Hannah Kent, in Burial Rites and Billie August in Les Miserables explore a variety of injustices as a product of prejudice by revealing the flaws of their Nineteenth Century social system. Although Kent released her novel in the 21st century, she thoroughly presents Nineteenth Century Iceland in all its formidable culture of prejudice and hardship to the same extent that August explores Nineteenth Century France in Les Miserables.
Though both authors propose that one’s preconception of another rests in the position of their social class, August presents that as one’s social class changes, the prejudice changes towards them changes. This is different to Kent as she entices the readers to see the nature of men and their prejudice towards women and their roles in society. The content of both texts are heavily filled with the prejudice of many and the persecution that is suffered for these pre – conceived ideas which is explored by both authors through the setting, reader positioning, flashback, costuming and denouement.
Kent and August establish the setting of their texts in the era of the Nineteenth Century which was brimming with social issues in regards to class and gender discrimination. In her experience of travelling to the location, historically known for its tales of crime and punishment, Kent uses Iceland’s bleak weather filled with ‘darkening skies and cold winds’ to set the tone for the exploration of an old tale that reflects the significant amount of judgment and injustice that existed within Iceland.
Although different in physical setting, August portrays France in its era of economic struggle and proletariat unrest through techniques of panning and lighting to reveal the ignorance in which the upper class unknowingly revel in as the lower classes suffer with economic hardships. August uses wide panning shots over the female factory workers to show the state in which the females are treated, the working conditions that are common all over France, and the monotony of the town so the audience is able to empathise with the situation that France is faced with.
August uses the protagonist of the film, Jean Val Jean, to react to this social and economic state of France through stealing, to feed himself, in which he pays for with ‘19 years in chains’. This in turn represents the injustice that the lower class is faced, as a result of prejudice against Val Jean, as this crime sticks with him throughout the film. Augusts shows how the social and cultural setting, affects how people make their judgment of others as they neglect people who do not look fortunate, disregarding their circumstance.
August makes this evident in a scene where a worker is dismissed for ‘having a child’ as it is believed that the work field is ‘exposed to corruption’ disregarding her situation and leaves her unemployed during such a time. Similarly, Kent explores an issue like August of the mistreatment of poor women. Both authors explore the social understanding of the Nineteenth Century that being born poor, illegitimate or a woman would automatically jeopardise one’s social position and reputation whilst also set up a life of continuous prejudice.
Kent puts an emphasis on the setting to communicate to the readers that people face injustices just because of who they are, which Agnes remarks ‘they will free Sigga but they will not free me because I am Agnes. ’ Kent portrays the idea to the readers that because everyone else has already made up their mind of Agnes, despite whether she is in the right or wrong, she suffers the consequences of others judgments.
Although both authors similarly position the readers by alternating between various points of view, Kent combines the narrative’s point of view with dialogue, showing the effect of town gossip, and August combines the use of characterisation with point of view shots, to show the ignorance of the antagonist. As Kent writes from multiple points of views, she frequently incorporates gossip in the dialogue to convey the tone of indignity that is imbedded within these conversations about Agnes.
Meanwhile August incorporates a perception of bias through the point of view shot that is shot from the antagonist, Ja vert, as he looks down on Fantine and mistreats her. August then cuts to the guard’s point of view presenting the audience with a conflicted opinion of Ja vert. The contrast in the two point of view shots, which is similarly done so by Kent, presents the audience August’s characterisation of Ja vert, showing his prejudiced nature as he considers her in the wrong because she is a ‘whore’ and should be in jail whereas the guards’ point of view of the matter portrays to the audience the truth that she is in fact the victim.
Kent also displays this contrast in point of view shots through the dialogue that carries throughout the novel as Agnes declares ‘Everything I said was taken from me and altered till it wasn’t my own. ’ Whereas the secondary character asserts ‘folks are saying that Agnes is the worst of the three convicted’. Although both authors use different character types, Kent and August are intentional in using these to position the reader to question the prejudicial actions of the antagonist and minor characters.
