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CHAPTER IV HUGO’S IDEOLOGY TRANSFORMATION
“Do you hear the people sing lost in the valley of the night? It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light. For the wretched of the earth there is a flame
that never dies. Even the darkest night would end and the sun would rise.”
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This chapter would discuss how Les Miserables depicts Hugo ideology transformation. There are three sub-chapters to discuss the transformation of
Hugo’s ideology which is projected in Les Miserables. Each sub-chapter would discuss one analysis point based on psychoanalysis-Marxism reading. The first
sub- chapter would analyze Hugo’s ideology transformation based on the point of
desire and passion. The second sub-chapter would discuss the concept of insanity in sanity, and the last sub-
chapter would be recognizing Hugo’s psychotic and social dimension through Les Miserables.
A. The constructed desire
Based on Kleinian psychoanalysis, psychological condition of an individual is constrained by its social condition
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. As the classic Freudian psychoanalysis suggests that an individual emotional life is constructed, an
individual is not only controlled by its instinctive drive but also its desire. Klein furthermore deepens the analysis in the process of developing someone’s desire
drive or the emotional life. Klein critically suggests an emotional life of an individual. An infant always lives in a family that developed paranoid-schizoid and
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 754
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E. Victor Wolfenstein, 132
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depression to repress its drive
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. As soon as an infant is born, shehe would develop the beginning level of paranoid - schizoid in the form anxiety which
develops the concept of good and bad. Based on this discourse, Les Miserables would be analyzed to find out the proc
ess of Hugo’s ideology transformation. Such as in Hugo’s life, his father is a Napoleon follower and his mother is
religious Catholic
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. From the very beginning of his life, Hugo grew in a family with double consciousness in upper class family. Of course his parents do not teach
them the concept of their ideology to baby Hugo. However, ideology is a praxis. It is reflected through every single action in Hugo’s parents’ life. Moreover, his
family condition also leads Hugo to be educated and indeed his developed intellectual triggers him to understand false consciousness that might exist. This
discourse would be used to read Les Miserables to analyze the process of Hugo’s
ideology transformation. Hugo’s ideology transformation begins with psychotic situation. As Denny explains in the introduction of the novel, Hugo is born in a
well-to-do middle class family. Born from educated family background with his father is a Bonapartism and his mother is a royalism, Hugo inherits the double
consciousness which leads him to be a radical republican
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. To begin the story of Les Miserables, in his first book Hugo writes about
Fantine. Yet, the first character Hugo introduces is Monseigneur Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel, the bishop of Digne. From the very beginning
of this chapter, Hugo describes the bishop. He narrates that the bishop is about seventy five. The reference of the year was 1815 when Monseigneur Bienvenu
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E. Victor Wolfenstein, 129
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N. Denny, introduction, 9
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N. Denny, introduction, 1 - 2
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became the bishop of Digne
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. Constantly Hugo describes the bishop as someone who dedicates his life to God. He is a saint who would sacrifice all his possession
for others. To emphasize the good deeds of the bishop, Hugo even writes the household expenses of the bishop in detail, and the bishop allocates almost all of
his money for the poor and the marginalized people. The bishop spends almost all of the money to improve the prison and maternity societies, release people who are
imprisoned for debt, and provide the free education of poor girl. The whole money was 15,000 francs but he took only 1000 francs for his personal expenses
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Besides emphasizing how the bishop allocates his money, Hugo explains the bishop psychotic condition that he feels lonely sometime
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. The thought of the bishop
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and the bishop’s faith to God makes him have spirit to serve the people for God
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. The climax of the bishop’s good deeds is narrated when he lets Jean Veljean, the ex-convict, stay in the church, and serves the ex-convict the best
supper he has. He even releases Jean Veljean after the ex-convict has been caught for stealing the silvers, and lets Jean Veljean take the candlesticks
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. So, where is Fantine in this narration? She is not even closed to the
beginning of the story. Hugo himself explains: Although it has no direct bearing on the tale we have to tell, we must
nevertheless give some account of rumours and gossip concerning him the Bishop [...]. What is reported of men, whether it be true or false, may play
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 19
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 23
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 62
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 68
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 65
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 118
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as large a part in their lives, and above all in their destiny, as the things they do.
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Hugo writes about Fantine after he tells more stories about the transfiguration of Jean Veljean. Fantine is another part of the story where Hugo relates Jean Veljean
who has become Madeleine, and Javert
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. Hugo writes that the story of the Bishop which is told by people in Digne
“has no direct bearing on the tale”. In fact, he becomes a crucial character who bears more than a background of the story. The Bishop is the creator of Madeleine
for what he has done. From the very beginning of Les Miserables, Hugo describes the Bishop as a symbol of the emergent through the concrete action of the bishop
represented in his household expenses. The bishop way of life is a portrait of his Christianity ideology. He is against
the dominant ideology in the society where they place a bishop in an upper class life style, especially the way the bishop treats the ex-convict. The moment when
the bishop gives Jean Veljean candlesticks is the greatest moment in Jean Veljean life. It refers to the Bible where Jesus Christ is symbolized with the light. Further,
he lives like a candle for giving his life to light up the world. Though Hugo intentionally puts the bishop as the background of the story, it
seems that the bishop turns to be the focus of the story. The bishop is a reflection of Hugo’s creative writing process. He turns a character and the plot into a medium to
lead people that particular ideology, in this case Christianity, should be the ideology to shape the society life. However, it does not mean that people would
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 19
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V. Hugo, Les Miserables, 183
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totally consume the ideology. In addition, they have to critically think about what they believe. It is reflected through the act of Sister Simplice when she has to take
care of Fantine. Furthermore, the bishop symbolizes Hugo’s desire drive. At first, Hugo
states that the story of the bishop has no direct connection to the whole tale. In fact, the bishop becomes the creator Madeleine and leads to a longer narration of Jean
Veljean and Javert. This part initiates Hugo’s ideology when he begins to write Les Miserables
. Regarding to Hugo’s life, he proclaims himself a socialist and writes some socialist essays for humanity.
The other main characters such as Jean Veljean and Fantine are also the depiction of how social structure constructs human desire. The way Hugo builds
each character with vi vid social background reflects Hugo’s idea of how social
structure controls human life. When the Bishop represents Hugo’s conscious desire to show people that it is social structure who create criminals and judge them guilty
for their crime action, the other characters like Jean Veljean, Fantine, and Javert show Hugo’s other part. Les Miserables is written based on Jean Veljean’s
transfiguration and how revolution can be a moment to end one era and begin another era. However, Les Miserables also shows that
it is true that someone’s identity, ideology, and even desire affected by social structure as shehe is a
product of social structure and history, so an author is. As a product of social structure, each character in Les Miserables represents that even an author, as an
individual, has his own intention, the intention is built based on social condition.
B. Insanity In Sanity
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