Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Education Les Miserables Les Miserables "Les Miserables" is about a man, Jean Valjean, who has just been released from the galleys after 19 years of imprisonment. He is in search of food and shelter, but all the taverns and inns in D----- have rejected him, because he is a former convict. He then meets a woman in front of the church who tells him to go to the house where the bishop lives. Although the bishop knows Valjean is a convict, he takes him in, and gives him food and shelter. However, Valjean is still tempted to steal from the bishop. He takes his silverware, and flees. Valjean is caught by the police, and forced to return to the bishop's house. The bishop gives Valjean a second chance, by telling the police that the silverware was a gift, and giving him the silver candlesticks in addition. Valjean is instructed to start a new life as an honest man. In M---- sur M----, Valjean invents a new manufacturing process, and earns a great fortune. He has his own factory, and has been elected Mayor Madeline, a new name, to begin a new life. In his factory, works a woman, Fantine, who has given up her child so that she could work to begin a new life, as well. Her daughter, Cosette, was left with the Thenardiers. She was treated terribly, and was forced to eat under the table, with the dog. Meanwhile, Javert, an officer in the galleys where Valjean served, denounces Valjean, because he claims he recognizes him as a former convict. However, he later changes his point of view, claiming that he has found the real Valjean, who is being charged with stealing a branch off an apple tree. Valjean could not live knowing that someone else may be charged more harshly because of the crimes he had committed in the past. Valjean announced his true identity to save the man. He returned to his factory to collect all his money, and then to escape from the police. Javert eventually caught Valjean. At this time, Fantine, who was deathly sick, thought that Valjean had brought Cosette to her. When Javert arrested Valjean, Fantine died. Valjean was sent to the galleys again, but escaped, by faking his death. He then went to the house of Thenardier to buy Cosette, and raise her to fulfill Fantine's dying wish. With Javert on his tail, Valjean and Cosette escape into a convent, where they live in seclusion for about 5 years. Valjean realizes that he loves Cosette more than anything he has ever loved, and treats her like his own daughter. He then decides to leave the convent, because Cosette has not yet seen enough of the world to make the decision of becoming a nun. Valjean and Cosette move to a poor section of Paris, in order to attract less attention. On daily trips to the park, Marius and Cosette begin to notice each other, and fall in love, after they only gave each other mere glances. After Cosette and Marius finally meet, Marius gets wounded in the barricade. Valjean saves him, although he despises him, because he knows how much he means to Cosette. Valjean then has the opportunity to kill Javert, but spares him, because he has now become a better man than to kill. Javert commits suicide, realizing that, while he has spent his whole life searching, Valjean has actually become a more generous and admirable man than he is. Marius and Cosette get married, and Valjean confesses to Marius that he is a convict, something Cosette knows nothing about. Marius no longer wishes to speak with him, and Valjean sinks into depression. He loses strength, because he no longer sees Cosette. However, Marius comes to find out that it was Valjean who saved his life, and his great fortune was not stolen, but honestly earned. Marius and Cosette rush to see Valjean in his final moments. Valjean tells Cosette about his past, and he dies in her arms as a happy man. Bibliography: Word Count: 669
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