cause issues for Jean, Marius, or Cosette in the future. I personally hope that they come all come together in an awesome culmination of Jean's character.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you, Tommy, that Jean Valjean holds many secrets and lies throughout the story, but I want to add that all these secrets have been necessary for Jean Valjean to just go on living. For your one example about him becoming mayor, he was being turned away every single place he went and was really an outcast. He could have just lived with that and begged for money the rest of his life, but instead he created a new identity for himself that gave him the second chance he deserved and that he needed. Without the lies he created, he might as well not have gone on living.
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