El Fantasia Parte 1

Now we meet Fantine. She is young and beautiful, and in

love with a man in Paris. But she has no family, and no

money. For Fantine, this is the love of her life; for the man

in Paris, it is just a summer of love.

Men are not kind to women.They have their fun, and

then they walk away.The man in Paris goes home to his

rich family, and leaves poor Fantine with a child, a little girl

called Cosette. Fantine must find work, but how?

Fantine has a child but no husband, and a woman

without a husband is nothing.Worse than nothing. People

are not kind to a woman with a child but no husband.They

turn their faces away, they close their doors, they say,

'There's no work here for a woman like you!

Fantine loves her daughter dearly, but what can she

do? So, in 1818, in a village near Paris, she leaves her little

daughter with Monsieur and Madame Thénardier. They

ask for seven francs a month. Fantine pays the money,

holds her daughter in her arms for the last time, and

leaves. She takes the road for her home town of Montreuil,

and tears are running down her face.There is misery in

her heart. Poor Fantine. Poor Cosette.

ln Montreuil Fantine finds work in a factory.This is the

factory of Monsieur Madeleine, an impoñant man in the

town, and very rich. Everybody likes him, because he is a

good man. He is kind to his workers, he helps people, and

his factory gives many jobs to the townspeople.

But who is he, this Monsieur Madeleine?Where did he

come from? He arrived in Montreuil at the end of 1815, but

nobody knows his family, or any'thing about him.

Fantine sent mone\- eler\- :.t.ro:.r:ir :r:, rhe Thenardiers.

They were r-rot good peo¡.le. :ni :he.' .rse .i rhe money for

their own dar-rghters. Poor 1;¡--. Cc,se¡¡e \\-irs a hungr¡

dirty, unioved chi1c1. She ritrk.i ,..1. i.rr - she cleaned

the house, she carried \\-ri.r. s,:¡ -'r':.she.1 the clothes.

But Fantine knerv nothins c,i ¡]:i.. :::i si-re u-orked long

hours to make mone \- ior Cose:,¡.

The next year the Thénardiers asked for nvelve francs

a month; the year after that, they wanted fifteen francs.

Then Fantine lost her job at the factory, because the

women did not like her.

'She has a child, in a uillage somewhere near Paris.'

'Yes, and where's her husband? She doesn't baue one!'

''\X/e don't want that kind of wom(ln bere. She must go.'

Fantine found work making shirts. It'uvas hard work

for little money. She was often iil, with a small dry cough.

The Thénardiers wrote again: 'Your daughter needs a

\,varm dress for winter. Send ten francs at once.'

Fantine did not have ten francs. She thought long and

hard, and went to the barber in the rown. She took off

her hat, and her golden hair fell down her back.

'That's beautiful hair,' said the barber.

'What can you give me for it?'

'Ten francs.'

'Then cut it off.'

She sent the money to the Thénardiers. 'My daughter's

not cold now,' she thought. 'She's wearing my hair.'

Soon another letter came from the Thénardiers: 'Send

one hundred francs, or Cosette must leave our house.'

A hundred francs! How can a poor woman get thar

kind of money? There was only one way.

one cold winter .r."r;*--;c1e a resraurant in the

centre of Montreuil, a woman walked up and dow,n.

There was sno\^¡ on the ground, but the woman wore an

evening <lress, with flowers in her hair' Some young mel1

came out of the restaurant, sarv her, and began to call her

bacl names. They laughed and shouted' but the woman

did not look at them. Then, one young man took some

snow and put it down the back of the woman's dress.

The rvoman was Fantine. She gave a cry, turned, and

hit the young man's face with her hands. People came to

watch, laughing.

A tall policeman arrived, took the woman by the arm,

and pulled her away. 'Come lvith me,' he said.

This policeman was Inspector Javert. He was new to

Montreuil, and he was a hard man. To him, the law w'as

the only irnportant thing in life, and he hated criminals.

The iaw in France at that time was not kind to women

iike Fantine. Javert took Fantine to the office of police.

'You hit a man in the street, and that's a crime,' he

told

...