Another critical question the novel examines is whether the legal systems of the state truly provide justice. During his time in prison, Jean Valjean contemplates whether he has been treated justly. Readers are encouraged to consider if his crime—stealing bread to feed his starving family—warrants the punishment he endures: initially four years of incarceration, which eventually extends to nineteen years due to repeated escape attempts. Valjean questions, “whether human society had the right to . . . grind a poor man between the millstones of need and excess—need of work and excess of punishment. Was it not monstrous that society should treat in this fashion precisely those least favored in the distribution of wealth.” He determines that although committing the crime was wrong, the severity of the punishment is unjust, fostering a deep-seated resentment toward society. Fantine experiences a similar injustice when she attempts to defend herself from an attack. As a sex worker, she sits at the bottom of the social hierarchy and receives no legal protection. It appears that only those who are respectable and wealthy have any legal rights.