Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo

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Book Reviews of Les Miserables

Book Review: It's a story about us
Summary: 5 Stars

I have never seen Javert to be "bad". Many have said that Javert is the "bad" or "evil" part of us. What is so evil about enforcing the law? What is so evil about adhering to the solemn mission to protect the citizenry from malcreants? What is so wrong about wanting, nay, needing to enforce what is right? But such is the character of the superego...unyeilding, unforgiving and strict. The superego does not bend to "situational ethics". But can you imagine a world of pure superego? Gee, boring. Thus enter the Ego. Perpetually bending the rules to also do what is right...at that time.

Valjean did what was right. He provided food for his starving family. Although stealing was one way to do it, by doing so, the ego part of Valjean failed to realise that the consequences of stealing, especially for the superego, must be played out. And whether or not the absolute or relative right wins, the conflict between the two proves a human psychological dynamism that makes for intensly interesting characters. But we're forgetting about the Id. That part of us which makes decisions with the crudest, basest parts of instinct, the gut and the most sensitive part of the human body (the heart). Who embodies this? Marius. His decision to fight in the revolution did not c! ome about by his thinking that what he was doing is right, but more of completing an obligation to his comrades who might think less of him if he did not. The Id is very interesting. Many carnal and worldly manifestations are attributed to a highly animated Id, but sometimes it can masquerade as the ego or even the superego when the decision turns out to be "right".

In playing out these three roles, the result is a turbulence that causes situations from mild anxieties to all-out neuroses. Between the three main men of Les Miserables, there is enough character to go around. We will fall in love with Marius, we will love Valjean, and we will hate Javert. But hopefully not because Marius is romantic, Valjean is ideal, and Javert is bad, but because Marius is childlike, Valjean is conscientious and Javert is intolerably self- righteous (but not evil). We can empathise with each of the characters when they exhibit the above but we also must realise that we can also turn a blind eye to their "weaknesses". Marius can be naive, Valjean can be unrealistically selfless, and Javert relenting. In the end, nothing and nobody changes. Marius (Id) carries on with his worldy life, Valjean (ego) as in the past, runs away, and Javert (superego) turns his self-righteous sense of law and justice upon himself.

Freud's famous illustration of these three parts is in the form of an iceberg, where the ego and the superego break the water surface and the Id remains hidden underwater. And though physically, Hugo's Les Miserables is as big as an iceberg, he (Hugo) asks us and the readers during his time, which part of our iceberg do we show? How many times have we made decisions based on our emotions? How many times have we "broken the rules" to achieve a greater good? How many times have we imposed our "superegoness" towards subordinates and especially children by being unforgiving, intolerant and strict? How many times must a man......oops, wrong song.

Victor Hugo, a! man light years ahead of his time, presents a story about us. He writes in a most moving, heart-wrenching, intellectual, but often verbose way. But it doesn't matter, does it? I was always taught that classics will withstand the tests of universality and time. The story applies then as it does now. Between the then and the now, many theories, postulates, schools of thought have flourished. Can we expect these to be just the tip of the iceberg?

Summary of Les Miserables

Classics Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• Genre Fiction > Historical
• Literary