LES MISERABLES

SUBTOPICS: HISTORICAL
NOVEL/PREFIXES AND
SUFFIXES
 HOW WOULD YOU TREAT
SOMEONE WHO HAS HATED YOU
FOR A LONG TIME WHEN HE/SHE
IS IN DANGER AND HIS/HER LIFE
DEPENDS ON YOUR HANDS?
OBJECTIVES:
a. Watch a historical film (Les
Miserables)
b. understand how historical novel
affects the theme of the text
c. recall prefixes and suffixes
MISERABLE
 VIEWING
“LES MESERABLES”
MAIN CHARACTERS:
1. JEAN VALJEAN
2. FANTINE
3. JAVERT
4. COSETTE
5. MARIUS
6. EPONINE
UNLOCKING
DIFFICULTIES
 ANSWER KEY
1. J 2. I
3. H 4. G
5. F 6. E
7. D 8. C
9. B 10. A
 DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA
ABOUT THE HISTORY OF
FRANCE? WHAT CAN YOU
REMEMBER ABOUT ITS
HISTORY?
 BRIEF HISTORY:
THE JUNE REBELLION, ALSO KNOWN AS THE PARIS
UPRISING OF 1832, TOOK PLACE BETWEEN JUNE 5-6,
1832. ANTI-MONARCHIST REPUBLICANS IN PARIS
BEGAN THE UPRISING ATTEMPTING TO TURN BACK
THE 1830 JULY MONARCHY. DURING THE PUBLIC
FUNERAL OF GENERAL JEAN MAXIMILIEN
LAMARQUE ON JUNE 5, THE REBELLION BEGAN.
BARRICADES SURROUNDING THE RUE
SAINT-MARTIN AND RUE SAINT-DANIS
WERE BUILT. THIS EVENT INSPIRED
FRENCH NOVELIST AND POET, VICTOR
HUGO, FOR HIS 1862 NOVEL LES
MISÉRABLES, DEPICTING THE
AFTERMATH OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION.
 FRANCE HAD BEEN HAVING ECONOMIC
PROBLEMS FOR MANY YEARS, ESPECIALLY
BETWEEN 1827-1832, THOUGH IT HAD BEEN
GOING ON SINCE THE END OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR DUE TO
ALL THE MONEY THE FRENCH SPENT
ASSISTING THE AMERICANS.
 NOT ONLY WERE THERE PROBLEMS
ECONOMICALLY, BUT THE COUNTRY WAS
ALSO HAVING FOOD SHORTAGES AND
HARVEST FAILURES, PLUS THE COST OF
LIVING WAS ONLY GOING UP, CAUSING
FOR AN EVEN MORE RIGID AND
DISCONTENTED CLASS SYSTEM.
VICTOR HUGO, WHO WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD AT THE
TIME, WAS IN TUILERIES GARDENS WRITING A PLAY
ON JUNE 5, 1832. HE HEARD THE SOUNDS OF
GUNFIRE COMING FROM THE AREA OF LES HALLES
AND HAD TO HAVE THE PARK-KEEPER LET HIM OUT
SO HE COULD LEAVE THE GARDENS. HUGO DECIDED
NOT TO HURRY BACK TO HIS HOME AND INSTEAD
FOLLOWED THE SOUNDS OF THE REBELLION
THROUGH PARIS’S EMPTY STREETS.
 HE STUMBLED UPON THE BARRICADES NEAR LES
HALLES, UNAWARE THAT MUCH OF HIS CITY HAD
FALLEN INTO THE CONTROL OF THE REBELS FOR THE
SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. HUGO KEPT GOING NORTH
TO RUE MONTMARTRE THEN TOWARDS PASSAGE DU
SAUMON. HE ENDED UP NEAR RUE DU BOUT DU
MONDE, WHERE HE SAW GRILLES ON EITHER SIDE OF
THE ALLEYWAY SLAMMED SHUT.
