One portion of the wall of the old bagne, or prison, where Jean Valjean was supposedly held still stands to the right of the entrance of the Old Harbour.

Javert pursues Valjean with the same white-hot vengeance as Captain Ahab does Moby-Dick, seeing him only as the convict he once was, rather than the benefactor of humanity he has become.

Valjean was born sometime in 1769 ( most likely before October ) in the small town of Faverolles, Aisne, the son of Jean Valjean and Jeanne Valjean, née Mathieu.

Another interpretation of this scene is that Valjean was not aware that he had moved his foot over the coin, and snarled at Petit Gervais for annoying him.

Javert, who was at the scene and had sent for a jack, told Valjean that he'd known a very strong man, back when Javert had worked as the guard for a prison chain gang, who had climbed under a wagon like that one and raised it on his back.

Javert knew only what he'd seen and was furious with Valjean for interfering with police work.

It is only here that the novel finally reveals Madeleine to be Valjean, a fact which was heavily foreshadowed before.

The judge at the trial, although quite impressed with M. Madeleine's work and reputation, is shocked that Valjean, while mentioning a date that another convict had tattoed on himself ( in order to prove that M. Madeleine was actually Jean Valjean ) called Napoleon Bonaparte " the Emperor " instead of " Bonaparte " and orders Valjean arrested for the 40-sous theft.

Fantine ( who'd been told by the doctors that Valjean, who'd been at the trial, had been getting her daughter ) was shocked to find that her daughter was not there already and that her savior was being arrested, and died of shock ( her body had been greatly weakened by her poor living conditions and long illness, probably tuberculosis ).

In July 1823, he was condemned to death for the 40-sous theft and the escape from the jail in Montreuil-sur-Mer, as the prosecutor claims that Valjean was part of a gang of street robbers and the latter refuses to defend himself.

Before he was captured, Jean Valjean had already traveled near to Montfermeil and buried all the money he'd saved as M. Madeleine — a chapter tells of a worker in Montfermeil, a former Toulon convict, who claims having seen, according to a local fairy tale, the devil burying his treasure in the forest.

When M. Thénardier demands more money, Valjean gives him the note Fantine signed before she died, saying that the bearer of the note was authorized to take Cosette.

After almost burying Valjean alive in a scheme to get him out of the convent so that he could openly walk back into the convent, Fauchelevent was able to bring in his " brother " Ultimas ( fr.

Marius is then told that Valjean was the man who had " assassinated " one of Marius ' relatives, carrying the body through the sewers on 6 June.

Valjean is confused by the bishop's actions, claiming that there was only one way for Valjean to go ever since he was first condemned for stealing a loaf of bread.

* Prisoner 24601, the number assigned to Jean Valjean, the main character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables

After seeing this, Valjean briefly leaves the inn and returns with a beautiful new doll to give to Cosette, which she happily accepts.

In the musical, Valjean is not arrested a second time and given a new prisoner number.

The bishop, however, lies to save Valjean and helps him begin a new life (" Valjean Arrested, Valjean Forgiven ").

Eight years later, Valjean, having assumed a new identity as Monsieur Madeleine, is a wealthy factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer.

He starred as Jean Valjean in a new, non-replica production of Les Misérables at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre for which he received the 2008 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Actor In A Musical.

After seeing this, Valjean leaves the inn and soon returns with an expensive new doll, which he offers to Cosette.

Valjean remembers Javert but pretends to only know him from Montreuil-sur-Mer, while Javert is fooled by Valjean's new identity ; he even respects Valjean as an authority figure somewhat.

" Javert calls Valjean only by his number, 24601, Valjean insists on being called by his real name.

Also, in defiance of Valjean and in order to degrade him, Javert begins his habit of referring to Valjean only as his prison number, " 24601 ".

Valjean is also known as Monsier Madeleine, Monsieur Le Mayor, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, Urbain Fabre, 24601 and 9430.

Valjean allows Javert to arrest him, but quickly escapes.

Valjean eventually knocks Javert out and escapes.

Javert thwarts the Thénardiers ' attempt to rob Valjean and Cosette, not recognising Valjean until after he escapes (" Javert's Intervention ").

Carrying a wounded Marius on his back, Valjean escapes into the sewers.

Thénardier takes a ring off Marius's " corpse " as Valjean is resting, and then escapes when he sees Valjean getting up.

Valjean escapes from the city jail.

Over the course of the decade during which Javert knew him, Valjean had committed, to Javert's limited but accurate knowledge, breaking and entering, violent robbery of a small child, multiple counts of fraud, child " kidnapping " and numerous escapes from prison ; to make matters worse, just several hours ago Javert found him with the rebels on the barricade — an offence which in itself merits the death penalty.

Javert vows to pursue and capture Valjean no matter where or how he escapes.

Javert fails to recognize the other man as Valjean, the latter of whom recognizes the former instantly and escapes.

* In the movie Valjean and Cosette go to the convent with a letter of introduction from M. Madeleine, whereas in the book they came upon the convent purely coincidentally while fleeing from Javert.

* In the movie, Éponine delivers the message from Marius to Cosette, which Valjean intercepts, causing Valjean to come to the barricade to rescue Marius.

* The movie ends with Javert's suicide, while at the end of the book Valjean dies of grief after having been separated from Cosette, because Marius severed all ties with him after learning of Valjean's convict past.

The Bishop Myriel of Digne, from whom he stole valuable silverware, tells the police that he has given the treasure to Valjean.

The novel describes the developing struggle of Valjean to hide from Javert, and that of Javert to uncover the location of and arrest Valjean.

In winter 1795, when resources become scarce, Valjean steals a loaf of bread from a local baker, Maubert Isabeau.

However, the Bishop admonishes Valjean ( in front of the police ) for forgetting to also take the silver candlesticks that he'd given Valjean, reminding Valjean of his " promise " to use the silver to become an honest man, claiming to have bought Valjean's soul with it, withdrawing it from evil and giving it to God.

Jean Valjean enters the town of Montreuil-sur-Mer in late 1815 and saves the two children of the town's police chief from a fire.

Valjean later saved an old man named Fauchelevent from death, but the event had dire consequences.

Javert also asks that he be dismissed in disgrace by Valjean from his job for acting out of revenge incorrectly, saying that since he had been hard on others he could not be less harsh on himself but after Valjean repeatedly refuses, Javert says he will continue acting as police chief until a replacement can be found.

Valjean asks for three days to get Cosette from Montfermeil and give her to Fantine before he is arrested and Javert refuses, saying that it would be too easy for Valjean to escape.

They barely manage to get away from Javert, who allowed Valjean to leave the house, believing that Valjean would take him to meet other criminals.

Valjean managed to steal a rope from a streetlamp, climb a wall to a convent and pull Cosette up after him.

Marius stalks the two until Valjean is alerted that someone is stalking them and moves from his house in Rue de l ' Ouest ( today Rue d ' Assas ).

The event leaves a profound impression on Cosette and makes Valjean even more determined to stop his daughter from learning about his past.