English
- Submitted by: smartypants
- Views: 817
- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 04/07/2010 08:16 PM
- Pages: 5
- Report this Essay
Amanda Quinn
1/11/10
Burgoni 5
Final Paper
Most people think that if a person commits a crime then they deserve a harsh punishment. What they never stop to realize is, what if the person had good intentions for doing so? They could have been living a poor and deprived life and breaking the law was their last and only choice. This doesn’t make them bad people like society makes them out to be. Instead of a punishment, they deserve sympathy. Characters, like Jean Valjean and Fantine from the novel Les Miserable by Victor Hugo, were good people at heart who were unjustly punished for violating the rules of society. In a similar situation, Billy and Harrison from the novel “Welcome to the Monkey House” by Kurt Vonnegut, suffer an unfair deprived life that encourages them to go against the law. The characters that violate the rules of society deserve sympathy because they violated the rules for good reasons.
In the book Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is a good person at heart who is treated poorly for his actions. He steals a piece of bread which makes him a criminal. But really Valjean steals the bread to try and feed his sister’s starving family. He has a good heart and good intentions. Jean Valjean actions make society look down on him, but that’s because they never knew the truth behind it, “One thing had astonished him, that Jean Valjean has spared him, and one thing that petrified him, that he, Javert, had spared Jean Valjean.” (Hugo 530). This is the first time Javert has ever let a criminal go free. Javert spares Valhean because he finally understands that Valjean is not a criminal at heart and that he does not deserve the punishments given to him. When Valjean shows society the good person he really is they feel bad for treating him so poorly. Victor Hugo shows that
Quinn 2
good people do things against society’s code and laws but that does not make them a bad person. Hugo wants the audience to sympathize the punishments put on Valjean...
1/11/10
Burgoni 5
Final Paper
Most people think that if a person commits a crime then they deserve a harsh punishment. What they never stop to realize is, what if the person had good intentions for doing so? They could have been living a poor and deprived life and breaking the law was their last and only choice. This doesn’t make them bad people like society makes them out to be. Instead of a punishment, they deserve sympathy. Characters, like Jean Valjean and Fantine from the novel Les Miserable by Victor Hugo, were good people at heart who were unjustly punished for violating the rules of society. In a similar situation, Billy and Harrison from the novel “Welcome to the Monkey House” by Kurt Vonnegut, suffer an unfair deprived life that encourages them to go against the law. The characters that violate the rules of society deserve sympathy because they violated the rules for good reasons.
In the book Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is a good person at heart who is treated poorly for his actions. He steals a piece of bread which makes him a criminal. But really Valjean steals the bread to try and feed his sister’s starving family. He has a good heart and good intentions. Jean Valjean actions make society look down on him, but that’s because they never knew the truth behind it, “One thing had astonished him, that Jean Valjean has spared him, and one thing that petrified him, that he, Javert, had spared Jean Valjean.” (Hugo 530). This is the first time Javert has ever let a criminal go free. Javert spares Valhean because he finally understands that Valjean is not a criminal at heart and that he does not deserve the punishments given to him. When Valjean shows society the good person he really is they feel bad for treating him so poorly. Victor Hugo shows that
Quinn 2
good people do things against society’s code and laws but that does not make them a bad person. Hugo wants the audience to sympathize the punishments put on Valjean...