BOOK SIXTH: Javert

Summary

M. Madeleine enlists the help of a couple of nuns to take care of Fantine. Meanwhile he tries to send for Cosette, but the Thenardiers only respond with continued demands for more money.

Javert comes to MadeleineÂ’s office and tries to resign as prefect of the police after confessing that he had written to the Prefecture of Police at Paris to denounce Madeleine as Jean Valjean. Meanwhile, another individual named Champmathieu has been arrested and identified by two other convicts as Jean Valjean. Madeleine refuses JavertÂ’s resignation.

Notes

Javert is a good and dependable police officer. He is not an evil character even though his hounding of Valjean would make him seem so. To him, the law is an answer for everything, and must be obeyed to the very letter. His perception of his own failure leads him to think that he is not good enough for the law. Madeleine sees the fallacy in JavertÂ’s thinking; and of course, he also realizes the Javert had correctly identified him. Perhaps the best way to stay tuned in to JavertÂ’s actions was to keep him in a position where his decisions would at least be transparent.

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