Les Misérables Volume 5, Chapter 5 Summary

Summary

After the Champmathieu episode, the narrative explains how Jean Valjean used his brief escape to come to Paris and withdraw the fortune he had accumulated as Monsieur Madeleine at Montreuil-sur-Mer from Laffitte. To protect himself from recapture he buries the money—bank-bills totaling six hundred and thirty thousand francs—in a box padded with chestnut shavings and hides that box in a coffer in the Blaru-bottom of the Montfermeil forest. He also places the Bishop’s candlesticks in the same coffer, which he had taken when he fled Montreuil.

Valjean periodically returns to the Blaru-bottom to withdraw funds when he needs them; these visits explain earlier unexplained absences and are the reason a woodsman named Boulatruelle (also referred to later) sees him in the forest. When Marius becomes convalescent and Valjean anticipates the need for money, he digs up the hidden treasure. He finds that the actual remainder is five hundred and eighty-four thousand, five hundred francs, having spent the difference over ten years (1823–1833). He takes five hundred francs for himself and replaces the Bishop’s candlesticks on the chimney where they shine for Toussaint. Finally, Valjean reads or hears of the reported drowning and apparent suicide of Inspector Javert and reflects that Javert must have been mad to have let him go when he had him in custody.

The chapter consolidates practical details about Valjean’s hidden wealth, clarifies past mysteries in the narrative, and shows his cautious resourcefulness and continuing attachment to the Bishop’s gifts.

Key events

1. Valjean withdraws his earnings from Laffitte and buries them in the Blaru-bottom, Montfermeil.
2. He protects the money in a box inside a chest with chestnut shavings and stores the Bishop’s candlesticks with it.
3. Boulatruelle spots Valjean in the woods during one of his visits.
4. Valjean later digs up the hoard when Marius recovers and counts five hundred and eighty-four thousand, five hundred francs.
5. He takes five hundred francs for himself and places the candlesticks on the chimney.
6. Valjean learns of Javert’s reported drowning and concludes Javert must have been mad.

Analysis

This brief but information-rich chapter functions as exposition and connective tissue: it resolves several small mysteries (the source of Valjean’s absences, the fate of his fortune, and the location of the Bishop’s candlesticks) while reinforcing central themes of secrecy, moral debt, and redemption. The hidden hoard in the Blaru-bottom literalizes Valjean’s double life—publicly Monsieur Madeleine, privately a fugitive whose past and conscience are buried but not gone. The Bishop’s candlesticks reappear as a moral talisman; their placement on the chimney signals domestic restoration and Valjean’s effort to honor the Bishop’s mercy.

Narratively, the chapter supplies practical arithmetic about his spending and savings, which humanizes Valjean and shows the long-term costs of repentance and exile. The reference to Boulatruelle connects earlier, scattered observations into a coherent pattern of clandestine visits, while the news about Javert introduces an ideological contrast: Javert’s alleged suicide (framed as madness) implicitly frees Valjean socially and legally, but Valjean interprets this development through a moral lens rather than vindictiveness. Stylistically, Hugo uses precise detail—amounts, hiding methods, and dates—to lend verisimilitude and to anchor the reader in the protagonist’s changed circumstances, preparing the novel to shift focus from secrecy and survival to the consequences of Valjean’s resources and choices.

Important quotes

“The sum, six hundred and thirty thousand francs, all in bank-bills, was not very bulky, and was contained in a box;”

NarratorStates the original amount Valjean withdrew and how it was stored before burial.

“The actual sum was five hundred and eighty-four thousand, five hundred francs.”

NarratorGives the precise remaining amount when Valjean recovers the buried funds, showing his expenditures over ten years.

““In fact,” thought Jean Valjean, “since he left me at liberty, once having got me in his power, he must have been already mad.””

Jean ValjeanValjean reflects on the reported suicide of Javert and interprets Javert's previous leniency as evidence of insanity.

Characters in Volume 5, Chapter 5

• Jean Valjean
• Laffitte
• Boulatruelle
• Boulatreulle
• Bishop Myriel
• Toussaint
• Marius Pontmercy
• Javert
• Champmathieu