In the story of Les Misérables, we find a wide variety of harsh conditions. These include social, economic, moral and legal conditions. Throughout all of these troubling circumstances, in which many people find themselves succumbing to the despair of the times and acting only out of self-interest, Jean Valjean's morality is quite striking. I feel that Jean embodies good communication ethics when he chooses to give up his true identity in order to save an innocent man's life.
This exemplification of choosing "the good" (which our textbook introduces on page 3) in a situation with high stakes shows that Jean's character seeks to protect and promote honesty. While Jean's character is certainly not the only one concerned with honesty, his is certainly the most dynamic representation in the early part of the play because we witness his narrative shift from jailed slave to successful business man and understand the repercussions to his success that his choices cause. This understanding of the value of honesty as a good for Jean is important for two reason: because it makes us feel empathy for him and because it represents the power of communication ethics in a time, place and situation that had never heard of the term before, but nonetheless recognized its importance.
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