During the meal, Valjean notices the silver plates and goblets upon which the meal is served. Valjean becomes obsessed with the value of the silver and it haunts his sleep. Haunting him so much that in the middle of the night he wakes up with a single thought in his mind, to steal the silver. Unable to sleep, he gets out of bed and steals the silver. The next morning he is arrested by the police, who take him to the door of M. Myriel. Myriel lies, and tells the police that he has given the silver to Valjean, even giving him two more silver candlesticks. When the police release Valjean, the bishop reminds him not to forget his promise to be an honest man. Valjean does not remember making such a promise to the bishop. The bishop continues, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God" (Hugo 30)! It is here that Bishop Myriel mixes mercy with justice. This affects Valjean deeply: "Valjean's receipt of mercy restores him to piety, the showing of mercy to others" (Magill 948).
Javert, an unyielding policeman, is on the opposite side of the spectrum from Bishop Myriel. Javert is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the French justice system. Javert has tunnel vision when it comes to the law; there are no gray areas. "A persona is necessary if one is not to be overly vulnerable; but if one confuses the person with the real self, growth is impossible and in time one becomes fixed and rigid" (Hemmings 711). We see Javert, the policeman, whose dedication to the word of the law demands him to be less human, and thus inflexible. This is evidenced in the novel through Fantine, a young girl who is employed by Valjean (M. Madeleine; Valjean's assumed identity). She is an unwed mother, who is being blackmailed by the people who are caring for her daughter, Cosette.
