Les Miserables: Life Changing Events Life Changing

Les Miserables: Life Changing Events Life changing events are those occurrences, situations, opportunities and choices that truly affect the long-term development of an individual and their circumstances in life. There are many events in our lives that are not life changing; the typical day can be seen as a series of such events -- a meal is eaten, a route to work or school is chosen, a conversation is had, etc.

In order for an event to be life changing, it needs to somehow disrupt the standard activities of the everyday in a way that fundamentally shifts how one interacts with or perceives the world in an irrevocable way. When a chosen meal of cereal leads to a chipped tooth from a stray bolt and the subsequent lawsuit enables your family to move out of a small apartment and to a new bought-and-paid for home in the suburbs, this standard event has become life changing.

In Les Miserables, the life changing events are usually out of the ordinary in their entirety. The line, "Jean Valjean opened his eyes wide, and stared at the venerable Bishop with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of" indicates that Valjean is experiencing a life changing event.

At this point in the novel, the Bishop from whom Valjean stole some silver items has just bestowed a gift of even more silver upon him and lied to the officers that have essentially arrested Valjean, telling them the silver was all a gift. This is the incident that essentially restores Valjean's faith in humanity after his experiences in prison, and leads to his determination to lead a better life without the bitterness of his former existence.

Previously, Valjean had experienced a life where everyone was out for himself, but the bishop's gift showed him that human caring still existed. For Cosette, this quote sums up a truly life changing moment: "She had always been naked under the biting north wind of misfortune, and now it seemed to her she was clothed.

Before her soul had been cold; now it was warm." This line occurs just before she learns that she is to be taken away by Valjean, or "the stranger" as she still thinks of him, but after finding a shiny new gold coin in her shoe upon waking up. She has already received the gift of a doll from this man and is confident in his kindness, and he is truly the first friend or face of benevolence that she can remember.

This moment is life changing for her because she actually feels protected, cared for, and somehow important for the first time in her memory, and this opens up a whole new world of feelings and experiences to her. Later on, Marius enters Cosette's life and changes it yet again: "From that blessed.