A New Beginning

There is a very famous quote that states, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Candide went through everything. He went from riches to absolutely nothing. He went from absolutely nothing to riches and to absolutely nothing again. He has seen the world for what it really is. What I really liked about this book is that in the end. Candide finally seems to realize that not everything that Pangloss says is true. Remember how I said that I wished for Pangloss philosphy to contridict itself? Well through out the book, in many cases it did.

Pangloss states that everything happens for the best. In Candides case, I don't really see how that is possible. Pangloss says that everything happens for a reason, and that we should just let things be. If Candide would have realized that this statement isn't really necessarly true, some situtations would have had a completely different outcome. Having a teacher as oblivious as Pangloss, could make you understand why Candide would think the way he did.

At the end of the book Candide says, "we must go and work on the garden." (page 144) After reading that simple sentence I realized that some sense was finally knocked into his head. After all the misery Candide and those in his life went through, they moved on and found a way to start all over. I see the "garden" as his life. When he says that he has to go work on it, I understood that if everything happend for a reason, he had to be the reason. Throughout most of the book he wasn't able to realize this. He was blinded by Pangloss's philosophies to see the truth. Not only that, but you could tell that he was very confused. He had one of the worlds most famous philosophers telling him one thing, and someone who has suffered as much as he did, telling him another. I think I would be pretty confused too. As the novel goes on, Candide seems to learn a little more about life every time he travels. With all the knowledge in his head and in his heart, he is able to come up with his own idea on life. In the end of the book you could tell that he realized that the way he lives his life, and the way things work out for it, depends on him. His life is in the palm of his own hands. He is the one in charge of his own life. If he wanted something to happen to it, then he would have to be the one to make it happen. This new way of living was his very new beginning. 

Pangloss vs. Martin

I don't know which I find more annoying. Pangloss is too naive to even realize that the world can be cruel, and Martin is so pessimistic, that it gets on my nerves. One sees the world as the world as if it was all rainbows and butterflies, while the other one just sees it as a place that was created "to drive us mad." (page 95).

The world is a good place, but it isn't perfect. Everyone has there ups and there downs. I don't believe that a person can live with just the good and just the bad. They will experience tough times but they will also pass through some very good memories. Take Candide for example. After being kicked out from his home, taken to war, ship wreck, almost hanged, and having the love of his life taken away from him, his stop at Eldorado seemed to almost make things right again. Another example is the old lady. She is someone who has really suffered, and somehow she is able to be in love with life.

I get it, both of these men come from totally different backgrounds. One comes from a place where everything is said to be perfect. He used to live in a mansion, doing what he loved most. While the other one was robbed by his wife, beaten by his son, and abandoned by his daughter. Pangloss had a good life. He has many different reasons to see why can life is bliss. Martin has been traumatized with all thats happend to him. He just can't accept that there is actually some good out there. It's very simple to understand why each of them think the way they do, the only problem is that they take their opinion of life to the extreme. I'll be honest, when someone is overly happy I find it annoying and disturbing, but when someone is overly pessimistic, I find it boring and disturbing as well. I think that person should live their life knowning that isn't always fair, that there will be times when horrible things will happen, but you need to learn how to rise above them. There's no right or wrong way of living life, but sometimes this can be key to really know what it's all about. But hey, I'm only 15 years-old, I'm still learning.

Too Good To Be True

After all the misery it seems after all that God did find a way to exchange all the bad with someone good. After almost being burned alive, Utopia came into their lives. 

Is it Utopia? I mean the second they arrive they find gold, rubbies, diamonds, everything anyone could ever dream about right? After that you find out that you don't have to pay for one of the biggest meals ever. It was a place where everybody had the same opinion. This could only mean that war was barely a subject being touched. It's a place where Candide could stay and be the richest man in the world. Of course it's Utopia. Everything just seems so perfect right? When I read this chapter, it definitely seemed like it. Life had finally brought these two people something good in their lives. It brought them what they need. It brought them hope. It could have made them realize that not all is bad out in the world. It had to be Utopia.

Then I start think about everything. There might be a possibility where it isn't Utopia. It could be like any other place in the world. It could be just simple, "Eldorado." It probably has nothing special about it. It may just see thing differently. Or it could be the fact that so many bad things has happend to them, that any little ray of light can seem like the whole sun. You know what I mean? Maybe it's not Utopia. Candide must not see it like that. He left paradise. I agree with Sophie Echeverry when she states Candide act of stupidity when he leaves. This place was given to him to show him that not all is bad. That life can bring good things to people. It's almost as if he's leaving perfection to find what makes up his life, misery.