 SURROUNDED BY THE MANY BARRICADES,
HE HID HIMSELF BETWEEN COLUMNS IN THE
STREET WHERE HE STAYED FOR ABOUT A
QUARTER OF AN HOUR AS THE REBELS AND
THE FRENCH TROOPS SHOT AT EACH OTHER.
THIRTY YEARS LATER, LES MISÉRABLES WAS PUBLISHED
IN 1862. IN THE NOVEL, HE DEPICTS THE REBELLION
AND THE TWENTY YEARS LEADING UP TO IT WITH HIS
MANY CHARACTERS, MOST POOR AND POVERTY
STRICKEN. BEGINNING WHEN NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE IS FINALLY DEFEATED, IT ENDS AFTER THE
JUNE REBELLION.
 PARISIAN STUDENTS, HUGO’S FICTIONAL “FRIENDS
OF THE ABC”, LED BY ENJOLRAS, ARE SHOWN
PLANNING THE REBELLION ON THE NIGHT BEFORE
LAMARQUE’S FUNERAL. THE FRIENDS OF THE ABC IS
DESCRIBED TO BE A SUBGROUP OF THE RIGHTS OF
MAN SOCIETY. HE DESCRIBES HIS CHARACTERS
BUILDING BARRICADES ON THE NARROW STREETS OF
PARIS IN RUE DE LA CHANVRERIE AND THE WINE
SHOP WHERE THERE OPERATIONS ARE BASED.
- COMPARE WHAT YOU HAVE
WATCHED FROM THE EXCERPT
THAT YOU WILL BE READING.
 READING ACTIVITY
YOU WILL BE GIVEN 10 MINUTES
TO READ AN EXCERPT OF THE
NOVEL ON PAGES 282-283 OF
YOUR BOOK
1. WHY WAS THE CHAPTER
ENTITLED “JEAN VALJEAN
TAKES REVENGE”?
2. HOW DID JEAN VALJEAN
TAKE HIS REVENGE?
3. HOW DID JEAN VALJEAN
DEVELOP HATRED TOWARD
JAVERT?
4. WHAT KIND OF PERSON
WAS JEAN VALJEAN? HOW
DID YOU SAY SO?
5. WHAT DOES LES MISERABLES
SAY ABOUT THE HISTORY OF
FRANCE?
6. WHO WAS MARIUS AND
WHAT WAS HIS ROLE IN THE
NOVEL?
 WHAT IS A
HISTORICAL NOVEL?
 A HISTORICAL NOVEL IS A LONG PROSE
NARRATIVE THAT IS SET IN A PERIOD OF
HISTORY. IT CONVEYS THE SPIRIT, MANNERS,
AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE PAST BY
PROVIDING REALISTIC DETAILS OF
HISTORICAL FACTS.
 THE CHARACTERS IN A
HISTORICAL NOVEL CAN BE
ACTUAL HISTORICAL FIGURES OF
A MIXTURE OF FICTIONAL AND
HISTORICAL CHARACTERS.
IT MAY ALSO FOCUS ON A SINGLE
HISTORIC EVENT OR A
CHRONICLE OF BIGGER EVENTS
THAT MADE AN IMPACT ON THE
LIVES OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE
NOVEL.
HERE ARE OTHER HISTORICAL NOVELS
THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ
LATER:
1. IVANHOE BY SIR WALTER SCOTT
2. WOLF HALL BY HILARY MANTEL
3. THE LAST OF THE MOCHICANS BY
4. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
5. GONE WITH THE WIND BY
6. MARGARET MITCHEL, AND
7. WAR AND PEACE BY LEO
TOLSTOY
 PAIR ACTIVITY
SIT WITH A PARTNER. RECALL OUR DISCUSSION
ABOUT HISTORICAL NOVEL. DISCUSS THE STORY
LES MISERABLES AND STATE YOUR OPINION WHY
THIS IS CONSIDERED AS A HISTORICAL NOVEL.
PROVIDE DETAILS FROM THE NOVEL AND GIVE
YOUR EXPLANATION. WRITE IT IN A ½ SHEET OF
PAPER.