The

Lottery
by
Shirley Jackson
 The
Author
 SHIRLEY JACKSON’S LIFE
• Shirley Hardie Jackson
• Born December 14, 1916, San
Francisco,California
• Died August 8, 1965
• Attended the University of Rochester
and then Syracuse University
• She was engaged to Stanley Edgar
CHARACTER
Hyman and they eventually had four
childen.
• Published in the print edition of the
June 26,1948,issue
• Shirley Jackson, who died in 1965,
wrote six novels, including “The
Haunting of Hill House” and “We Have
Always Lived in the Castle.”
 Tessie Hutchinson
• Chosen as the sacrificial victim

• symbolizes resistance against oppressive

traditions

• illustrates the consequences of blind

conformity in the face to societal rituals
 SETTING:
BENNINGTON,VERMONT SUMMARY
- LOCATION OF THE STORY
ANALYTICAL APPROACH
Cosette
The daughter of Fantine, Cosette is abandoned
by her father shortly after her birth. In order to
earn money, Fantine was forced to leave her
daughter with the Thénardier family, who use
her as a servant and a means to extort money
from her mother. Valjean rescues her and raises
her as his daughter. A gentle and pure young
woman, she falls in love with Marius.
Marius Pontmercy

The son of a war hero and grandson of an

eccentric member of nobility, Marius is an
intelligent and idealistic young man. He
falls in love with Cosette and fights on the
barricades.
Éponine Thénardier
The eldest daughter of the Thénardiers,
Éponine enjoys a pampered childhood but
an impoverished adolescence. Her parents
teach her to steal and cheat, but she is
redeemed by her deep love for Marius.
Monsieur Thénardier
A greedy and selfish man, he works in a
variety of jobs, including tavern owner. He
claims to have fought in the 1815 campaign.
He is the husband of Madame Thénardier and
the father of Azelma and Éponine. He and his
wife take in Cosette, charging her mother a
great deal of money and forcing the little girl
to perform a number of chores.
Madame Thénardier
A nasty and selfish woman, she is the wife of
Monsieur Thénardier and the mother of Azelma
and Éponine. She and her husband take in
Cosette, charging her mother a great deal of
money and forcing the little girl to perform a
number of chores.
Enjolras
The leader of the ABC Society, Enjolras is an
intense young student and a radical
revolutionary. Despite his good looks, he is
uninterested in women, focusing all of his
efforts on revolution.
Gavroche
A little urchin boy, he roams the streets of Paris.
He is the neglected son of the Thénardiers, but
he prefers the streets to the company of his
family. He dies a heroic death on the barricades.
Bishop Myriel
Despite a tragic past (the French Revolution ruined
his family, and his wife died young), Myriel is a
generous and kindhearted man of God. He is
famed for his good deeds throughout the area of
Digne. Myriel is the one who restores Valjean's
faith in humanity.
M. Gillenormand

Marius’s ninety-year-old maternal grandfather.

Gillenormand prevents Marius from seeing his
father, Georges Pontmercy, because he fears that
Pontmercy will corrupt Marius. A devout
monarchist, Gillenormand rejects the French
Revolution outright and also rejects Pontmercy’s
Napoléonic beliefs. Although Gillenormand’s
classist views sometimes offend Marius, he truly
loves his grandson and ultimately does what is
necessary to make Marius happy
Colonel Georges Pontmercy

An officer in Napoléon’s army and Marius’s father.

Pontmercy is severely wounded at the Battle of
Waterloo, and mistakenly believing that Thénardier
has saved his life, he asks that Marius honor this
debt. Although we know little about Pontmercy’s
personal life, his politics greatly influence the
young Marius.
Champmathieu

A poor, uneducated man who unfortunately

resembles Valjean so much that he is identified,
tried, and almost convicted as Valjean.
Champmathieu proves to be too dim-witted to
defend himself successfully, revealing the
callousness of the French justice system.
Felix Tholomyès

