Book One, An Upright Man
CAHPTER 1, M. Myriel
1. How does the author describe M. Myriel’s earlier life?
2. Why did he emigrate to Italy?
3. How did M. Myriel respond to Napoleon’s direct question?
4. What is the problem with small towns, according to the author?
5. Who are the two women living with the Bishop of Digne? How does the
author describe them?
Chapter 2, How M. Myriel becomes Monseigneur Bienvenu
6. What did the Bishop, M. Myriel, do in the town of Digne that earned him
the name/nickname “Monseigneur Bienvenu” (literally “Bishop
Welcome”)?
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PAPER…
Chapter 3, Good Bishop, Hard Bishopric
7. How did the Bishop travel in the mountains? How did he answer the
people who laughed at him?
8. What evidence does the Bishop point to when making his observation
about the wild nature of the Devolny region?
Chapter 4, Works answering Words
9. How was M. Géborand able to buy a penny’s worth of Paradise?
10. What is the Bishop’s belief about proper living and conduct?
11. What is the Bishop’s unexpected reaction to the criminal case involving
the man who was counterfeiting money?
12. How did Monseigneur Myriel react when he heard about the village priest
(curé) who would not go and visit the condemned murderer?
13. When one sees a real guillotine, what is the typical reaction?
14. Instead of “drowning grief in oblivion,” what did the Bishop strive to
accomplish?
Chapter 5, How Monseigneur Bienvenu made his Cossack last so long
15. What were his sleeping habits like?
16. How does he describe the spirit of a person?
17. What did the Bishop naturally give away to people as he passed along?
Chapter 6, How he protected his house
18. What is the bottom-line reasoning in practically every decision that the
Bishop makes?
19. How does the Bishop reply to Madame Magloire’s gentle reproach about
the uselessness of a flower garden when compared to vegetables?
20. How did the Bishop secure his residence?
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PAPER…
Chapter 7, Cravatte
21. What is the Bishop’s response to those who warned him to not venture
alone into the bandit-controlled area?
22. What happened deep in the mountains, in the poor church visited by the
Bishop?
23. Who are the real robbers and murderers, according to the Bishop?
Where is the greatest danger?
Chapter 8, After-dinner philosophy
24. Write down five interesting statements made by the Senator, and two
made by the Bishop?
Chapter 9, The Brother portrayed by the sister
25. Write a short summary of how the Bishop is described by his sister.
Chapter 10, The Bishop in the presence of an unknown light
26. What did the local people think of the old “Conventionist” (who had been
one of the agents and leaders during the French Revolution, which was
anti-church, anti-God, and anti-monarchy, etc.)
27. What was the Conventionist really voting for, according to his pseudo
“confession”, when he voted for the new republic of France and the
abolition of the monarchy?
28. What does the old Conventionist firmly believe about the French
Revolution?
29. How does the Conventionist describe Christ’s whip purging the temple of
the money changers?
30. What are some of the Conventionist’s legitimate attacks on the Church?
31. How does the Conventionist define revolutions?
32. What is the final, unexpected turn of events in the Bishop’s visit to the
old Conventionist?
33. What did some of the locals conclude was the real reason for the Bishop’s
visit to the home of the problematic, iconic, and crotchety Conventionist’s
home?
Chapter 11, A qualification
34. What is the first proof of charity in a priest, according to the Bishop?
Chapter 13, What he believed
35. What one thing did the Bishop have in excess?
36. What was his reaction to a loathsome creature that he discovered in his
garden one day?
37. Why did he take long walks?
38. What was one of his graces? What was the result of this “spiritual gift?”
39. What did his little, simple garden provide for him?
Chapter 14, What he thought
40. How did the universe appear to him?
Book 2, The Fall
Chapter 1, The night of a day’s tramp
41. Describe the man who arrived in Digne an hour before sunset in early
October, 1815.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PAPER…
42. What delicacies were cooking on the fire for dinner in the Inn, The Croix
de Colbas?
43. Why do the inn keepers continually kick him out?
44. Where did he finally find some shelter, only to be driven out by a quite
unexpected resident?
45. What did he do when he passed cathedral square?
46. Who finally showed him some compassion and gave him some good
advice?
Chapter 2, Prudence commended to wisdom
47. What is the subject of the book that the Bishop is writing?
.
48. Describe the Bishop’s dining area.
49. How does Madame Magloire describe Jean Valjean, from the gossip she
has heard in town?
Chapter 3, The heroism of passive obedience
50. What picture does the author paint of Jean Valjean when he walks into
the Bishop’s dining room?
51. What papers continually condemn Jean Valjean to maltreatment?
52. How many years was Valjean in prison?
53. How does the priest address him?
54. What did the Bishop notice was lacking, at the table, just as they were
going to begin to eat?
Chapter 4, Some of the account of the diaries of Pontarlier
55. What does Valjean falsely assume about the Bishop?
56. Did the Bishop ask Jean Valjean about his past?
57. What did the Bishop’s sister give Valjean to stay warm that night?
Chapter 5, Tranquility
58. What alarming question did Valjean ask the Bishop?
Chapter 6, Jean Valjean
59. What were Valjean’s living conditions when he committed the burglary in
1795?
60. What did he steal? What were the conditions of his robbery? How many
years did he get?
61. What is one of the most mournful moments in society, according to the
author?
62. What became of Valjean’s sister and her seven children?
63. Why did Valjean end up spending 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of
bread?
Chapter 7, The Depths of Despair
64. After his many years of suffering, what did Valjean conclude about life?
65. What does the author want to believe is at the core of every human soul?
66. What word does the author believe the finger of God has written on the
brow of every human being?
67. What human factor made it impossible to pass up a chance at escape?
Chapter 9, New griefs
68. What was his first job after he was released?
69. What happened after he gave 110% to this work?
Chapter 10, The Man Awakes
70. Why did Valjean wake up at 2:00 in the morning?
71. What valuable items had he noticed in the house?
72. How much were they worth? How much had he made for 19 years labor
in prison?
73. How does Hugo describe the night sky? How does it symbolize the
struggle in Valjean’s heart and mind?
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PAPER…
Chapter 11, What he does
74. What happened just as Valjean was passing the Bishop’s bed?
75. Why was the Bishop entirely dressed, though in bed?
76. Between which two realms was Valjean hovering?
77. What was the crucifix above the mantle extending to both men?
78. How does the author describe Jean Valjean as he leaps over the wall of
the parish garden?
Chapter 12, The Bishop at work
79. What is the Bishop’s first question to Madame Magloire when she
discovers that the silver plates have been taken?
80. What does the Bishop tell the gendarmes who have captured Valjean?
81. What does the Bishop instruct Valjean to do with the silver plates and
candlesticks that he has given him?
82. What is the Bishop’s parting benediction?
Chapter 13, Petit Gervais
83. What effects did the flowers in the hedges have on Valjean?
84. Who did he then perceive coming along the path?
85. What did Valjean do with the 40-sous piece that fell and rolled on the
ground to him, after the Savoyard boy threw it in the air?
86. When Petit Gervais has run away, how does Valjean perceive the coin
when he lifts his foot? What is symbolically represented in this?
87. Describe the countryside and weather at this point.
88. Describe the night sky a bit later that same evening, at the place where the
three trails meet.
89. What weight caused Valjean to fall to his knees?
90. What is the first, powerful result of this mystical, life-changing
experience?
91. In what ways was the Bishop’s pardon one of the hardest assaults Jean
Valjean had ever faced?
92. As he went along, hour after hour, weeping, what happened to him?
93. What did the stage driver from Grenoble see by the Bishopric of Digne at
3:00 that morning?