The authors are conveying through the characters points of view that it is the actions and words of others that produce the outcome of unfair consequences. While both authors commonly explore the injustices faced by both protagonist, the techniques they use differ as August’s use of flashback provides the audience with a visual interpretation of injustice, whereas Kent uses imagery in the costuming to show the reader’s injustice. The flashback that August uses is to present the audience with the truth of Val jean’s hard labour while imprisoned.
Before the flashback, the audience are positioned to be prejudice towards Val jean because of his costuming until the dinner scene that bridges the past with the present through flashback. August’s use of flashback provokes the audience to question whether or not the consequences faced by Val Jean was valid as he only stole food. The character development through this flashback is crucial to the progression of the film as Val jean’s character is met with the binding prejudices of his past through the antagonist.
August’s use of time through flashbacks to show the acts of injustice is also implicitly used by Kent as she uses imagery to describe Agne’s costuming as ‘badly stained and caked with dirt’ to show the physical result of past injustice. Kent does not explore just the physical side of injustice she also extends to show the mental injustice Agnes faces. When presented to Margret in her ‘badly stained’ clothing, the significance of the costuming at this point symbolises the way that people look at Agnes.
Kent symbolises that the physical injustice she faces is an outer product of the mental injustice she faces from being called words like ‘murderess’ and ‘devil’. This is similarly what August portrays with Val jean as he is presented as a product of his injustice in the past. The idea that both authors present is that one’s prejudice is associated with their costuming or how they look. They also convey the concept that injustice is the product of prejudice as Kent makes this evident through the characters in Burial Rites when they see Agnes, they see ‘blood, fire and two dead men’.
August also makes this evident in Les Miserables as the Val Jean is now viewed as a ‘dangerous man’ for the years he served imprisoned. The denouement in both texts presents a solution for the injustice that the characters face and the prejudiced views towards them are also corrected. Both authors differ to a large extent in their use of the denouement as August uses it to rid the issue of injustice whereas Kent uses it to entice as much empathy for the protagonist as she can.
Throughout the film, August consistently explores the judgments and injustices of the characters until the end of the film where the removal of prejudice leads to justice. In this ending scene, Augusts’ use of the score is crucial as it provides a contrast between the suspense and relief in the freedom of Val Jean and the death of Ja vert. As Ja vert ‘spares’ Val Jeans life, August slows the motion of Ja verts fall into the water to show the final resolution of the ‘death’ to prejudice as he then follows this with an intense score as Val Jean contemplates the freedom that he has been granted.
As Val Jean walks away, the score changes to a hopeful tone portraying that he is no longer a victim to injustice as the antagonist represented the very essence of prejudice. Dissimilarly, Kent chooses the denouement to not be resolved explicitly like August but for it to be embedded emotionally in the readers through implicit and realistic closure. Unlike Val Jean, Agnes does not face freedom from her injustice as readers may hope. Instead, through extensive use of imagery, symbolism and metaphor Kent conveys to the readers everything that relates to death such as ‘crows’ and ‘prey’.
The ending that results in Agnes death portrays to the readers the realism of prejudice as Agnes is subjected to it throughout the whole novel only to be persecuted falsely. Kent explores the idea that one’s pre conceived idea of another is never the whole story unless one listens to them speak for themselves which is reinforced through Agnes as she declares, ‘It’s not fair, People claim to know you through the things you’ve done, and not by sitting down and listening to you speak for yourself. She also explores through the denouement that Agnes’ fate is the reality where prejudice is not always proved wrong like Augusts protagonist, Val Jean in Les Miserables. Kent and August use techniques such as setting, reader positioning, flashback, costuming and denouement to demonstrate that the protagonist in both text are subject to injustice as it is forced upon by a society structure divided into classes.
Kent reveals that one’s life of injustice is the result of others that overlook the truth and formulate their own ideas of another, whereas August enforces the idea that once prejudice is rectified, freedom from injustice can be attained. Both authors present how prejudice leads to injustice within the confines of the nineteenth century as this particular period of time was permeated with a condemnatory society.
