THEHUNCHBACKOFNOTREDAME ByVictorHugo BookReportBySamanthaSelman 07/31/07

The book The Huncback of Notre Dame was written by Victor Hugo. It was first published in 1813. The book is about a young man named Quasimodo. He has a birth defect and no one loves him or cares for him. Quasimodo falls in love with a gypsy but Quasimodo's heart is broken when he finds out that she is in love with the policeman named Phoebus. I think that Quasimodo just wanted Esmeralda, the gypsy, to love him. Quasimodo's friend Claude Frollo also loves Esmeralda and thinks that Esmeralda will love him if he forces her to love him. Claude Frollo threatens to hang Esmeralda and Quasimodo has to save her. Esmeralda was frightened when she saw Quasimodo's hunched back, deformed face, and his wart that covered his left eye. Quasimodo makes Esmeralda a room in the sanctuary of the church. A poet named Pierre is also in love with Esmeralda. When he is threatened to be killed by the king of thieves, Esmeralda marries him so she could save his life. I don't think that Esmeralda was in love with him, but I don't think she wanted him to die either. Sadly, Esmeralda is not in love with Pierre either. Phoebus's fiance gets terribly mad when she sees that Phoebus is in love with Esmeralda and tries to keep them away from each other. One day, Phoebus rents a motel room and brings Esmeralda with him. Claude Frollo hides in the closet and watches them. When he sees that they love each other he takes a dagger, jumps out of the closet, and stabs Phoebus in the throat. Esmeralda faints. Her lover was dead. When a woman finds the body of Phoebus on the floor and Esmeralda sitting and weeping by him, the woman calls the police and Esmeralda is arrested. The hangman tortures her and makes her confess to her crimes. Esmeralda confesses to prostitution and murder. She was put in a dark cell which was cold and scary. She lay down on some wet hay that she found in a corner. She felt a mouse run across her feet a few times, being relieved that there was something in the cell besides her. She was cold and scared, there was no one to relieve her of the fear that she would die in the morning. She slept and had nightmares all through the night. Suddenly, the door to the cell opened. It was Claude Frollo. She saw his ugly face and screamed, Stay away from me murderer! Do you wish to kill me? Stay away!. Claude laughed at Esmeralda's fear and anger. Kill you? I love you. Claude said walking towards Esmeralda. She stepped back. What love? Esmeralda asked. Claude's face turned pale. He hit his head against the

wall. Do you love me or not? Claude asked, grinding his teeth. Esmeralda shook her head no. Then die!as Claude said this he slammed the door to the cell. I think that Esmeralda felt helpless. She was afraid and worried for it was morning, and her death awaited her. However, Phoebus was not dead. He thought of Esmeralda and shrugged his shoulders because he thought that she was the one that stabbed him with the dagger. His fiance came up to his room. Phoebus's fiance was depressed and lonesome. Phoebus sat by his fiance and told her he loved her, but she didn't pay any attention to him, she just kept looking out the window. She ran out to the balcony. It was Esmeralda. She was about to be hung. Quasimodo leaped out of the church's balcony and grabbed Esmeralda. He hurried back into the church screaming Sanctuary! Sanctuary!. Esmeralda screamed and kicked but Quasimodo refused to let her go. He put her in the room called the sanctuary and closed the door behind him. Esmeralda was stunned to see such an ugly person. He came up to the room with some food for her. She ate the food quickly and thanked Quasimodo. Quasimodo was deaf so he could not hear her so he just smiled. I am deaf. So if you need to talk to me, use sign language, that is the only thing I understand. He gave Esmeralda a whistle. Just whistle if you need me. Esmeralda and Quasimodo became good friends. One night, while Quasimodo was guarding the church, the Archdeacon, Claude Frollo, snaked into Esmeralda's room. He rapped his arms around her. She screamed. Esmeralda pulled the whistle out of her pocket and whistled for Quasimodo. The Archdeacon took the whistle and threw it on the ground. Quasimodo rushed into the room and attacked the Archdeacon. Claude Frollo ran out of the room. Quadsimodo stayed with Esmeralda the rest of the night. The next morning, Quasimodo was guarding the church. He saw a group of people walking towards the church. It was the gypsies looking for Esmeralda. Quasimodo threw large stones at the people. Some of them ran away, and some of them ran to the back of the church to find an entrance. There was a ladder leading to the sanctuary where Esmeralda was sleeping. Pierre was with the group of people. He woke up Esmeralda and lead her out of the church. They took a boat across a river. Pierre ran into the motel pulling Esmeralda along but Esmeralda stayed behind. Claude was right behind her. She stared at him with a sick look. She picked up a weapon and tried to fight him but he was too strong. He took her to the police and had her arrested. She would be hung that very day. Three women walked up to a cell that day. An old woman lived there. The three women had made her a cake. The cake was beautiful and the woman in the cell was very happy to have someone talk to her. The woman had lost her child many years before and her sadness had made her hair turn gray. Oh God!

