The Origin You Didn’t Know About Fantine And Les Misérables
When Victor Hugo died at 83, despite asking for a pauper’s burial, two million people showed up for his funeral
On a freezing cold day in February, 1829, Victor Hugo watched a man in rags being dragged away by police for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family.
He wasn’t watching the man, except peripherally.
As the police dragged the struggling man away, Hugo was watching the mother and child hiding in the shadows, the mother quietly distracting her child. Both dressed in rags unfit for winter.
I can almost see it, can’t you? A young woman, fear and hunger clawing in her belly, trying to shush her child and hold back her own tears as her husband is dragged away. All because they were too hungry.
He’d get hard labor, that man. 5 years at least, maybe more.
While he was locked away, he would know, every minute of every day, what would be happening to his wife out there. Alone. On the streets. Without a man to care for her or provide for her.
Hugo knew, too.
