On Hugo’s Humanism

In the history of Western literature in the 19th century, humanism was the main ideological control tool of the bourgeoisie. What humanism wants to express is: the display of human nature, the moral value, status, personality development of people, etc. In Hugo's works, humanitarian thoughts are fraternity, kindness, sympathy for the poor people, criticism of the dark society, optimism about the future of society, and different views on revolutionary consciousness.

Hugo's humanitarian thoughts are mainly reflected in his works, among which "Les Misérables" and "1993" are clearly reflected.

1. Sympathize with the suffering of the people and accuse the darkness of society

In "Les Misérables", "A man ends up in a reformatory at the age of 12, goes to jail at the age of 18, and is sentenced to prison at the age of 40." Sent to the guillotine." The reason why such a tragic social phenomenon occurred is not that the people of that era were all evil, descendants of Satan, and came to this world for evil purposes, but because the dark society at that time created such a miserable group of people. . People at the bottom of a dark society have no food, clothing, or shelter, let alone any human rights or interests. They faced a social environment of hunger and cold. In order to survive, they had no choice but to steal, rob, cheat, or even sell themselves as slaves, selling their bodies, just to get a bite of food. In order to make a living, they are willing to do things that ordinary people cannot do, but the meager remuneration cannot support their family at all. For the sake of their family, they have to risk breaking the law and spend more than ten years in prison for half a piece of bread. These are the consequences of society. caused one tragedy after another.

“Poverty makes men depressed, hunger makes women degraded, and darkness makes children weak.” These things have their ideological connotations in Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables”. Hugo used his works to depict characters living on the verge of death, in order to represent the images of millions of poor people, to complain for these poor people, and then to accuse this society of poisoning the lower class people, and to expose the darkness that has occurred in this society. noodle. Hugo used this writing technique to express his humanitarian thoughts, making the world a hell in order to sympathize with the poor and kind-hearted people. Jean Valjean and Fantine in "Les Misérables" are all... Forced by the helplessness of life, he made a tragic fate to fight against the injustice of this society.

Hugo used humanitarianism as a weapon, ruthlessly criticized the unreasonable phenomena in the society at that time, and showed great sympathy for the poverty of the disadvantaged groups. He insisted on using "good and evil" conflicts to explain various phenomena existing in society. He believes that the world is a stage of struggle between two principles, good and evil, and attributes all contradictions to the opposition between good and evil, and evil will eventually be defeated and evil will move towards good.

The humanitarian ideas to be expressed in Hugo's works are clearly recorded in many places: Jean Valjean was caught by the police stealing the bishop's silverware. As the bishop, Miriam, he Not only did he not say that Jean Valjean had stolen his things, but he also gave Jean Valjean an extra piece of silverware. These all reflected the bishop's benevolent thoughts. He hoped to use love to resolve Jean Valjean's sins and let his The soul returns again, which is exactly the humanitarian thought that Hugo wanted to express.

2. Adhere to the optimistic belief

The optimistic belief in Hugo’s humanitarian thought is vividly described in his works. Hugo is full of hope for the future of mankind. Confidence, he firmly believes that mankind will have a bright and beautiful future. Hugo's optimism set him apart from other contemporary writers. In "Les Misérables", Javert, the policeman who represents legal justice, finally chose the latter when deciding between law and humanity. This made the law show a strong influence of humanity in the face of humanity. The humanitarian ideas of freedom, equality, and fraternity have a spiritual power that cannot be matched by law in the human spiritual world.

Hugo wanted to express the upward and optimistic spirit, the romantic spirit in the works that moves from evil to good, and the power of evil is finally broken by the spirit of good. His pursuit of the future of society and his care for the people give people hope to a certain extent, and also reflect Hugo's love and pursuit of life.

3. Praising the People's Revolution

Hugo's "Les Misérables" is written against the background of the barricade war of the French uprising in 1832. "1993" is based on the French Revolution. Subject matter, his works affirm revolutionary violence, but he values ??humanitarianism more.

Hugo has a famous saying about humanitarianism: "On top of the absolutely correct revolution, there is also an absolutely correct humanism." In the past, this sentence was considered to promote abstract humanism and deny it. Revolution mediates class contradictions. In fact, Hugo’s words are not contradictory at all.

First of all, the revolution Hugo talked about was a bourgeois revolution, not a proletarian revolution. Hugo’s humanism was actually capitalist humanism. At that time, bourgeois revolution It does not go beyond the scope of bourgeois humanism. Therefore, it is correct to have humanism on top of revolution.

Secondly, Hugo’s words entrusted his humanitarian ideal, “Revolution is to restore human nature.”

In his opinion, what humanitarianism requires is the return of people's good nature. In "Les Misérables", Jean Valjean was influenced by the bishop and became a charitable person.

Finally, revolution needs Violence, but violence is not a panacea. In Hugo's view, the interests of revolution are reasonable and correct, but they are not necessarily human. Revolution more often achieves its goals through non-human means. He believes that revolution is for the benefit of the majority of people, but it is not necessarily human. It is often used by a few people with ulterior motives. At the same time, Hugo also believed that revolution is to use inhumane means to trample and violate the interests of "minorities" in order to achieve a certain goal. This approach is obviously inhumane.

Hugo's humanitarian ideal pursues fraternity and advocates the use of reformatory education to solve social problems. This is reflected in many of Hugo's works, such as Quasimodo being reformed, Jean Val Let the delinquents be expelled, and even Javert, the policeman who represents legal justice, be expelled... Hugo was an ardent democrat and a sincere humanitarian. He fantasized about using humanitarian ideas to transform society and ease class struggle and revolution through humanitarian methods. He hopes to use kindness and fraternity as a prescription to transform society, which reflects the limitations of the society in which he lives.

Hugo's humanitarianism is entrusted with a good wish. He sympathized with those oppressed nations and fought bravely for their rights. Hugo's humanitarian thoughts run through his works, including his sympathy for the suffering of the lower class people, his accusation of the dark society, and his enthusiasm for the revolution. However, it also shows the irrational factors in the revolution. These are indescribable. One is not to elaborate on his humanitarian thoughts.