Can you please just keep other people's children away from me? the woman said looking at one of the lady's sons. The woman was sad because of her child. Years before, she had a child named Margaret. Oh, how she loved that child! They would sit by the fire together in the winter, and sometimes the girl would fall asleep in her mother's lap. Then, one day, the woman went out to the store to buy some food. A gypsy snaked in and took Margaret and left an ugly, deformed, smelly child in her place. The woman never saw her daughter again. Esmeralda was told to stay with the woman. The woman grabbed Esmeralda's arm. You will die today, gypsy girl! You will now pay the price of killing a helpless little child! May the devil take you! Here is the child's shoe, but where are the feet?said the woman. Just then, Esmeralda reached into her pocket and pulled out a matching shoe. Margaret! My child! We must not let them take you from me, no, not again. the woman said pulling her daughter into the cell. She covered Esmeralda with blankets. Suddenly, Esmeralda heard Phoebus' voice. She jumped out from the blankets and yelled Phoebus! Phoebus! Your alive! Phoebus came over to the window and put handcuffs around Esmeralda's wrist. He called his men over and then arrested Esmeralda. A crowd gathered around the church to watch Esmeralda's hanging. I can still save you. Do you love me? asked Claude Frollo. No! Esmeralda cried. Esmeralda's mother tried to save her but the guards killed Esmeralda's mother. Claude Frollo went back into the church and watched the hanging. Quasimodo was too late by the time he got there. Esmeralda was dead. Claude Frollo laughed at Esmeralda's corpse. Quasimodo grabbed Claude by the throat and tossed him over the balcony. He hit a roof, then he hit the ground,dead. Everything I loved! Quasimodo screamed from the balcony. No one ever saw Quasimodo again. Some say he is dead. Some say he is alive. Years later, after the death of Esmeralda, a person found two skulls in the same place where she was hung. One was of a woman and one was of a man. Some say that those skulls were those of Esmeralda and Quasimodo. Phoebus became an old man and married his fiance. Sometimes he still thinks of Esmeralda, but he doesn't miss her. This book was brilliant and amazing. I would definitely read it again and again. I would love to read another Victor Hugo book, and I am now a fan of Victor Hugo. I think he wrote this book because he wanted people to know what kind of things happened in Notre Dame years ago. Quasimodo was my favorite character. I felt sorry for Quasimodo because he lost everyone that ever cared for him. I felt like I was actually there watching all of this happen. I have seen the movie and it is nothing at all like the movie created by Disney. I thought the book was much better then the film, too. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is my favorite book of all times. I would recommend this book for anybody who is a fan of Victor Hugo. I liked this book

because it tells about something that could of really happened. My favorite part of the story was when Quasimodo saved Esmeralda from being hung. The worst part about the story was when Esmeralda died. This book made me wonder what really happened in those days in Notre Dame. It was a very sad book. At the end of the book Quasimodo dissapeared. I think that he ran away from Notre Dame so would be able to forget all the bad things that had happened there. It was very sad when Esmeralda's mother got killed. She was just trying to save her daughter. It was good when Quasimodo saved Esmeralda, but why could Quasimodo hear the whistle if he was deaf? I think that Victor Hugo wrote this book because he wanted us to see what life was like in Notre Dame at that period of time. I loved the book, and I think that you will, too.