Les Miserables

 

           So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation
pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the    element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the
century---the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through
hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social
asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider
significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les
Misérables cannot fail to be of use.
I find Victor Hugo's preface for Les Miserables is very powerful. His use of words and the fact that he only wrote one sentence gives it that much more of a punch. I agree with him completely especially because many of the problems he has stated are ones that we still have today. Many people are cruel and ignorant and like to discriminate and 'damn' people, as Hugo says, because they are different or are less fortunate. People don't like to face the facts that people are struggling and are what they would see as miserable. Literally doing every single thing they can just to scrape by. That's why books like Les Miserables are of use, because they open our eyes and make us face these struggling people so that we can gain the heart to help them.
Examples from Les Mis that support his preface are as follows:
the degradation of man through pauperism - Because Jean Valjean was poor he stole the bread to feed his family, which caused him to get arrested. After he got out people treated him like garbage and viewed him as a monster. He slowly became more of an animal because of the way society treated him for being less fortunate.
the corruption of woman through hunger - Fantine was broke and was trying to find money to send to the people taking 'care' of Cosette. She sold her two front teeth, her hair, and finally resorted to prositution to get the money. She had finally broken.
the crippling of children through lack of light - Cosette was neglected and abused. She wasnt loved or cared for and was forced to wear rags, sweep the streets, and eat with the dogs. All she ever knew was darkness and cruelty. She never knew what it was like to have a childhood and didnt understand that she had the right to a childhood too.


 My Rendition of the Preface.

        So long as there shall exist, by self indulgence and senseless futuristic improvements, an absence of humanity, creating corruption of the human race, and adding the element of non-appreciating to younger generations; so long as the three great problems of the century- the crippling of the human mind through technology, the corruption of the youth through greed and gluttony, the closed minds through rumors and fixated thoughts- are unsolved ; so long as humanity has disintegrated from the world; - in other words with a still wider significance, so long as arrogance and ignorance exist on earth, open eyes and open minds cannot fail to be of use.