Four steps to finally get what you are supposed to do in life:(according to Voltaire's Candide)

1. Mind your own business

"Is it your business?" (141). - dervish

"I have no idea" (142). - old man

2. Don't worry about little things

"Do you suppose he worries whether the ship's mice are comfortable or not?" (141). - dervish

"I never bother myself about what happens in Constantinople" (142). - old man

3. Don't try to figure things out that don't really matter.

"Keep your mouth shut" (142). - dervish

"That's enough for me" (142). - old man

4. Keep yourself busy with work.

"...slammed the door in their faces" (142). - dervish

"we find that the work banishes those three great evils, boredom, vice and poverty" (143). - old man

So, that is what I got out of Voltaire's Candide.

Some Stuff in the Book

In Voltair's Candide, chapter after chapter, I keep finding the characters of women to be very similar. They almost all at one point were very pretty, if not beautiful, and all seem to have the same fate. This fate of course is being used by men over and over again. Either by the means of rape, or the women choose it as a way of living.

Why does the author constantly keep coming back to this, or presenting this to us in the book. Is it to maybe show that men always just want women for one particular reason? Or is it to show that back then, that was the only importance of women?

Also, there seems to be alot of death or killing in the book, or at least Candide keeps losing the people he is fond of. For example, Pangloss, Cunegonde, Cacambo. etc. etc.

Candide also keeps getting cheated in everything that happens to him. The wealth he accumlates is sure to soon run out, for everyone seems to find out that he is filthy rich, and then take advantage of his naïve way of thinking.

Candide's companion, Martin, seems to be the complete opposite of his former, yet still beloved, idol, Pangloss. Martin is set that everything in the world is completely terrible, and awful. He is a compelte pessimist. Pocurante and Martin seem to get along quite well, seeming as they both have the same view on life, everything is pretty much useless, disgusting, annoying, or etc. Nothing can please Pocurante.

Another theme that is often presented in Candide, is loss. It seems that when anybody ever gets something good, they either loose it, or something very bad happens to them, that cancels out the good. For example, the six kings that Candide dines with, or the fact that Candide keeps losing comfortable homes, and Cunegonde, and other people he loves.

Rocks and Dirt

Candide and Cacambo, upon following a river in a boat, are led to the country of Eldorado. Their they find an abundance of gold and precious stones, like emeralds and rubies. However, the inhabitants of that land found the "riches" of their land to be valueless, like rocks and dirt are to us. I think this is pointing towards the idea that something is only valuable if somebody says it is.

For example, in the US, the government prints out a whole bunch of green paper, marks it with a special seal, and then labels it with a worth of either 1, 5, 10, etc.

It has no worth at all, really. You cannot eat it or use it for anything really necessary. However, because the government says it is worth something, we expect to receive a certain product if we hand over the necessary amount of money.

Yet who can determine the worth of one currency against another? Apparently the government, of course, but honestly, just think about it, we are exchanging pieces of paper or pieces of metal for food, clothes, and etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/business/worldbusiness/21dollar.html

The above article is from the New York Times, discussing currency issues, and the worth of currency.

Monkeys! ...Cannibals discriminate?

In chapter sixteen, Cacambo says to Candide, "Why should you find it so strange that in some parts of the world monkeys obtain ladies' favours? They are partly human, just as I am partly Spanish" (70). At first, I did not catch the diss that was directed to the Spanish. Cacambo is stating that being partly Spanish, is sort of like being only partly human, or in other words, a monkey. So, he is comparing Spanish people with monkeys, and therefore I believe the author is targeting Spanish people in this instance.

This is the best monkey clip in the world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlVWcTFqC6k

We are also introduced to a couple of could-be cannibals Candide says how "outrageously inhuman" the Oreillons actions were, to cook their fellow-men, and that it was "scarcely the act of a Christian" (71). However, after Cacambo convinces the Oreillons that they are not Jesuits, Candide referst to them as "grand" (72). He goes on to praise them on being fine fellows, and proclaiming "what culture!" (72), seeming to forget that he was just about to be cooked and eaten by these barabarians. He seems to think that as long as they don't do those certain things to me, than that is fine, they are very nice.

I think it is very interesting that his oppinion of the Oreillons changes so quickly, and all because of the way they are treating him. He does not seem to care that they eat people, as long as they aren't eating him. However, was he not just about to become a Jesuit in one of the past chapters? Is this maybe hinting at the point that people are never really what they seem, and people who discriminate against certain people don't even know why, or what they are discriminating? It seems that people who hate a certain type of people don't know why they hate them, or who they actually are.

