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The changes in the society are reflected through the plot of the story. Hugo creates an extricate plot in Les Miserables to show social process and describe the
changes of people way of life as the result of their belief and ideology. This connect
ion leaves us a gap to analyze Hugo’s ideology transformation and a social construction depicted in Les Miserables.
2. Les Miserables and the reality
As Eagleton has emphasized that a literary work is not merely a copy of reality, Les Miserables is also an active reflection or a medium to show the readers
a real reality. The real reality here means that in some degree, Les Miserables is indeed a copy of the social condition around the revolution but it has been modified
with Hugo’s point of view and interpretation to the social condition. The characters and the narrations of each character are both Hugo’s point of view to what actually
happened in the society. Hugo’s belief here leads the readers to see Les Miserables as an example of interpretation of what really happened in the society around the
revolution era in Paris. It creates a room to analyze Les Miserables as a literary work that reflects more than one aspects of social life.
The analysis of the reality depicted in Les Miserables leads to a study where Les Miserables is analyzed
as a projection of reality is Mario Vargas Llosa’s book entitled The Temptation of The Impossible. In this book, Vargas Llosa
analyzes Les Miserables as a complex projection of social life that creates a space to conduct interdisciplinary research. Other researches are the interdisciplinary
studies incorporating social and economic disciplines. One example of interdisciplinary research is a journal by Qurat-ul-ain Ahmad, Sofia Dildar Alvi
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and Abdul Baseer entitled “Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables: A Marxist Consciousness”.
Ahmad, Alvi and Baseer show that there is economic and social relationship between the upper class and the lower class which is constructed in
order to perpetuate the tyranny of the upper class
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. They analyze the social structure which is depicted in Les Miserables based on Marxist reading to see how
the society is constructed with social power and economic condition where the rich bourgeois has control not only in economic field but also to perpetuate the social
structure
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. The depiction of social condition in Les Miserables create a clear purpose for the journal as there is written:
The research tries to establish the fact that economic parity and social impartiality are the best means to resolve the contradictory issues and to
abolish the absurdity of life. The paper demonstrates that it is the behavior of society at large that encourages the criminality among the normal
behavior oriented people.
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Ahmad et al show an analysis in social and economic field with Les Miserables as a model of social construction. This analysis further shows that the novel projects
the society as well, especially through Hugo’s narration which explains the characters and their social condition. The vivid depiction of the society in Les
Miserables is supported by Vargas Llosa’s argument that states Les Miserables is a
real reality
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. These situations become an underlying reason to write the journal entitled “Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables: A Marxist Consciousness” since Hugo
also clearly presents human behaviour due to the economic condition.
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Q. Ahm ad et al, “Victor Hugo Les Miesrables: Amarxist Consciousness”, 5.5 2013
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Q. Ahmad et al, 5.5 2013
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Q. Ahmad et al, 5.5 2013
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M. Vargas Llosa, The Temptation of the Impossible, 12
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Les Miserables creates a complete picture of a society, especially when Hugo explains about Jean Veljean. The protagonist of the novel, Jean Veljean,
shows how economic condition and power affects his life and status
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. Jean Veljean is a symbol of human life which is constrained by his social condition.
Hugo explains in his narration that Jean Veljean becomes a thief for he was poor and hungry as a child and nobody taught him to work for the food
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. The society has turned him into a felon who steals a loaf of bread. Then the society, for one
more time, turns him into a respected man after he has successfully changed his identity to the Monsieur Madeliene and great economic and social status
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. Besides Jean Veljean, Fantine is a symbol of an oppressed lower class
person. Hugo describes Fantine as an ignorant woman who grows up without any education or clear family background
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. Unlike Jean Veljean who turns into a respected man, the contact to the upper class
even makes Fantine’s life more depressed
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. While reading the story of Jean Veljean and Fantine’s life, the readers constantly find that Hugo interrupts the story both to narrate and to explain and
judge the situation. This writing style is what Vargas Llosa points out as a creative writing process where Hugo created the real reality in Les Miserables
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. The studies place Les Miserables as a theory of human society which
enables the readers to understand how the social and economic condition constrains peop
le’ life. Indeed Hugo writes Les Miserables as a model of human
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 92
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V. Hugo, 92 - 94
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V. Hugo, 156 - 157
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V. Hugo, 123
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V. Hugo, 150 - 154
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M. Vargas Llosa, The Temptation of the Impossible, 12 - 13
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life which is in line with Marxist concept to some degree
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. Les Miserables is not just a portrayal of reality, there is a creative writing process that modifies the
reality into a fiction due to Hugo’s intention. Eagleton states that literary works are
written as an active reflection of the society in which the author can use his imagination and their language power to create a projection of a society
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. This social studies prove that creative writing process in Les Miserables creates
complex projection of society, so it supports the analysis of Hugo’s creative process which reflects Hugo’s ideology transformation.
3. Les Miserables and its surrogation
