ugh and les mis is so special because at its core it’s about REDEMPTION and how a single act of kindness can change a person’s life forever which seems like a dissonant theme for a book that is supposed to be the ultimate tragedy (literally entitled the miserables) but the thing is that les mis really ISNT a tragedy at least not in form.. because at its core les mis is about VALJEAN AND COSETTE and about how they SAVE each other it’s about an old man who views himself as a monster rescuing a little girl from a nightmare and learning that he is capable of love again THROUGH the love that he shows her (REDEMPTION IN TWO FORMS: valjean’s rise from bitterness and unpersonhood AND cosette’s growth into a person who does not have to be defined by the abuse she suffered as a child) and it’s about FANTINE’S redemption when she accomplishes her major goal (saving her daughter) but what les mis is really about is the scene where jean valjean rescues fantine from jail and carries her in his arms to the hospital and tells her that he WILL find her daughter and she will be cared for and everything will be okay and fantine covers her mouth and CRIES because she never thought anything would be okay again and in her eyes jean valjean is a saint (the kindness he showed her as directly originating from the kindness myriel showed him) because what les mis is REALLY about is our CONNECTIONS with OTHER PEOPLE: that you may be struggling or hopeless but no matter where you are you CAN find good people who will help you. les mis is NOT a tragedy because they saved cosette and gave her a happy ending so everything they did was worth it because cosette is the heart of the book that represents, above all else, HOPE.
