After giving us some background on the Bishop, Hugo introduces Jean Valjean, a man who was orphaned and taken in by his elder sister, Jeanne, who had seven children. They were a poor family without enough to eat. The children would sometimes get a pint of milk from a neighbor lady, claiming that their mother needed it. Then the children would go to an alley and greedily share it. Hugo tells us that “Jean Valjean gruffly and grumblingly paid Marie-Claude for the pint of milk behind their mother's back, and the children were not punished.” Thus Hugo gives us an insight into Jean Valjean’s character.