So I had to make a visual of a passage in Les Miserables for an English project. Here's what I came up with:
Tools: lead pencil, scanner, paper, eraser, inking pen, colored pencils(CrayolaFTW!) and Photoshop so you can actually see the picture...stupid scanner.
[thefollowingiscopiedandpasteddirectlyfrommyproject.plagiarizeatyourownrisk]
Passage
“While he wept, the light grew brighter and brighter in his mind – an extraordinary light, a light at once transporting and terrible. His past life, his first offense, his long expiation, his brutal exterior, his hardened interior, his release made glad by so many schemes of vengeance, what had happened to him at the bishop’s, his last action, this theft of forty sous from a child, a crime meaner and the more monstrous that it came after the bishop’s pardon, all this returned and appeared to him, clearly, but in a light he that had never seen before. He beheld his life, and it seemed to him horrible; his soul, and it seemed to him frightful. There was, however, a softened light upon that life and upon that soul. It seemed to him that he was looking upon Satan by the light of paradise.” - Fantine, page 39
Interpretation
This passage marks the turning point in Jean Valjean’s life, when he first realizes the faults of his past. He sees a bright light in his mind, enlightening him, showing him that men are not inherently evil, simply miserable victims of unfortunate circumstance. He realizes that there are indeed good people in the world, people like the bishop, who live their entire life to help those in need. And he recognizes also his previous nineteen years spent nourishing his ugly hatred, leading him down a path of evil, poisoning his soul and blackening his heart. Valjean weeps because he knows all this, but he sees it too late: what is done is done; all he can do now is regret and repent. And yet, in recognizing this, Valjean is saved. God forgives his sins, and looks upon him in a softer light, lifting him up to where he can look down in horror upon his past rather than letting him sink unknowingly further down the abyss. This horror, this fear, this disgust at the sight of his life and soul motivates Valjean to completely change his life, to transform the Hydra in his conscience into the wings of an angel.
Visual
In the first panel, Valjean is shown seated with his head in his hands. However, while the grass is colored green, Valjean himself is a monochrome gray. This was done to represent the romantic ideal of how nature is pure, while society corrupts. In the second and third panel, Valjean again is a dull gray, but his tears are a bright white. This contrasts the material and spirit world, a theme Victor Hugo repeats throughout Les Misérables. In the physical world Jean Valjean has been labeled as a criminal, but inside, he is truly repentant towards the life he had led, and shows it through his tears. The fourth panel fades from black to white, an analogy of Valjean’s march from evil to good. The last panel brings us from our material world into the spiritual realm. Valjean looks down upon the wrongs of his past, reflected in the water below. He glows white, illuminating the darkness about him, symbolizing the light within his mind that brings enlightenment to the black depths of his soul. Last but not least are the wings upon Valjean’s back. These wings are angels’ wings, illustrating the romantic belief that all humans have natural goodness in them. These wings, previously bound by Valjean’s hatred, are finally unfurled as the binds loosen their grip on Valjean’s soul. However, as Valjean seems unable to accept himself as a good person unless he is suffering, the wings are drawn in pencil rather than pen to show how they are visible to everyone but him.
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I'm seriously considering doing another visual for another passage, just for fun. So what do you think? Should I? Or was this so horrible that you'd rather tear your eyes out than see more of my work?
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~til next time - Spring Break = 10 times the homework load.
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Quote of the Day - I like work. It fascinates me. I sit and look at it for hours.
