Trey Walter – Les Miserables relation to Catholicism  


            Dr. Elissa Cutter came to Christopher Newport University on December 4th to host a unique seminar in which she compares critical scenes of the renowned film, “Les Miserables” to the teachings of the Catholic faith.  During this analysis, Dr. Cutter chose to select four scenes where the main character Jean Valjean has his most pivotal moments, to which I will discuss the first two in this post.  The first scene we analyzed was when the Catholic Bishop saves Jean Valjean from punishment for stealing silver coins from the church.  Valjean, who had previously spent twenty years in prison for a very minor crime, would certainly be sent back for a similar amount of time and succumb to the life of a criminal.  Being sentenced to prison for another unjust term would destroy Valjean to the point in which his eternal soul would be ruined, and most likely denying him access into heaven.  When the Bishop showed Valjean unexpected mercy this was the first time anyone had ever given him such forgiveness and was the first time Valjean felt like anything more than a criminal.  The Bishop did not just save Valjean from prison, but also from a life of crime.  This act from the Bishop falls in line with the Catholic faith in the sense of God’s forgiveness.  In their faith, all sins can be healed through redemption, and the priest offered Valjean that opportunity. 

            
             The second scene we analyses was soon after the priest granted mercy to Valjean, when he fought his own mind about how to react to the mercy he had just been shown.  Valjean never thought of himself as anything more than a criminal, because that is how he had been labeled for the past twenty years.  It is very easy for the mind to be conditioned into believing something when everyone in society treats you a certain way for such a long period of time.  After receiving forgiveness from someone as revered as a Bishop for such a heinous crime Valjean finally realized that he might have the potential to be something more than what he’s been labelled.        

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