The Good Samaritan and Inspector Javert
This last weekend, Kenny and I went to a performance of Les Miserables at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. This is the third, maybe fourth, time we have seen this production live. As usual, the play did not disappoint, but I came away with a totally new view of Inspector Javert. If you have not seen the play, Javert is a pious police officer who sees the world in black and white. People are good, or they are bad; they follow the law, or they break the law. In Act I, Javert pursues Jean Valjean over the span of decades, intending to put him back in prison after Valjean breaks parole. Valjean's sentence: 19 years for stealing bread. Never mind that Valjean's nephew was starving, and it was an act of desperation, or that in the intervening years, Valjean has become a kind and benevolent mayor. Javert believes "once a thief, always a thief" and he has no mercy. It seemed the actor who portrayed Javert made him a much more sympathetic characte...