Another funny detail I feel a lot of people miss about Javert is how he literally Does Not Care At All about protecting people. He cares solely about punishment. Sometimes, he will put innocent people in danger because it makes it easier for him to punish people!
The two most obvious examples of this are the plot points where Javert “rescues” a bourgeoise person and then is unable to ask them questions because he’s so busy “punishing the evil poor people” that he doesn’t even glance in their direction. This happens after he “rescues” Bamatabois from Fantine and after he “rescues” Valjean from Patron-Minette. In both cases he’s so busy making a big pompous Ceremony over punishing the criminal that he doesn’t even bother to check on the victims. Because he doesn’t actually care about the victims.
The most compelling example of how little Javert cares about protecting people, imho, is the way he handles the Gorbeau House ambush.
After Marius overhears Thenardier planning to ambush Valjean— his first plan is very reasonable! He plans to intercept Valjean the moment he arrives at the house, talk to him before he enters, and warn him to leave.
Should he wait for M. Leblanc at the door that evening at six o’clock, at the moment of his arrival, and warn him of the trap? But Jondrette and his men would see him on the watch, the spot was lonely…Marius’s top priority is Valjean’s safety.
He only goes to the police because he’s afraid to warn Valjean on his own and believes that the police will give him the backup he needs to execute this plan to prevent any harm from coming to an innocent person– but that isn’t what happens.
The problem is that police— and Javert— have completely different priorities than Marius. They don’t care about protecting the innocent person who’s in danger. They care about arresting and punishing as many people as possible.
Javert gives Marius a pistol that he can fire to call in the police. Then he tells Marius that the most important priority is that he must wait until the criminals have done something that can legally be punished by the law, to make sure they’ll have a good case when they go to court. That is Javert’s only concern. Never, not once in the entire scene, does he express any concern for the victim.
“Leave them to their own devices for a time. When you think matters have reached a crisis, and that it is time to put a stop to them, fire a shot. Not too soon. The rest concerns me. A shot into the ceiling, the air, no matter where. Above all things, not too soon.“Instead of attempting to warn/rescue the innocent victim Javert deliberately encourages putting the victim in danger so that they can have something to punish! He expresses no concern for the victim’s life or health! It’s not his job to worry about those things, they aren’t things the government cares about! (And again, he has no idea this man is Valjean, he just thinks it’s some random innocent gentleman!) He has no empathy, and cares more about protecting the abstract concept of Order than he does the lives of human beings.
A couple Discord Server buddies and I have talked about how the Gorbeau House would have gone so much better if Marius had asked for help from Les Amis instead of the cops— and YES. Because Les Amis actually care about protecting people and would’ve probably gone along with Marius’s initial plan of “warning Valjean before he even enters the house,” because they would’ve been motivated by a desire to protect the innocent person.
I’d also like to add that, along with Javert not caring about protecting other people— he also doesn’t care about protecting himself. At the barricade he’s completely indifferent to his own death. He smiles haughtily when he’s caught; he surrenders with complete tranquility; he doesn’t utter a single protest or plea for mercy; he seems very content to die. In fact, he repeatedly encourages them to execute him sooner.
He doesn’t value the lives of other people, but he also doesn’t value his own. He won’t defend other people, but he also won’t defend himself. He believes human life is worthless.
And that’s why the moment when he lets Valjean go is such a turning point— it’s the first moment in the book when he does act out of compassion, when he does realize someone’s life is worth defending. And it’s not a coincidence that in order to be compassionate he has to rebel and deliberately refuse to follow orders and do his job, and “turn in his resignation to God” and the police at once.
I’m an American so I’m so used to being bombarded with a 24/7 stream of obnoxious cop propaganda fiction about how “police are your lovable compassionate friends who are here to protect the innocent” so it’s both nice and depressing to see a novel from the 19th century already mocking that idea.
