FANTINE:
Fate and Freewill-
Jean Valjean entered the galleys sobbing and trembling; he left hardened. He entered in despair; he left sullen. What had happened within the soul? (p87)
In the duration of his time he spent in the galleys a change came upon Jean Valjean, the brave and selfless man that entered the gates turned into a hardened, sinful criminal. This transformation illustrates both the rolls that fate and freewill play throughout man’s darkest times. His fate led to his capture and the demons he faced in the galleys, and the choices he made while facing these evils led him to becoming the sullen man that was created.
Moral Development-
And whatever he did, he always fell back onto this paradox at the core of his thought. To remain in paradise and become a demon! To re-enter hell and become an angel! (p235)
Jean Valjean was at a cross road when he had to decide to either come forward with his true identity and face the galleys once more or to fide in the comfort of his new life and send another innocent in his place. With this decision he will either fall into the evil he once held or turn into the moral saint he aspires to become.
Light and Dark-
If the soul is left in darkness, sin will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness. (p14)
Hugo gives a new perspective of light and dark by insisting that the man that stands by and lets others stay in the darkness is to blame for the sins they could have prevented. In the setting of this book the rich watch as the poor commit sins, but this positions the rich as the criminals because of their lack of compassion.
Cosette:
Fate and Freewill-
She had always been naked under the biting north wind of misfortune, and now it seemed to her she was clothed. Before her soul had been cold; now it was warm. (p420)
Before Cosette had met Marius she felt that her life was destined for despair but when Marius enter she was given a new hope. The tides...