What does the elephant in Les Miserables signify?

Answer 1

The Elephant of the Bastille was a monument in Paris between 1813 and1846. It had been conceived by Napolean and the statue was going to be created out of bonze and put in the Place de la Bastille. Only a plaster full-scale model was built. Evidently it was in Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables. Therefore Hollywood used it in the current movie.

Answer 2

The 'Elephant of the Bastille' was a full-scale plaster model of a monument that Napoleon proposed in 1808 to commemorate his victories. He intended the final statue to be made of bronze from captured cannons. The project was dropped after Napoleon's final defeat, although the original plaster mold of the elephant remained. Victor Hugo had Gavroche living inside the elephant - with his two younger brothers - in spite of its crumbling, rat-infested condition. It symbolized the failure of both the revolution and Napoleon to improve the lot of France's poor. The elephant was finally taken down in 1846.