Fantine’s lover in Paris. Tholomyès is a wealthy

student who thinks much less of his relationship
with Fantine than she does. He gets Fantine
pregnant and then abandons her as a joke.
Tholomyès is Cosette’s biological father, although
the two never meet.
Facts
and
Trivias
• Hugo started writing Les Misérables in 1829 • The unabridged book is 19,000 pages in
and it wasn’t published until 1862—that’s 33 French.
years to write a masterpiece.
• The unabridged book is 15,000 pages in
English.
• When the book was first published in France,
Victor Hugo was in exile in England.
• The book quickly became a hit in
America, because of the relevancy of
• The musical production has been translated
the themes and political upheaval for
into 22 different languages, including Hebrew, the Civil War
Hungarian, Icelandic, Czech, Castillian, Finnish,
Argentinian, Estonian, and Korean. • It is in the top 20 longest novels ever
published list
• There have been over 60 film adaptations of
the story
• Jean Valjean saves Cosette from the • Various subjects are explored in the novel
Thenardiers on Christmas Eve such as the familial love, romantic love,
justice, politics, history of France, religions
• The setting of time in the novel began in and moral philosophy.
1815 and ended in 1832 June during the
Rebellion in Paris, France. • Myriel is the bishop character encountered
by Valjean in the story. The model of the
• Les Miserables received a great deal of bishop was based of Bishop of Digne,
popularity after it was adapted into films, TV, Bienvenu de Miollis.
musical and stage performance.
• Jean Valjean in the novel is also known as
• It is believed that the inspiration of Jean Urbain Fabre, Monsieur Leblanc, Ultime
Valjean was loosely from Eugène François Fauchelevent, and Monsieur Madeleine. He
Vidocq’s life. Vidocq served as the leader of served in prison because of stealing a loaf of
an undercover police even though he was an bread for seven starving children of his sister.
ex-convict. The first private detective agency
in France was established by Vidocq. He was • The film of the musical adaptation of Les
known as a philanthropist and businessman. Miserables was released in 2012. The stars
included Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and
Russell Crowe.
Social Injustice
in
Nineteenth-
Century
France
 Hugo uses his novel to condemn the
Ironically, it is not until the factory fires
unjust class-based structure of nineteenth-
Fantine for immorality that she resorts to
century France, showing time and again that the
prostitution. In the character of Fantine, Hugo
society’s structure turns good, innocent people
demonstrates the hypocrisy of a society that fails
into beggars and criminals.
to educate girls and ostracizes women such as
Hugo focuses on three areas that
Fantine while encouraging the behavior of men
particularly need reform:
such as Tholomyès.
education, criminal justice, and the treatment of
Hugo casts an even more critical eye on
women.
law enforcement. The character of Valjean reveals
He conveys much of his message
how the French criminal-justice system transforms
through the character of Fantine, a symbol for
a simple bread thief into a career criminal. The
the many good but impoverished women driven
only effect of Valjean’s nineteen years of
to despair and death by a cruel society. After
mistreatment on the chain gang is that he
Fantine is abandoned by her aristocratic lover,
becomes sneaky and vicious—a sharp contrast to
Tholomyès, her reputation is indelibly soiled by
the effect of Myriel’s kindness, which sets Valjean
the fact that she has an illegitimate child. Her
on the right path almost overnight.
efforts to hide this fact are ruined by her lack of
education—the scribe to whom Fantine dictates
her letters reveals her secret to the whole town.
 The Long-Term Effects of the
French Revolution
on French Society
Hugo describes the Battle of Waterloo, for
In Les Misérables, Hugo traces the instance, in glowing terms, but reminds us that at
social impact of the numerous revolutions, the end of the glorious battle, the old blights of
insurrections, and executions that took place in society, like the grave robbers, still remain. Similarly,
late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century the battle at the barricade is both heroic and futile
France. By chronicling the rise and fall of —a few soldiers are killed, but the insurgents are
Napoléon as well as the restoration and slaughtered without achieving anything. The
subsequent decline of the Bourbon monarchy, revolution that Hugo champions is a moral one, in
Hugo gives us a sense of the perpetual which the old system of greed and corruption is
uncertainty that political events imposed upon replaced by one of compassion.
daily life. Although both Napoléon and the students
