Stereotypes In Victor Hugo's Les Miserables

Society often judges someone from its first glance at them. We could know nothing about a person, but we instinctively make assumptions about their character. If their clothes are fashionable they must be trendy and cool. If someone has messy hair and their clothes are torn, they 're poor and dirty. Gender, skin color, appearance, all of these are factors on how we see someone. Even whom we talk to, who we sit near, and who we trust is affected by our own personal biases. Stereotypes rule our lives. The truth is that we judge people too quickly. That is the way things have been for hundreds of years. Unfortunately this system is often cruel rather than kind.

Jean Valjean, a character from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, was a victim of this cruel system. He had just been released from prison, thus leaving his clothing torn and his face ragged. Hugo wrote, “The few persons who at this time were at their windows or their doors, regarded this traveler with a sort of distrust.” (page 7). By simply looking at him, the people of D——— had already marked him as someone to avoid and be wary of. We do not associate ourselves with suspicious persons. That is what the world has taught us throughout the years of our lives. Unfortunately this harmful as much as it is helpful. While we avoid the potentially dangerous people in our lives we

Baba was seen as powerful, almost godlike in the book. Only when his cancer started to kill him did his true nature shine through. Hosseini wrote, “ How could I have been so blind? The signs had been there for me to see all along; they came flying back to me now“ (page 224). We only began to see someone for who they truly are when the image of their glory starts to fade from our minds. When Baba left Pakistan a lot more left him as well. His wealth, strength, and power. It’s a lot easier to believe someone’s crimes when they are no longer the person they once