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Betsy DeVos, Victor Hugo, and the “Agony and Ecstasy”* of Orphans By Mary Hess [1]
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Date: 2022-08-08
Historic Image of Victor Hugo 1876
The latest “news” in Florida is “Baby Drop Boxes” for “unwanted infant orphans.”
Republican Politician Betsy DeVos has bankrolled Governor Ron DeSantis’ “religious policies,” not just in Florida public schools, but also, most likely, for “orphans.”
“Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her family have donated more than $280,000.00 to back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ re-election effort amid his crackdown on discussions of race and sexual orientation in schools.”**
Victor Hugo, “one of the greatest French writers of all time,” was a historian, and he wrote about humanity, “warts” and all. He wrote in 1831 about 1466.
Victor Hugo wrote of a “loved orphan” here:
“…the excessive heat of the summer of 1466 caused that grand outburst of the plague which carried off more than forty thousand souls in the vicomty of Paris…
…the young scholar [Claude Frollo]… rushed in great alarm to the paternal mansion. When he entered it, he found that both father and mother had died on the preceding day. A very young brother of his, who was in swaddling clothes, was still alive and was crying abandoned in his cradle… Little Jehan had lost his mother while he was still at the breast; Claude [Frollo] gave him to a nurse.”***
Victor Hugo wrote of “Baby Drop Boxes” in his Masterpiece, ***The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, written in 1831; the story took place in the 1400s.
He wrote of an abandoned, abused, and neglected child:
“in the church of Notre-Dame, on that wooden bed securely fixed in the vestibule on the left… Upon this bed of wood it was customary to expose foundlings for public charity.
…his [Claude Frollo] attention had been attracted by the group of old women chattering around the bed for foundlings…hardly any one was there except old women…
…’What is this, sister?’… Agnes…[was] gazing at the little creature exposed, which was screaming and writhing on the wooden bed, terrified by so many glances.
‘Tis an abortion of a monkey,’ remarked Gauchère… ‘a real monster of abomination.’
The ‘little monster’ was, in fact, not a new-born child.
Then it was that he [Claude Frollo] approached the unhappy little creature, which was so hated and so menaced.… the idea which suddenly occurred to him, that if he were to die, his dear little Jehan might also be flung miserably on the plank for foundlings,…
…a great pity had moved in him, and he had carried off the child.
When he removed the child from the sack, he found it greatly deformed… the poor little wretch had a wart on his left eye, his head placed directly on his shoulders, his spinal column was crooked, his breast bone prominent, and his legs bowed; but he appeared to be lively…[Claude Frollo] gave him the name of Quasimodo”***
Victor Hugo also wrote about the misery, agony and desperation of a young unwed mother who was forced to give up her child in order to “work” and “pay” for the child’s welfare. This character is Fantine, and the child is Cosette, the novel is Les Miserables. The “parents” Fantine paid to care for her child were the unforgettable grifters, Monsieur and Madame Thénardier.
In Les Miserables, written in 1862, economic factors in Paris, France, such as extreme poverty, scarce bread and crop failures, a lack of “good-paying jobs for all,” men, unwed mothers, and orphaned children experienced agony, misery and death. Runaway or orphaned children ran wild on the streets, “street urchins.” The men in Les Miserables were unable to find good jobs for themselves to care for and to “raise a family.” The men turned to gun violence and revolution as a solution.
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Personally, in my life, I knew a woman who had a beautiful husband, grown son, decent job, and a wonderful family she had nurtured, late in her life. She told me a story of when she was 17-years-old, in 1950’s America, when her father forced her to “give up her first-born son” for adoption. She did not ever see that “child” again.
Forty years later, she told me, her adopted son found her. He had a family of his own, with his own children, “biologically” her grandchildren. All the families re-united, but it was not a completely joyous experience, and I will tell no more of this “complicated, joyous and painful” story here, except the pain and grief of adoption can last a lifetime.
* The Agony and the Ecstasy, Novel by Irving Stone
** Salon Journalist Igor Derysh
*** The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo
Sources: Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Miserables; Wikipedia (Victor Hugo Picture), Orlando Sentinel, Salon
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