In a book, it is very important to know who your characters are and their qualities. Therefore, characterization is very important in a book to make the book interesting to the reader. In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo does a wonderful job of portraying his character, especially Jean Valjean and his changes in qualities from the beginning of the book to the end. Jean Valjean starts the story out as a thief. This is first brought …showed first 75 words of 831 total…

…showed last 75 words of 831 total…him. Victor Hugo, writer of Les Miserables, shows Jean Valjean characters through the three main stages of his life, these being his early stealing peasant stage, to his rich businessman stage, and his hiding father stage. In every stage he has a different name and has a different interest or goal. This makes it seem like Jean Valjean is three different people. But they are all united into one hardworking caring person in the end.