Major Theme of Victor Hugo's " Les Miserables"

In Hugo's novel Les Miserables, Hugo shows us the underlying theme through many different symbols and quotations. For instance, when Jean Valjean stays the night with the bishop Monseigneur Myriel, Valjean steals the bishop's silver. The police catch him and bring him back to the bishop. The bishop hands him two candlesticks, the last of his possessions, and sais, 'Don't forget that you promised me to use this silver to become an honest man.' …

…novel that all men can change, no matter how set they are in their ways. A man does not have to live one life and that one only. He can turn his life around simply by thinking in a different matter, or seeing what he has done wrong and changing it. The quote helps the reader to understand the complexity of this novel. It opens the reader's eyes to a new, unprecedented way of thinking.