Characteristically, Jean Valjean decides to speak the bitter truth about himself and conceal the sweet. Although he considers this being honest with Marius, it is not really honesty, but he has no choice. An ex-convict cannot say "I am a good man" and be believed; he has lost his credibility.
His confession clears the air temporarily, but it does not really solve anything. Some readers feel that the continuing struggle over Cosette is unworthy of Jean Valjean, that a proper hero ought simply to have gone away, but to think so is to misunderstand Jean Valjean and Hugo's vision of him. In the first place, as Hugo has been saying all along, to do right is never easy; and in the second place, when Valjean thinks of disappearing, it is not going away he has in mind; it is death. Cosette is the only thing he loves in this world, and if he gives her up, he will die. And Jean Valjean, as we have seen, has a very powerful instinct for survival. He remains to the last no incredible saint, but a thoroughly human figure.
