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Examples Of Metaphors In Les Miserables

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In the drama "Les Miserables", the story of a man who has struggled to change is represented in a tragic tale, set in the early 1800s. The story represents life for people during the French Revolution, and provides an excellent telling of a ex-prisoner who goes through a life changing experience, and then goes on to truly make a difference. A man, called Jean Valjean, is wrongfully imprisoned for many, many years, and finally manages to gain his freedom. However, things in his life change immensely as he is shown mercy from a priest, and therefore, he is redeemed after realizing that he needs God in his life. The story includes many more aspects and trials, including a young mother who struggles to make ends meet for her young daughter …show more content…

Literary terms are valid here, and many metaphors are used in the musical version of this story. The following song lyrics provide an example of a metaphor: Look down, look down You'll always be a slave Look down, look down You're standing in your grave (Look Down) The metaphor here is specifically in the lyric "You're standing in your grave". In the beginning scene of the movie, we see Jean Valjean amongst many other prisoners, pulling a ginormous boat into a port. The distress and many years of declining is seen on all of the prisoners faces, and when they say that they are standing in their graves, the implication is that they are all going to die there. Their lives are virtually over, and they have nothing left for them. Another metaphor is in the next lyrics, and I felt that it was necessary to include all of the lyrics to potray the tragedy of this story. This is such a powerful song, and it certainly gives a listener/reader an idea as to how some of the characters in this story were feeling. There was a time when men were kind / When their voices were soft And their words inviting / There was a time when love was blind And the world was a song / And the song was

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Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, once said, “People find meaning and redemption in the most unusual human connections”. That is, encountering a certain person or two may change that person’s whole life. In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is a man with a dreadful past, serving 19 years in prison for breaking the window pane of a bakery to steal a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving children, and attempting to escape out of jail several times. After his release, Jean Valjean is known by all as a criminal, and is only provided shelter by the kind bishop of Digne, Monseigneur Bienvenu. The bishop kindness purifies and humanizes Valjean, and so he becomes a respectful man who changes his identity in order to forget his past and start a new life.

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Douglass used imagery to express the true agony a slave went through during the hardships of slavery. He describes that, “ … those songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery, and quicken my sympathies for my brethren in bonds”(Douglass 21). The wretched songs the poor slaves sang were cries for help. They could only express their trauma by singing depressing tunes as they worked countless hours in horrible conditions. As for physical pain, Douglass mentions that, “[Demby’s] mangled body sank out of sight, and blood and brains marked the water where he had stood”(Douglass 26).

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The first story that explores the fear society has of certain women is “Nineteen Thirty-Seven.” In the story Nineteen Thirty-Seven, Josephine a young haitian girl, whose mother was captured and thrown in prison because she was accused of being a witch. Women are portrayed as wicked and evil. For example, “ ‘And before the women went to sleep the guards made them throw tin cups of cold water at one another so that their bodies would not be able to muster up enough heat to grow those wings made of flames, fly away in the middle of the night, slip into the slumber of innocent children and their breath.’ (Danticat 37-38)”

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The ending of this lyric relates to Chris Washington that later through the movie must not close his eyes in the sunken place and must stay woke to realize the situation he will shortly be put in. Peele introduces this song to inform the viewer that they must be socially aware and awake to avoid danger and being taken advantage of in life. This perspective can be for both the oppressed minority to become knowledged on their own rights and power. It could also be interpreted to the White majority to be awaken of the social issues around them and see beyond their privilege and white

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He uses similes throughout his narrative to compare his struggles with slavery and show how the African American is negatively portrayed with something the reader can easily imagine and relate. When discussing his tiresome days working , Douglass compares himself to being held down by a weight, When I could stand no longer, I fell, and felt as if held down by an immense weight.” (55) The simile between him and the weight shows how slavery is weighing him down and it is something the reader can easily imagine and relate too. Later in the narrative Douglass compares slaves to wild beasts, “In the midst of houses, yet having no home,--among fellow-men, yet feeling as if in the midst of wild beasts,” (90).

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The moral of this story put into a song is to become a better you, doing everything you’d ever dream of doing. You only live once, so do it right, think about life as a gift. The lyrics in this song describe a man who not only had to face death in the eyes, he made every effort to make a positive turn to it. The song is simply sending a message to the listeners to lead a better life, you never know when it’s going to end. A message to live like you’re dying.

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