Night On The Barricade And Jean example essay topic

When thinking back and remembering all of the teachers that I have had in the past, there is one in particular that comes to mind. Her name was Mrs. Ladd. She taught math at the junior high school. Mrs. Ladd was not the most popular, funniest, hardest, easiest, nicest, nor the meanest teacher. I remember her for some other reasons. When I think of Mrs. Ladd, I think about how hard she made me work.

But I also think about how she made me challenge myself. Most of all, I remember how she influenced me. To begin with, Mrs. Ladd gave us homework every night. Even if there was a holiday or a weekend, homework was assigned and due the following school day. She would collect it and grade it. If a student had forgotten it at home or in their locker, that meant a homework grade of zero.

She was tough. She always told us, 'If you do your homework, then you can ask questions. When you ask questions and participate in class, you will learn more. ' NormalNormalDefault Paragraph Font Default Paragraph Font Line Number Line NumberLeGrand 2 C: WINDOWSTEMPAutoRecovery save of Document 1. asdLeGrand 2 C: WINDOWSTEMPAutoRecovery save of Document 1. asdWhen thinking back and remembering all of the teachers that I have had in the past, there is one in particular that comes to mind. Her name was Mrs. Ladd. She was tough.

Her name was Mrs. Ladd. She was tough. Her name was Mrs. Ladd. She was tough.

' NormalNormalDefault Paragraph Font Default Paragraph Font Line Number Line NumberLeGrand 2 C: WINDOWSTEMPAutoRecovery save of Document 1. asdLeGrand 2 C: WINDOWSTEMPAutoRecovery save of Document 1. asd Debra Le Grand Les Miserables: The Musical Les Miserables first previewed on February 28, 1987 and opened on March 12, 1987 at the Imperial Theatre in New York after a successful sixteen year run in London. The musical was created by Claude-Michel Schonberg with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Now that Cats has closed, Les Miserables is Broadway's longest running show. It is now playing at the Imperial Theatre in New York.

Jean Valjean, released on parole after 19 years on the chain gang, finds that the 'yellow ticket-of-leave he must, by law; display condemns him to be an outcast. ' Only the saintly Bishop of Diane treats him kindly and Valjean, 'embittered by years of hardship,' repays him by stealing some silver. He is caught and brought back by the police and astonished when the Bishop lies to them to save him; also giving him two precious candlesticks. He decides to start his life anew. Eight years pass and he has broken his parole and changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine and has risen to become a factory owner and Mayor.

One of his workers, Fantine, has a secret illegitimate child. When the other women discover this, they demand her dismissal. The foreman throws her out. Desperate for money for medicine for her daughter, she sells her locket, hair, and herself. Degraded by her new trade, she gets into a fight with a prospective customer and is about to be taken to prison by Javert when 'The Mayor' arrives and demands for her to be taken to a hospital instead. Javert is reminded of the 'abnormal strength of convict 24601' (Jean Valjean), a parole breaker who he has been tracking for years when 'The Mayor' rescues a man pinned down by a runaway cart.

But he tells the Mayor that he has just been recaptured. Unable to see an innocent man go to prison, he confesses to the court that he is prisoner 24601. At the hospital, he promises the dying woman to find and look after her daughter Cosette. Javert arrives to arrest him, but he escapes. Five years later, Cosette has been lodged with the Thernardiers who run an inn.

They use her as a 'skivvy' and abuse her while 'indulging' their own daughter, Eponine. Valjean finds Cosette fetching water in the dark. He pays the family to let him take her away to Paris. Nine years later there is a great 'unrest in the city, because of the likely demise of the popular leader General Lamarque; the only man left in the government who shows any feeling for the poor. ' The urchin Gavroche is in his element 'mixing with the whores and beggars of the capital.

' Among the street gangs is one led by Thernardier and his wife, which 'sets upon Jean and Cosette. ' They are rescued by Javert, who doesn't recognize Jean until after he has made his escape. Eponine, who is secretly in love with the student Marius, 'reluctantly agrees to help him find Cosette, with whom he has fallen in love. ' A group of students prepare for the revolution that they " re sure will erupt on the death of General Lamarque. When Gavroche brings the news of his death, the students go into the streets to celebrate. Jean realizes that his 'daughter' is changing but refuses to tell her about her past.

In spite of her feelings for Marius, Eponine brings him to Cosette and prevents an attempt by her father's gang to rob Jean's house. Jean, convinced that it was Javert who was lurking outside, tells Cosette that they must flee the country. On the eve of the revolution the students and Javert see the situation from their different viewpoints. Cosette and Marius part in despair. Eponine mourns the loss of Marius and Jean looks forward to the security of exile. Meanwhile, the Thernardiers dream of 'rich pickings underground from the chaos to come.

' The students prepare to build the barricade. Marius notices that Eponine has joined the insurrection and send her with a letter to Cosette. Jean intercepts it at the Rue Plume t. Eponine leaves to rejoin Marius at the barricade.

The barricade is built and the revolutionaries 'defy an army warning that they must give up or die. ' Gavroche exposes Javert as a police spy. Eponine is shot and killed while trying to return to the barricade. Jean arrives at the barricades in search of Marius.

He is given the chance to kill Javert but lets him go. The students settle down for a night on the barricade and Jean prays to save Marius. The next day, with ammunition running low, Gavroche runs out to collect more and is shot. The rebels are all killed. Jean escapes into the sewers with Marius. After meeting Thernardier, who is 'robbing the corpses of the rebels,' he reaches the light only to meet Javert again.

He pleads for time to take Marius to a hospital. Javert lets him go. His unbending principles of justice being shattered by Jean's own mercy, he kills himself. Jean confessed his past to Marius and insisted that after they married, he would go away.

At the wedding, the Thernardiers try to blackmail Marius. Thernardier says 'Cosette's father is a murderer and, as proof, produces a ring which he stole from the corpse in the sewers the night the barricades fell. ' It is Marius' own ring, and he realizes who rescued him that night. He and Cosette go to Jean, where Cosette learns for the first time of her own history, before he dies; 'joining the spirits of Fantine. Eponine and all those who died on the Barricades. '

Bibliography

Bou bil, Alain. Les Miserables, . October 29, 2001. The Broadway Musical Home. 'Les Miserables. '.