A Wish in the Dark

The primary theme of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is redemption and grace, and it is at the forefront of Soontornvat’s adaptation as well. The novel follows Pong’s internal conflict over his guilt after escaping prison and the shame instilled in him by society and the Governor for the circumstances of his birth. Ultimately, the novel explores individuals’ power to grant themselves grace and redemption. 

Pong begins the novel mesmerized by the lights of Chattana; he considers them symbols of a better life that awaits him in the world beyond Namwon (9). However, after Pong internalizes the Governor’s words that “those who are born in darkness will always return” (28), a belief in darkness’s inescapability characterizes his perspective on both society and himself. Pong thinks that the lights now “only made Namwon seem darker” (29); likewise, he becomes convinced of his own immutable criminality. Throughout the novel, he struggles with the perspective of darkness imposed on him by the Governor. Pong sees light and dark as an uncompromising dichotomy and does not believe that a good heart can coexist with a history of past wrongs. Even when characters such as