Les Miserables

Victor Hugo's Preface:

So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation

pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century---the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. 

Reflection:

My thoughts on Victor Hugo’s preface are that he somehow managed to adequately and efficiently capture the message, meaning, and main theme of Les Miserables into one sentence before he even wrote the book, and I find that fascinating. He defends the poor and unfortunate while making society look bad and fills the reader with sympathy for the lives of the Miserables. But then again, are those people really the Miserables? Or is society?

Examples from Les Miserables:

The problems displayed in Victor Hugo's preface are shown in many places all throughout the course of the book. One example is that Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread to feed his sister and her seven starving children. He is put in prison and continually tries to escape so that he can return to the family and take care of them- giving him nineteen years. After being released her is no longer himself, but has been overtaken by a monster- emotionless, careless and selfish. Even when he breaks that, the yellow passport still calls him dangerous and society rejects him. 

My Preface:

So long as there shall exist, by way of society’s expectations, discouraged people encountering life’s daily struggles, creating comatose cyborgs, in addition to the means of survival; so long as life’s three greatest problems—stress of every day’s struggles, the need to live up to the media’s standards, and the unattainable pursuit of happiness—cannot be grasped and held under one’s control; so long as humanity continues to plunge deeper into its dissatisfaction; —and with a still wider significance, so long as these people need just one small moment of circumvention, delicious, rich, comforting desserts will not fail to be of use.