Les Miserables: Style 1 key example

Hugo also injects multiple perspectives into the narrative. The story follows many different characters and succeeds in approaching their thoughts and actions with depth while also maintaining distance. The narrator examines the characters with both specificity and an outside perspective. At the same time, though, the narrator also notoriously strays from the plot with philosophical and historical digressions, the most famous of which is the section covering the Battle of Waterloo. These scenes both offer contextualization and allow Hugo to share his political beliefs. 

Finally, Hugo uses stylistic symbolism to ground his characters in the story's historical context. Each of his characters represents a different ailment of Parisian society. Fantine represents the poor and disgraced, as she has sacrificed everything, including her dignity, to save her daughter. Jean Valjean represents the disheartened and saved. Though he was hardened by his years in prison, he learns to love and believe again through the selfless act of the Bishop. Javert represents the good and misguided, as he believed so strongly in the justice system that he could not reconcile what it means to be a good man who has done wrong. Each of these symbolic characters interacts, bringing together all of Paris in Hugo's writing. Through the contemplation of these ailments, Hugo also comments on the political environment of Paris at the time.