According to The National Alliance to End Homelessness, “there are 564,708 people experiencing homeless on any given night in the US” and “36,907 (6.38%) are children, 47,725 (8.33%) are veterans, and 269,991 (47.6%) are disabled and unable to work.” More than half a million American citizens are living without shelter, one of the necessities in life. Almost 37,000 children are stranded without a home to live in. Even worse, nearly 50% of homeless people suffer from a disability, further proving the indifference that society displays to its most vulnerable people. Society must, then, pay more attention to ensure homelessness is effectively eradicated, rather than paying pity to those who live impoverished. This indifference is also exemplified…show more content… Marius, who is a young adult residing in the vicinity of their home, happens to see Cosette and takes account that she is “puny to the extend of being almost ugly, awkward, insignificant, yet promising to have rather fine eyes.... [she] wears the dress, at once aged and childish” (Hugo 269). Marius points out that Cosette looks rather insignificant as a person, which attests to the integrity Cosette has due to her previous life. She has the appearance of being impoverished, so she is thought to be inconsequential. The dress that she wears is described as both aged and childish, a juxtaposition by nature. Cosette embodies the negative side of age, rather than the innate beauty of ascent, and the negative side of being young, rather than the natal sense of whimsy and naivety that being a child has. Cosette, then, is on the negative side of life. All in all, she exhibits a poor appearance through her clothes because of her poverty. Nevertheless, Cosette’s appearance changes over a course of a year due to her newfound education at the convent. She grows, and Jean Valjean’s care is shown through the development of her external appearance. She transitions from an impoverished, timid, young girl to an established, mature woman.
