Chapter 31 of Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean is here in full — 205 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXI
Chapter 31 of Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean is here in full — 205 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING. To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted? There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote. Cosette and Marius had been elected. Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
Chapter 31 of Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean is here in full — 205 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/41 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
plural of “angel” — spiritual being attendant upon God
From this reading “There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.”
plural of “candidate” — a politician who is running for public office
From this reading “There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.”
subject to popular election
From this reading “Cosette and Marius had been elected.”
plural of “election” — a vote to select the winner of a position or political office
From this reading “There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.”
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading “To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?”
the position of mayor
From this reading “Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.”
hurl as if with a sling
From this reading “JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.”
a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative
From this reading “There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
plural of “angel” — spiritual being attendant upon God
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
a human limb; technically the part of the superior limb between the shoulder and the elbow but commonly used to refer to the whole superior limb
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Cosette and Marius had been elected.
the two together, not just one
From this reading Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
of surpassing excellence
From this reading Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
plural of “candidate” — a politician who is running for public office
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
one of the groups of Christians who have their own beliefs and forms of worship
From this reading Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cosette and Marius had been elected.
A series of thoughts, images, or emotions during sleep.
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
subject to popular election
From this reading Cosette and Marius had been elected.
plural of “election” — a vote to select the winner of a position or political office
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Cosette and Marius had been elected.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
any place of complete bliss and delight and peace
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
a coarse durable twill-weave cotton fabric
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cosette and Marius had been elected.
the position of mayor
From this reading Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
be fully aware or cognizant of
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
hurl as if with a sling
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
not in physical motion
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
arousing affect
From this reading Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading JEAN VALJEAN STILL HAS HIS ARM IN A SLING.
a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Cosette, both at the mayoralty and at church, was brilliant and touching.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading There must be elections for this in heaven; we are the unconscious candidates, and the angels vote.
the form of “who” used as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading To realize one's dream--to whom is this granted?
Chapter 31 of Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean by Victor Hugo holds 205 sentences, grouped into 41 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 31 holds 205 sentences of Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 31 of Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean by Victor Hugo exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 205 sentences, grouped into 41 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 41 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 41 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 31 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean by Victor Hugo on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5553 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #48735 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #48735, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 462 minutes of reading across 1111 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 39 chapters of Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Les Misérables, V. 5/5: Jean Valjean, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
