In ​Passage​, Connie Willis writes, "That's what literature is.

It’s the people who went before

us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death!
Listen to them!" From this quote, we see that Willis sees literature’s capacity to inform us of
common human themes, conflicts, and lessons present across all eras. Writings of the past such as
Alexandre Dumas’ ​The Count of Monte Cristo​, Victor Hugo’s ​Les Miserables​, and Robert Frosts’ ​The
Road Not Taken​, can uncover lessons relevant to our modern world.

In ​The Count of Monte Cristo​ written in 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, we can find displays of
the human capacity for jealousy, resilience, and revenge. Edmond Dantes, the main character, is
trapped, framed, and imprisoned by those who envy his rising success as a merchant sailor. After 10
long years in prison, he finally manages a way to escape. Dantes’ resilience shines through while he
is imprisoned. While in prison, he encounters an old Italian priest by the name of Abbé Faria, whom
he befriends and learns from. Before he dies, Abbe Faria informs Edmond of a hidden treasure at
the Island of Monte Cristo. Edmond followed a map left behind by Abbe Faria to the treasure. Now
full of gold and riches, Edmond plots to carry out all of his plans of revenge which he outlined while
in prison under a new name - “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Edmond is able to carry out all his plans,
including killing or causing the financial and political downfall of several characters, but his
character is left cold, empty, and bitter. His disposition at the end of the story is meant to warn
against a life filled with revenge.

Victor Hugo’s ​Les Miserables​ of 1862 addresses many ethical issues, among which is the
incongruity between the law and what is right. Through the relationship between the characters of
Jean Valjean, the thief, and Javert, the enforcer of the law, we can see examples of ethics at play. Jean
Valjean had stolen a piece of bread to feed his family at a time of need. Jean Valjean was then
incarcerated by Javert for years because of this act. He was mercilessly beaten, worked, and
marginalized while imprisoned. Finally, his time in prison came to an end and he was released,
however with documents that stained his reputation and made it almost impossible to find a job
and start a decent life. He then went on a trek through the mountains and came across a church. In
that church, he found a merciful bishop who fed him and offered him shelter. That night, Jean
Valjean ransacked the church, robbing it of as many valuables as he could carry. As he was running
away, he was stopped by soldiers who caught him and brought him back to the church. There the
bishop saw him and offered him two ornate candelabras and said, “Here, you forgot these”. He adds,
“you must use this precious silver to become an honest man”. Jean Valjean then calls for a path from
God and decides to begin his new life as an honest man and bury the memory of Jean Valjean, the
thief. For Jean Valjean, when the priest showed forgiveness, that action awoke his moral compass
and led him to devote his life to doing good. Now under the name “Monsieur Leblanc” he continues
his life doing good deeds, even refusing to frame a man who offered a way out of his past crimes.
When confronted with the possibility of erasing his identity at the cost of an innocent man’s life, he
chose to follow morality and the truth, even if it was dangerous. Eventually, he encounters Javert
once again, and Javert is appalled when he sees all the good Jean Valjean has done when he had
written him off as a criminal. Javert cannot live with his conscience when he is shown that what he
has enforced all his life is not always the moral thing to do, and commits suicide. For Javert, his life
had been led by the law, and his purpose was to be a loyal servant to what he believed were the
moral codes of society. When Jean Valjean showed him that the law and morality were not always
one and the same, he could not stand to live with the fact that he had enforced the law blindly and
with no mercy for all those years.

Robert Frost’s ​The Road Not Taken​ explores making hard decisions. He begins by describing
the two paths, noting that one seems more traveled and clear, while the other path offers more
uncertainty, noting how it “bends in the undergrowth”, illustrating that it is not an easy path to
follow. Even though he can see the clarity of the easy path, he does not choose it right away. He
continues to ponder the less traveled road, and reflects that if he chooses that path “I doubted I
should ever come back”. He then makes his decision to travel along the road not taken, adding that
it “made all the difference.” This poem addresses many issues involved with making hard decisions,
including how you often can’t go back and highlighting the importance of difficult choices.

Connie Willis’s quotation, "That's what literature is. It’s the people who went before us,
tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death!
Listen to them!" describes how literature can offer us universal lessons seen throughout human
history. We can see examples of these lessons in literature such as ​The Count of Monte Cristo​, ​Les
Miserables​, and ​The Road Not Taken​. Analyzing literature through the lens of the quote above
provides an important perspective on how many human conflicts and lessons are timeless.