You Only Have To Ask Yourself One Thing

This month for our book list, I’ve decided to return to some old favorites. I’ve decided to talk about books that have characters who make some kind of moral decision. This could be a little difficult since the moral decision is sort of the apex of each novel and I hate giving away an ending, but I really love these books, so I’m going to talk about them anyway. The books are: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
Moby Dick was written in 1851. This is the story of the captain of a whaling ship who is obsessed with revenge. Moby Dick is a white whale who bit off the leg of the captain who has vowed to kill the whale. The book follows the ship through this crazy obsessed journey to find the whale. As the book goes on, one of the men on board the ship realize that this is an unhealthy obsession that could end up being the death of everyone on board. The moral decision is made by the first mate on board the ship, Starbuck (yes, that’s where the coffee place got it’s name), who has to make a decision that could either affect the life of one person on board the ship or the lives of everyone else on board. It’s a small scene in the book, but an important one.
A Tale of Two Cities was written in 1859. This is the story of the French Revolution and how it affected a small group of people, revolving around a young woman and her father. The young woman has a small group of admirers, one of whom she marries, though it is another admirer who has to make the moral decision. This character, Sydney Carton, is able to keep the young woman’s future husband from being hanged for treason at the beginning of the book and is subsequently a welcome visitor to the house after the marriage. He is a cynical amoral man who cares for nothing but the young woman, and his love for her causes him to make a decision that shows him to be of much more worth than he has shown throughout the rest of the novel. I can’t explain further about his decision without giving away the ending, but it does cause him to say “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done” which is one of the most famous quotes in literature. Sydney Carton is one of my favorite characters in literature and I’ve read the book over and over enjoying him and this great book.
Les Miserableswas written in 1862. It is the story of a man, Jean Valjean, who steals a loaf of bread to feed the family of his sister who are starving and ends up getting caught and going to jail for 19 years. When he gets out, he has become hardened and mean and immediately steals silver from a kindly old bishop who tells the police that he gave the Valjean the silver after he is caught. Valjean then has to decide if he is going to continue leading the life of a soulless convict or if he is going to change and become a better, kinder man. He decides the latter, though that decision is tried throughout the rest of the book. I have to admire a character who is so strong a moral character that he stands by his decisions though is costs him family, position, freedom, wealth and everything else that he holds dear.