Agape Love and Les Mis

Home , Fantine, Fantine (painting), Jean Valjean, One Day More

Prepared by Veronica Burchard

Lesson Overview Lesson Details

In this unit, students learn about agape or Subject area(s): English, Film, Religion, Living sacrificial love by viewing, discussing, and as a Disciple of Jesus Christ in Society, writing about the film (or play) Les Miserables, Responding to the Call of Jesus Christ , Social based on the novel by Victor Hugo. I used the Justice Tom Hooper film starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway. Grade Level: High School

Since the film is long and can be hard to follow, Resource Type: Close Reading/Reflection, we watched it in short bursts, pausing to clarify Discussion Guide, Video characters and situations however needed.

After each viewing session we spent several Special Learners days talking about the plot, characters, settings, This resource was developed with the following and so forth. My main goal was to make sure special learners in mind: they understood what was happening in each scene, and how each scene related to the Traditional Classroom whole. We would also listen to the songs Homeschooled Students together.

This lesson desribes the process we followed and includes a unit assessment with a character quote matching exercise, reflection questions, and two essay questions.

The author of this lesson shared it with other educators within the Sophia Institute for Teachers Catholic Curriculum Exchange. Find more resources and share your own at https://www.SophiaInstituteforTeachers.org. Lesson Plan

In this unit, students learn about agape or sacrificial love by viewing, discussing, and writing about the film (or play) Les Miserables, based on the novel by Victor Hugo. I used the Tom Hooper film starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway.

Since the film is long and can be hard to follow, we watched it in short bursts, pausing to clarify characters and situations however needed. After each viewing session we spent several days talking about the plot, characters, settings, and so forth. My main goal was to make sure they understood what was happening in each scene, and how each scene related to the whole. We would also listen to the songs together.

Process:

Show the film in 20-30 minute episodes, pausing at places where there is a “cliffhanger.” For example, I paused the film at the following points:

After Fantine is caught with the note, just as Jean Valjean enters the factory, revealing himeslf to be a successful businessman. When Valjean arrives at the inn to rescue Cosette After “One Day More” is sung. When Gavroche delivers Marius’s note to Valjean

Note: Since my students were younger, I wanted to protect their innocence from the worst abuse Fantine suffers. Therefore I fast-forwarded through the last few verses of “Lovely Ladies.” I also skipped “Master of the House” entirely. (The song is poorly rendered in this version, I believe, and in any case is not essential to establishing the Thernadiers as evil.) I did not skip them, but note also that there are some graphic moments in the battle as well.

After watching the whole movie, read together the Catholic Exchange article Les Mis: A Catholic Story by Gail Fink http://catholicexchange.com/les-miserables-a-catholic-story

Here is an activity/assessment I created to go with this unit.

I. Matching Match the quote with the character that says it.

1. “This is the land that fought for liberty, now when we fight, we fight for bread.

Here is the thing about equality: everyone’s equal when they’re dead.”

2. “Honest work, just reward, that’s the way to please the Lord.”

3. “This woman leaves behind a suffering child. There is no one but me who can intercede. In mercy’s name, three days are all I need.”

4. “Who cares about your lonely soul? We strive towards a larger goal. Our little lives don’t count at all.”

5. “I am at one with the Gods and Heaven is near!

And I saw through a world that is new that is free”

6. “The time is here!

Let us welcome it gladly with courage and cheer

Let us take to the streets with no doubt in our hearts

But a jubilant shout

They will come one and all

They will come when we call!”

7. “By the witness of the martyrs, by the Passion and the Blood, God has raised you out of darkness; I have bought your soul for God!”

8. “Little dear, cost us dear

Medicines are expensive, M'sieur

Not that we begrudged a sou

It's no more than we Christians must do!”

9. “I know a place where no one's lost,

I know a place where no one cries,

Crying at all is not allowed.

Not in my castle on a cloud.”

10. “Monsieur, don't mock me now, I pray. It's hard enough I've lost my pride. You let your foreman send me away - yes, you were there, and turned aside.”

Answer Bank:

Jean Valjean

Javert

Fantine

Cosette

Marius

Mme. Thernadier

Gavroche

Enjoras

The Bishop

The Students

II. Reflection questions

1. What lesson does Valjean learn when Fantine reminds him that he “turned aside” when his foreman sent her away? How is this lesson reflected in the lyrics: “look down upon your fellow man, look down and show some mercy if you can.”

2. Can you list any other moments in the film where characters make a choice to “turn aside” rather than help their fellow man?

3. In the song “One Day More,” all the characters with their various story lines together sing that the day of the battle will be a “judgment day”? What happens on Judgment Day? (See CCC 1059 for help).

4. Javert is an antagonist in the film. Is he a villain? Explain why or why not.

5. Just about every character in Les Miserables can teach us a moral lesson. For each item on the list below, write the character whose life exemplifies the lesson, and explain why. (If you can’t choose just one, that’s okay too!)

A. Don’t spend your life pretending to be with someone who does not love you.

B. Love is incarnational – we have to be physically present to those we love.

C. Those who wish to be shown mercy must show mercy to others.

D. You cannot change peoples’ hearts with violence.

E. Young people can show great virtue.

II. Essay question (choose one)

A. Compare and contrast the characters of Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert, in terms of the way each one understands love, justice, and mercy. Use specific examples from the film to support your thesis.

B. Agape is self-giving, sacrificial love. We can choose or reject agape in the choices we make every day with our family, friends, and in our care for the poor. In several moments of Les Mis, a character literally offers his life in place of someone else. List and explain at least three of these instances, and explain how the character’s love is agape.