Agbulos, Johanna Marie V.

Caballero, Gavin Miles

3rd year – AB Psychology

The famous Les Miserables novel book is written by Victor Hugo in 1862. The story
revolves around the justices and injustices experienced by the characters in the story. The story
was viewed as depressing because it mostly addresses how unfairly society treats the
underprivileged individuals of the lower classes. The Les Miserables might happen in the past
but do you think it can happen in the future or is it happening now?

“Les Misérables” is a french word which means 'the wretched', 'the miserable ones', 'the
wretched poor', or 'the dispossessed'. From the title itself, the story was inspired by the author’s
life in France, including the June Rebellion in 1832. It was an attempt by the republicans of Paris
to oppose Louis Philippe's newly constituted monarchy by attempting to enact strict reforms,
such as discontinuing public works initiatives that catered to the unemployed. In the story, Jean
Valjean is a former convict and was captured due to stealing of bread to feed his sister’s starving
child. After breaking his parole, he seeks redemption and transforms into a compassionate and
honorable man. The antagonist of the story is Javert, a police man and a self-righteous lawman
who thinks that the rule of law and justice are paramount. After Valjean violates his parole, Javert
pursues him for the rest of his life because he believes that justice must be served and that people
are incapable of changing for the better.
This certain type of injustice is still happening in the Philippines. War on drugs was started by
former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and was not stop until the term of President Bongbong Marcos.
Recently, there is a father caught by the police due to false accusations for drugs. The father has
a child in ICU. He was caught due to a bag of money, he was going to use for the operation of his
child and this money was accused for drugs. The discrimination, poverty, political problems and
injustice felt by poor people is the same with what the characters are going through in the novel.
The corruption, low salaries, increase in commodity prices are also the common problems in
Metro Manila. The modernization of the jeepney was called as “anti-poor” and “unjust” because
modern jeepneys cost between P1. 3 million to P3 million. Cooperatives take out a loan to pay
for these units, and some of them reported that they are struggling to repay these loans. Also, the
commuter’s fare will also increase. The oppressed characters such as Jean Valjean, Cossette and
Fantine symbolizes the poor people in the Metro Manila and Javert, the police man symbolizes
the government and the injustice system of the Philippines. However, similar to the Les
Miserables characters, the Filipinos continue to strive hard and fight for their rights aiming to
live peacefully and hoping for a better tomorrow.

The novel Les Miserables wrote by Hugo in 1862 still happens today in so many countries
like Philippines. The novel symbolizes all of the injustices received by the oppressed. The war on
drugs and the jeepney modernization are one of the common and famous issue as of today in
Metro Manila. The novel makes us remember that whatever we are going through, let us
continue to fight and let us help each other to achieve the life we deserve.