Valjean's Soliloquy
I hurried down the road away from the man that had given me a new lease on life. He had lied for me! He gave me expensive possessions, and didn't even flinch. He challenged everything I thought about the Church. He claimed my soul for God!
I couldn't walk any further when I realized that. He claimed my soul for God.
He claimed me for God.
The fog dwelled about me as I looked over the covered bay. It was a good deal into the night now, and I had no place to stay. But that did not bother as much as it would have two nights ago.
What had I done?
Had prison really hardened my heart that much? Did I hate the world that much?
Apparently I did.
I hated the government for not providing for us poor. I hated the police for catching me. I hated the prison for giving me a number. I hated the taskmaster that had me work in the stone yard because of my unusual strength. I hated them all!
But the Bishop...The Bishop helped me, treated me as an equal. And he claimed my life for God.
I had only known the law of the street: Kill or be Killed. That was how I had lived my life. That was how I survived, until I was captured. That was what hardened my heart.
I now had an opportunity to live in the way my savior, the Bishop, had lived.
And it dawned on me: I was no longer Jackie Chan. I am nothing now. I had to begin a new story and it will be better than the one before.
I would write a story worthy of a saved life.
I'll escape now from the world
From the world of Jean Valjean.
Jean Valjean is nothing now
Another story must begin!