Though Hugo’s sympathies are with at the barricade come closer to espousing these
republican movements rather than with the values than the French monarchs do, these are not
monarchy, he criticizes all of the regimes since values than can be imposed through violence.
the French Revolution of 1789 for their inability Indeed, Hugo shows that Napoléon and the
to deal effectively with social injustice or students at the barricades topple as easily as the
eliminate France’s rigid class system. monarchy.
 Plot
Summary
 The convict jean valjean is released Under the assumed name of
from a French prison after serving nineteen Madeleine, Valjean invents an ingenious
years for stealing a loaf of bread and for manufacturing process that brings the town
subsequent attempts to escape from prison. prosperity.He eventually becomes the town’s
When Valjean arrives at the town of Digne, no mayor.
one is willing to give him shelter because he is Fantine, a young woman from Montreuil, lives in
an exconvict. Desperate, Valjean knocks on the Paris. She falls in love with Tholomyès, a wealthy
door of M. Myriel, the kindly bishop of Digne. student who gets her pregnant and then
Myriel treats Valjean with kindness, abandons her. Fantine returns to her home
but Valjean repays the bishop by stealing his village with her daughter, Cosette.
silverware. When the police arrest Valjean, On the way to Montreuil,Fantine
Myriel covers for him, claiming that the realizes that she will never be able to find work if
silverware was a gift. the townspeople know that she has an
The authorities release Valjean and illegitimate child. In the town of Montfermeil,
Myriel makes him promise to become an she meets the Thénardiers, a family that runs the
honest man. Eager to fulfill his promise, local inn.
Valjean masks his identity and enters the town The Thénardiers agree to look after
of Montreuil-sur-mer. Cosette as long as Fantine sends them a monthly
allowance.
 In Montreuil, Fantine finds work in After a few years, Valjean escapes from
Madeleine’s factory. Fantine’s coworkers find out prison and heads to Montfermeil, where he is
about Cosette, and Fantine is fired. able to buy Cosette from the Thénardiers.
The Thénardiers demand more money to The Thénardiers turn out to be a family
support Cosette, and Fantine resorts to of scoundrels who abuse Cosette while spoiling
prostitution to make ends meet. One night, Javert, their own two daughters, Eponine and Azelma.
Montreuil’s police chief, arrests Fantine. She is to Valjean and Cosette move to a run-down part of
be sent to prison, but Madeleine intervenes. Paris. Javert discovers their hideout, and they are
Fantine has fallen ill, and when she longs forced to flee. They find refuge in a convent,
to see Cosette, Madeleine promises to send for where Cosette attends school and Valjean works
her. First, he must contend with Javert, who has as a gardener.
discovered Madeleine’s criminal past. Marius Pontmercy is a young man who
Javert tells Madeleine that a man has lives with his wealthy grandfather, M.
been accused of being Jean Valjean, and Gillenormand. Because of political differences
Madeleine confesses his true identity. Javert shows within the family, Marius has never met his father,
up to arrest Valjean while Valjean is at Fantine’s Georges Pontmercy. After his father dies, Marius
bedside, and Fantine dies from the shock. learns more about him and comes to admire his
father’s democratic politics.
 Angry with his grandfather, Marius Thénardier’s daughter Eponine, who is in
moves out of Gillenormand’s house and lives as a love with Marius, helps Marius discover Cosette’s
poor young law student. whereabouts. Marius is finally able to make contact
While in law school, Marius associates with Cosette, and the two declare their love for
with a group of radical students, the Friends of each other. Valjean, however, soon shatters their
the ABC, who are led by the charismatic Enjolras. happiness.
One day, Marius sees Cosette at a public park. It is Worried that he will lose Cosette and unnerved by
love at first sight, but the protective Valjean does political unrest in the city, Valjean announces that
his utmost to prevent Cosette and Marius from he and Cosette are moving to England.
ever meeting. Their paths cross once again, when In desperation, Marius runs to his
Valjean makes a charitable visit to Marius’s poor grandfather, M. Gillenormand, to ask for M.
neighbors, the Jondrettes. Gillenormand’s permission to marry Cosette. Their
The Jondrettes are in fact the meeting ends in a bitter argument. When Marius
Thénardiers, who have lost their inn and moved returns to Cosette, she and Valjean have
to Paris under an assumed name. After Valjean disappeared.
leaves, Thénardier announces a plan to rob Heartbroken, Marius decides to join his
Valjean when he returns. Alarmed, Marius alerts radical student friends, who have started a political
