Why did Hugo write so much about the Battle of Waterloo in Les Miserables?
Hugo hates war. Describing the war is to illustrate the misery of the characters, and the degradation of social morality is caused by the war, which explains the background by the way.
Extended data:
The theme of Les Miserables:
The theme of Les Miserables is to write about the unremitting struggle between mankind and evil. Human nature is pure and kind, and they will go to happiness together, but they will go through a painful process. The book is interspersed with the background of the French Revolution and the description of Napoleon's Battle of Waterloo, as well as many details of French society at that time, such as slang, sewers, monasteries and so on.
Jean Valjean, the hero of the novel, has a rough life and almost all kinds of extraordinary vitality. He is a legendary hero with strong romanticism. The romanticism of this character is more important in his moral spirit, and his mental journey is as touching as an epic.
He was originally a kind worker. The cruelty of society, the punishment of law and the ruthlessness of reality made him "gradually become an animal" and blindly retaliated against society, so that he made a mistake that he really regretted for life. This regret led to a deeper consciousness, became the starting point of his spiritual development, and raised his spiritual personality to a lofty realm.
Jean Valjean is not an abstract man. From birth, experience, morality and habits, he is a laborer. He embodies all kinds of excellent qualities of the working people and is the representative of the oppressed, damaged and insulted working people.
All his experiences and fates are filled with lofty sadness and social representative significance, which makes Les Miserables a tragic epic of struggling people in a dark society.
Les Miserables runs through the book with Jean Valjean's experiences after he was released from prison, which profoundly reflects the problems of the times. Hugo incorporated the history from the failure of Napoleon Waterloo to the people's uprising against the "July Dynasty" in his works, which reflected the social life and political situation at that time.
The work not only describes the unfortunate life of Jean Valjean, a released prisoner, and Fantine, a wandering woman, and the tragic experience of Fantine's illegitimate daughter Cosette, but also reveals the unfair fate of hardworking and kind working people who were discriminated and oppressed in the society at that time.
Hugo also exposed the cruel and unfair code and order at that time in his works, lashed out at the social system that people could starve to death but steal bread but go to jail, and condemned the indifference of those citizens who were content with the status quo and hard-hearted when facing the plight of others.