Based on the original story of the famous French writer Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables, this paper is meant to reveal a truth that, apart from social penalty and legislation, the power of philanthropy can also change a man’s soul, even a criminal’s soul. It can be very conducive to social stability, and very helpful in the establishment of a harmonious society through elaborating on how large effect love can make on people and even on a criminal in its psychological implications. The conception of this subject is to bring the “soul shock” of this classic novel to the level of today’s social justice, to apply the practical significance of that classic novel to nowadays society in order to let the past serve the present. That is the positive energy of love in all human society.
2 More Than One Way to Save a Soul
Everyone makes mistakes, and one can always learn from mistakes. But what matters here is that not all mistakes are irretrievable. Sometimes people have to pay great cost for certain mistakes they make. Juridical laws or social regulations are usually laid down by justice for two purposes: one purpose is to deter people from violating the law or social regulations, and the other purpose is to punish those who have violated the law or social regulations. The most terrible thing is to refuse to realize one's mistakes, persists in his error. When one makes a mistake, how to guide him back on the right way, never to set foot in the wrong way again? As everyone knows, the strength of religious belief can largely affect a person, a lot of people who made mistake rely on a strong belief of religion that make their own back on the right track. Another common method is the penalty, the penalty refers to the mandatory form of punishment, this method has been used for thousands of years and still did not eradicate crime, although the penalty is the most direct way to punish a person's sin, but I think it is not the most appropriate or the most humane method, the penalty is only suitable for those who committed a very serious crime. In the Les Misérables, the author Hugo first told us a story of one sinner who has been through the baptism of the penalty but did not back on the right way, but in with the philanthropy by the bishop, he turned over a new leaf of his life, retrieved the self redemption. Philanthropy is a best way to save a sinner’s soul. The plot of the novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is telling the story of how the protagonist Jean Valjean made a mistake of theft and was taken prisoner and how he was saved a better man not by the penalty he had served in prison but by the philanthropy given by the minister from the church when he had committed his second theft. Thus generally speaking there might be three ways to save a soul as follows.   2.1 Belief to Save a Soul
Belief, also known as faith, is a sense formed by people's view of the world, and people's behaviors are often affected by the domination of a certain faith or belief. The value of life should be established on the pillar of belief or faith.  《悲惨世界》博爱人道主义心理暗示(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_32757.html