The Ruin of Women by Starvation

Victor Hugo created Fantine to portrait this theme of the story. Fantine is the face of the ruin of women by starvation. Hugo's picture of Fantine’s mistreatment differentiates the honest, hardworking poor from the scrounging opportunitism of the working class Thernardiers. By placing in Fantine with the Thernadiers, Hugo suggests that poverty does not necessarily equal indecency. In doing so, he expresses disapproval of a system that allows the indecent poor to survive even as it crushes the honest and needy. Fantine has always suffered from the greed of others, nevertheless society has held her accountable for her behavior.