A LES MISERABLES "What if...?" question for discussion- Page 2

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/25/06 at 4:25pm

I don't think so. I really think that Jean Valjean would have wanted to but, be to scared of what it would have meant for her and him. Like if JAVERT had found him, then Fantine would have been left alone.

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 6/25/06 at 5:53pm

I HEARD Valjean was Christ from my English teacher, but I decided to stray because there is actually a lot of supporting evidence for Fantine. That's what I love about Lit: nobody's really right or wrong.

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/25/06 at 6:30pm

If Fantine were intended as a Christ figure, wouldn't that be more controversial than the Davinci Code? Not just a woman, but a prostitute...? No way...

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 6/25/06 at 7:47pm

She suffered for her child like Christ suffered for his children...it's not really vivid in the musical, but I found it to be in the novel.
A stretch? Well, I got a few pages out of it for an in-class essay, and just to boast, an A at that

Updated On: 6/25/06 at 07:47 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 9:10am

I thought Valjean fell in love with Cosette (after she grew up, of course). That's why he was jealous of Marius.

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 10:15am

I suppose a case could be made for it, but I'd be surprised if Hugo intended that...it still seems like a stretch. Believe me, I spent YEARS in school stretching half baked ideas into papers. It's part of what makes me a good teacher - being able to see through all that in a kids' writing. :)

I'm not saying it's impossible, but I think it's reading something that's not necessarily intentionally there.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 1:08pm

See, that is what happened, but it's not that simple. Valjean had never experienced any sort of love, whether romantic or not. When he raises Cosette he comes to experience love for the first time--love in all of its forms: love for family, romantic love, you name it. He's basically experiencing emotions in his 50's that he would have experienced as a young child and a teenager, but couldn't because he was too busy pruning trees and taking on odd jobs to feed Jeanne and her family.

[theminutepast]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 1:25pm

Oh, come on. Of course not! There is no basis for a romance seeing as they knew each other for a day or two (it's difficult to tell time in Les Mis). Fantine admires Valjean, yes, but she knows nothing more about him than his good deeds. When Valjean sings "our time is running out," he means that he cannot stay to see how her health progresses and that he cannot return with Cosette (he didn't know she was that close to death). He really only says this because he wants to tell her he will take care of Cosette but get out of the hospital quickly before Javert arrives.

[coolphantom919]

Posted: 7/1/06 at 7:28pm

If Fantine had lived, would she and Valjean have gone on to build a life together?


I AGREE!!! :)