the local police inspector, who turns out to be uprising. Armed with two pistols, Marius heads for
Javert. The ambush is foiled and the Thénardiers the barricades.
are arrested, Valjean escapes before Javert can
identify him.
 The uprising seems doomed, but
When Valjean emerges hours later,
Marius and his fellow students nonetheless
Javert immediately arrests him. Valjean pleads
stand their ground and vow to fight for
with Javert to let him take the dying Marius to
freedom and democracy. The students discover
Marius’s grandfather. Javert agrees.
Javert among their ranks, and, realizing that he
Javert feels tormented, torn between
is a spy, Enjolras ties him up.
his duty to his profession and the debt he owes
As the army launches its first attack
Valjean for saving his life. Ultimately, Javert lets
against the students, Eponine throws herself in
Valjean go and throws himself into the river,
front of a rifle to save Marius’s life. As Eponine
where he drowns.
dies in Marius’s arms, she hands him a letter
Marius makes a full recovery and is reconciled
from Cosette. Marius quickly scribbles a reply
with Gillenormand, who consents to Marius and
and orders a boy, Gavroche, to deliver it to
Cosette’s marriage. Their wedding is a happy
Cosette.
one, marred only when Valjean confesses his
Valjean manages to intercept the
criminal past to Marius. Alarmed by this
note and sets out to save the life of the man his
revelation and unaware that it was Valjean who
daughter loves. Valjean arrives at the barricade
saved his life at the barricades, Marius tries to
and volunteers to execute Javert. When alone
prevent Cosette from having contact with
with Javert, Valjean instead secretly lets him go
Valjean.
free. As the army storms the barricade, Valjean
grabs the wounded Marius and flees through
the sewers.
 Lonely and depressed, Valjean takes to
his bed and awaits his death. Marius eventually
finds out from Thénardier that Valjean saved
Marius’slife. Ashamed that he mistrusted Valjean,
Marius tells Cosette everything that has
happened. Marius and Cosette rush to Valjean’s
side just in time for a final reconciliation. Happy
to be reunited with his adopted daughter, Valjean
dies in peace.
Notable Quotes
from
Les Miserables
Here’s a quote from Les Mis for when you’re
This truth bomb is doubly poignant because,
frustrated or disappointed:
hidden within it is a plea for you to forgive
“To love or have loved, that is
those who have done wrong:
enough. Ask nothing more.”
“Despair is surrounded by fragile
And here’s one for when you’re putting love and
walls which all open into vice or
kindness out into the world and not getting it
crime.”
back:
“You who suffer because you love, love
This is one to read to yourself every morning
still more. To die of love is to live by
before you head off to work:
it.”
“Laughter is sunshine, it chases
This quote is full of wisdom about the mindset
winter from the human face.”
of someone whose life isn’t going to plan:
“People weighed down with troubles
do not look back; they know only too
well that misfortune stalks them.”
Conclusion
 There will always be a rainbow after
Les Miserables or The Miserable Ones the storm, even for Fantine who may seem to
is a story about the hardship, love, sacrifice, have lost her faith, during her last breath, Jean
humanity, laws, broken dreams, and also the Valjean gave her the liberty to leave in peace
darkest parts of French history during the when he promised to take a good care of
revolution in 18th century. Cosette.
Every character’s choices in life The novel is like a comforting blanket
affects not only their own but also the other specially to those who are suffering from the
characters. Each character has a story to tell adversaries of life, it tells us to believe in
which in reality, shows the daily struggles we ourselves, just like Jean Valjean, even in our
endure in life. It was amazingly written in such own little way, we can make a big difference in
way that a person might have a better someone's life.
perception towards life after reading the novel. We don’t get to choose which period we live
in, we only get to choose how we live. Live life
with love in your heart and you'll find solitude
in this cruel world.
 References

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-social-
relevance-les-miserables-please-304769

http://rebirthofreason.com/Articles/Younkins/
Reflections_on_Victor_Hugos_Les_Miserables.shtml

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lesmis/

https://www.gradesaver.com/les-miserables

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Les-Miserables-novel-
by-Hugo

http://forreadingaddicts.co.uk/authors/fifteen-facts-about-
victor-hugo/9247

https://lesmiserablesjennasreview.weebly.com/interesting-
facts.html
THANK
YOU
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