In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, the hero, Jean Valjean, is an ex-convict, living illegally under an assumed name and wanted for breaking parole many years ago. Although he will be returned to the galleys for life if he is caught, he is a good man who does not deserve to be punished. He has established himself in a town, becoming mayor and a public benefactor. One day, Jean learns that another man, a vagabond, has been arrested for a minor crime and identified as Jean Valjean. Jean is first tempted to remain quiet, reasoning to himself that since he had nothing to do with the false identification of this hapless vagabond, he has no obligation to save him. Perhaps this man’s false identification, Jean reflects, is “an act of Providence meant to save me.”
Upon reflection, however, Jean judges such reasoning “monstrous and hypocritical.” He now feels certain that it is his duty to reveal his identity, regardless of the disastrous personal consequences. His resolve is disturbed, however, as he reflects on the irreparable harm his return to the galleys will mean to so many people who depend upon him for their livelihood — especially troubling in the case of a helpless woman and her small child to whom he feels a special obligation. He now reproaches himself for being too selfish, for thinking only of his own conscience and not of others. The right thing to do, he now claims to himself, is to remain quiet, to continue making money and using it to help others. The vagabond, he comforts himself, is not a worthy person, anyway. Still unconvinced and tormented by the need to decide, Jean goes to the trial and confesses. Did he do the right thing?
Yes Jean did the right thing, for to be able to live with ourselves is priceless.Although he first thought of the good he was doing to help others and how coming clean would hurt them,that was not his choice to make, if he had did this than he would have been saying”I am more needed in society than someone else”Often times people will wait until their death bed to confess their wrong doings,why, because they are trying to free themselves from the secret they can no longer bare to carry.Living a secret life is a heavy burden to carry. I was in a relationship for over ten years that was a hell in its self, because to the world I was one person, but knew who the real me was. Jean freed himself from his own prison walls.