Florelle as Fantine in Les Misérables (1934) directed by Raymond Bernard
As we enter the eighth week of the Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along, we arrive at the 50th chapter of the book. From The Bishop of Digne to Jean Valjean, from Fantine to the Thénardiers, we have seen light and darkness, gardens and stars, shipwrecks and collapsed carts. And there is still so much more to come.
The last few chapters have focused on the figure of Fantine and her sad fate, and in this 50th chapter Hugo summarizes her life:
At the point we have now reached in this painful tragedy, there is nothing left of the Fantine she once was.
Here the reader’s heart breaks. Fantine has endured shame and disgrace, has worked tirelessly to make enough money to support herself and her daughter, all to no avail. She had two treasures left, her golden hair and her white teeth. She has sacrificed them both for the sake of her ultimate treasure, her daughter Cosette, whom she mistakenly believes to be in dire straits. But Fantine’s sacrifices are not enough. She must sacrifice still more. She sells herself as a prostitute. Fantine is now truly one of les misérables.
Remember “the monstrous waters” that overwhelmed Jean Valjean and all convicts? Here they overtake Fantine, but she is beyond caring:
Let the whole rain-cloud come down on her and the entire ocean sweep over her! What does she care? She is a saturated sponge.
In today’s chapter Hugo pauses the narrative to comment on her situation–and to place blame:
What is this story of Fantine about? It is about society buying a slave.
From whom? From wretchedness.
From hunger, cold, isolation, neglect, destitution. A hard bargain. A soul for a morsel of bread. Society accepts what wretchedness offers.
Who is to blame? We are.
Like Jean Valjean, Fantine has made mistakes: giving herself to a man like Tholomyès; leaving her daughter with the Thénardiers; getting into debt. Fantine’s situation is the result of her own choices and actions. Why then does Hugo place the blame on society and not on Fantine? Some might say she is getting what she deserves.
But if you follow this blog, you know that I recently finished reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. A quote from his book seems particularly apt here:
Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.
Yes, Fantine made poor choices. Yes, she made mistakes. But that is no reason to abandon her to a life of degradation and misery. She is still a human being. What she needs is help. What she needs is guidance.
What she needs is mercy.
Instead she gets the self-righteousness of Madame Victurnien, who uses Fantine’s situation to puff herself up while at the same time casting Fantine into the “monstrous waters.”
Today’s world is full of Fantines and Valjeans, men and women who have made mistakes and are suffering because of them. It is tempting to cast them aside, blaming them for their own fate, feeling no responsibility for them.
But that is not the way of Jesus.
As I write this, today is Monday of the first week of Lent. All over the world, Catholics who attend Mass today will hear these words from the Gospel according to Matthew:
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Those of us who call ourselves Christian ought to have no doubt about how to respond when we encounter people in situations similar to Fantine. But, as Hugo says, “The sacred law of Jesus Christ governs our civilization but does not yet pervade it.” How tragically true that is, even in our time. Prostitution still exists. Poverty still exists. Human trafficking exists. The opioid crisis exists. School violence exists.
As we continue to follow the story of Fantine, Cosette, and the rest of les misérables, Hugo compels us, the members of society, to question our own role in allowing such social evils to continue.
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It’s so interesting that Hugo’s message and the Lenten message coincide like this. Could he have known that this would be the case? He’s obviously designed his book so that it *could* be read one chapter per day, and many people take on a similar challenge with the Bible. But is this just a coincidence of timing, or was it deliberately constructed?
In either case, I think the real tragedy for modern readers of Les Misérables is, indeed, that the poor continue to suffer in some of the same horrible ways Hugo describes. We have added our own tragedies, too, but “the poor are always with us,” even in the wealthiest nation on earth, in the most technologically advanced age, where hard work and slave labor should no longer be a necessity for a living wage. I wonder what Hugo might think of the idea of universal basic income, or of the 1% that owns the vast majority of the world’s wealth and refuses to share it with even a tiny percentage of the other 99%.
Compassion is so important and it costs us so little really. I don’t think one cannot be reminded often enough.
I have never read any Hugo before, but he is reminding me of Dickens in how he uses fiction as social criticism.
My heart does break for Fantine and for Cosette, too. I am struck by how alone Fantine is and because she had to leave Cosette with the Thenardier’s, they are both alone. No matter how dark or difficult their circumstances, it would have been bearable if they had each other.
These Fantine chapters have been especially hard to read – the emotion in Hugo’s words is just so raw and I’ve found myself tearing up multiple times. I’m not Christian specifically but believe in Jesus’ message and it’s just so heartbreaking that Fantine received so little compassion and that when it did arrive it was too little too late. Hugo does show his characters as partly just buffeted by fate and ‘society’ at a macro level, but also brings this down to the individuals who could have outstretched a hand or made a difference and chose not to, to make us realize that it’s all these little missed opportunities to help someone else that add up to the huge societal inequality and injustice we’re facing.