All of them. His uniform was heavy, thats why he drowned.

I understand where you are coming from. I am not really a Harry Potter type person.

I often end of feeling sorry for the bad guys. Heathcliff (although undoubtably a psychopath) had a horrible life. Poor man..

I agree entirely but his world had to be black or white or he could not cope. He could not deal with a scumbag and a thief who also was a compassionate human being. I feel for him.

If I remember right, Javert was born in a prison and never got over the shame. He is punishing people in proportion to the shame. He seems to be doing (but to a terrible extreme) what many Christians do in their religious life. Always judging and never thinking much about mercy. I guess Westboro church is extreme like that too.

@brentan Yeah, but at least Javert suffered a fatal case of conscience that contradicted his faith. I am not so sure about the Westboro people's ability to be so afflicted.....

@brentan that is correct. His mother was a whore. And there in lies the rub as his philosophy says no one can change, yet he grew up without being a criminal. Shame, guilt, and fear of slipping into his own genetics. He also never questions the church, shown when the Nun lies, twice to him, to save Jean. Remember how he ends up because his beliefs are exposed as false by Jean's actions. I love the musical, but it misses so much of a great novel, a massive tome.

@Beowulfsfriend I absolutely agree. The music is pretty but it misses all the facets of the human experience. The wicked characters are not entirely wicked, the comic characters are actually much deeper. The ends that Fontaine would go to just to keep her child alive. Wow...when I think would I have my teeth pulled and my hair cut off for my children, in a heartbeat..Victor Hugo gets people. He saw their honour and their dignity despite dreadful situations. Love it.

@Amisja I love Hugo. I despise the Disneyfication of his works, especially The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The description on, I believe, the last page of the two lead characters' ashes blowing away may be sad, but so beautiful.

@Beowulfsfriend oh yes....tears...just thinking about it.

Love the song. Prefer the book

I really love that 10th anniversary concert. The thing about the book is all the additional opinions that the author includes in the story. I guess you were happy enough with how he wrote it.

@Amisja great minds. ?

@Amisja I taught the book many times. I used to use the scene where the Nun lies to show that sometimes truth is not the best option. The students easily saw the connections to a number of ideas, like the hiding of Jews, etc. Except for one student who stuck to his lying is never acceptable as it is one if the commandments. He became a Lutheran minister. I do have some hope for him. He has, last count I knew, handed out 11 keys to his church (which I've never stepped into, I did let him buy me lunch) to what most over here would call illegal immigrants. Our ICE has not, as of yet, broken into any churches to arrest anyone. They have tricked people out, even holding their legal children hostage.

@Beowulfsfriend He sounds rather like Javert. There are such moving moments in the whole book. The pure goodness of Monseigneur Bienvenu, who, I sense would be good regardless of god. The idea that Jean Valjean was so downtrodden, he believed himself he was beyond redemption and could not accept he was loved. I cared about all the characters. Not many stories do that.