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Magnanimity -
generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness

Jesuit - a member of a Roman Catholic religious order (Society of Jesus) founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534.

Target

I think that the author of Candide is targeting a couple people and concepts in chapter 13 & 14:

He is targeting:

1. People who only treat other people with respect after hearing about their "rank and quality"(58). This would of course be Cunegonde, and her giving the old woman respect.

2.Women who are never satisfied with the man that they have. They always want more, and always expect better. Again, Cunegonde is displaying this target with her uncertainty if she should accept the Governor's hand in marriage, or if she should stay with Candide.

3. Traitors, or two-faced people. The man Cacambo protrays this quality by stating "When you don't get what you expect on one side, you find it on the other" (62).

4. Gossip, so far, two people have not been "killed" like Pangloss said they had been, Cunegonde and Cunegonde's brother. I think the author is targeting people who gossip because usually what they say is not ever really true.

5. The statement "a small world", because for some reason Candide keeps running into people who he knew from other places in lands that are very far away from their origingal dwelling place.

The Most Ridiculous

The author of Candide frequently uses ridiculous and insane ideas in his story. For example, cutting off half of the poor old woman's rear end to feed the starving soldiers, and how many times she was sold, and re-sold. Now, after Cunegonde and Candide finally find eachother, Cunegonde hesitates at accepting the hand of the rich Governor. Why did she not directly refuse, and why did she not know to say yes or no? I thought that Candide and Cunegonde were in a deep love which was reflected on either side. Why then, does she go to the old lady for advice, whether or not to accept this Governor's hand in marriage? Does she not see that he only loves her for her beauty, and in a couple weeks after fulfilling his lust, he will ditch her? Poor Cunegonde, she does not realize that she is going to be throwing away her life. We are left at the end of the chapter with the old woman's advice to Candide to flee quickly, before he is captured. So, after being together for a little while, the 'lovers' are once again separated. Will their paths be crossed again later in the book?

Interesting Words That Popped Out At Me:

Eloquence p.56

1.the practice or art of using language with fluency and aptness.

2.eloquent language or discourse: a flow of eloquence.

Propensities p.57

1.a natural inclination or tendency: a propensity to drink too much.
2.Obsolete. favorable disposition or partiality.

Sagacious p.58
1.having or showing acute mental discernment and keen practical sense; shrewd: a sagacious lawyer.
2.Obsolete. keen of scent.

Harangued p.58
1.a scolding or a long or intense verbal attack; diatribe.
2.a long, passionate, and vehement speech, esp. one delivered before a public gathering.
3.any long, pompous speech or writing of a tediously hortatory or didactic nature; sermonizing lecture or discourse

8, 9, 10 & 11

Voltaire's Candide seems to be a whirl wind of misfortunes. Every character in his book goes through the most horrid things, only to enter into more calamity.
Cunegonde's parents are killed, she is raped by a Bulgar, and a Bulgar captain, then sold to a Jew who then shared her with a Grand Inquisitor. Poor Cunegonde, after suffering so much, now has to flee from the grand house she had been staying with Candide and an old woman who was her maid. So, she gathers together the jewls that were doted upon her, and together, they ride towards Cadize.
Then in the next chapter, we find them in yet another adversity. All of Cunegonde's jewls and moidores have been stolen, and now they are completely broke, trying to get to Cadize. They then have the idea to sell one of the horses, and the old woman will ride behind Cunegonde. However, she mentions that it will be very difficult "I can hardly keep my seat with only one buttock" (47). Nevertheless, they sell the horse, and they persevere towards Cadinze.


Cunegonde and Candide then start to complain about all of the troubles and mishaps that have been swung their way. This leads the old woman to tell her story:





She tells them about how she once very beautiful, and rich. Then, how she was captured by pirates, raped, and then brought to the forsaken Morocco, which was "swimming in blood" (51) when they arrived. There, she witnessed her mother's death, along with the deaths of her handmaidens and all of the other captors and captives. She then told them that she crawled to an orange tree, and collapsed with grief underneath its shady branches, only to be awakened by a "man of fair complexion" (53).
Was the author trying to be funny when he wrote this book? Giving all of these people the hardest lives, in order to poke fun at people who say that their lives are so terrible? I can not imagine going through the hardships these characters are being put through. Thank goodness this is not a real story!