"Perhaps God will have pity on us in the end."

This whole book is based on one specific question. Everything that happens or anything that is said bring us back to Voltaire's question, "why do bad things happen to good people?" Through out this whole novel, no good has ever come to those who have been a part of Candide's life. Some of these peoples life end in death, others repeat a cycle of misery.

Cacambo, Candide's slave through out a couple of his journeys, is a perfect example for this question. As far as we know he hasn't commit any crimes, he hasn't hurt anybody, it's almost like he's just one innocent human being. He has done so much for Candide. When he killed his brother-in-law, Cacambo was there to save him. He was the one who helped him escape without having to take the responsibility for anything. You'd think that some good karma would come his way, seeing as he is practically a hero, but no. Instead nature took its toll and led them to almost be toasted alive. 

Cacambo saves both of their lives by giving a inspiring speech. When finally making their way to the new world Cacambo states, "Perhaps God will have pity on us in the end." (page 73) This quote clearly shows how little hope they have for life. So many horrible things had happened to them, and none of them deserved any of it. That little hope that they have left is gone to the highest of powers to feel sorry for them, to bring something good in exchange for all the bad.  Out of the four elements of satire the one that really defines this moment is absurd. Like mention in previous blog posts, this book clearly has nothing to do with optimism. This quote represents the exact opposite. The characters of this book have such low opinions on life that in order for anything good to happen, they need pity. There's nothing optimistic going on in these peoples lives, even less in their thoughts. 

True Strength

I thought Condegonde had gone threw it all. I truly believed that no one had gone through so much trauma than her. I stood corrected in these last ten pages. The old women's story left me with my mouth wide open. I could never imagine someone to go threw so much pain. She went from so much to so little. She went from being the Popes daughter to being a torn up slave. She was beautiful, she had a husband, whom she loved, she had a family, and it's horrible to think that everything was taken away from her. Everything changed when she set sail to her beautiful estate near Gaeta. When the pirates attacked they took everything, and they took her, as well as her mother to Morocoo.

The old women described the place as if it was swimming in blood. There were about 50 civil wars going on at the time. Everyone fighting with everyone. She arrived to see these people fighting like "lions". To see these animals take her mother torn apart, slashed, and massacred. Even having to see, she held her head up high. Even after becoming a slave, and being trade to more than 5 different places, she held her head up high. Even after having a plague, she held her head up high. Even after being affected by the Turks who attacked the Russians, she held her head up high.

After everything that had happened to her, she admits that she has thought about killing herself. She was so in love with life, that she just couldn't. Having to go throw everything she did and still loving life is the perfect example of strength. This "old women" taught me the meaning of strength. She showed me that some stupid thing like your boyfriend breaking up with you, is nothing compared to her life story. She showed me what it is like to rise above things, to move on, and to make the best of what I have now. The past is the past. Everything she went threw was absurd. I honestly see absolutely see no optimism in this book. Everyone, especially this old lady, has trauma as a part of their life. If life was so good and perfect then none of these tragedies would have happened. It amazes me how that no matter what may have happend, she is in love with life. She still see's the good in the world. 

For the better or the worse?

Remember how we thought that Lady Condegonde was dead? It just turns out that she isn't. She is once again reunited with her love, Candide and explains absolutely everything that happened to her throughout the time they were seperated. 

At all started at her Thunder-ten-tronckh when the Bulgars arrived. They simply began there night at the house by cutting her father and brothers throat, and making a "mincemeat" of her mother. It makes me think whether this whole passage is hyperbole or absurdity. Why would it be hyperbole? Well when she starts to refer as her mothers death as a making of mincemeat, it made me think that she was really exaggerating things. I find it totally normal that she is referring to her moms death is such sort of way. I mean its her mother, being killed right in front of her eyes, things obviously will seem worse then they seem. This situation could leave a person's life traumatized. At the same time I don't see things being exaggerated at all. Some people seem to believe that violence is a way to solve problems, especially throughout the time this novel takes place. So why not? Why wouldn't people cut other throats? Why wouldn't someone be made into a mincemeat, while being killed? Even now a days, there are some cases where people use this type of violence, to fight for their views. I also find this a bit weird. It's kind of ironic to think that the people Candide, Condegonde love, used to fight for, were people that killed her whole entire family.

At the same time all of this just seems absurd. The books title is "Candide Voltaire" or "Optimism". In Merriam- Websters dictionary, it states that optimism specifically means a doctrine that this world is the possible world. After everything Condegonde went threw I find that there's no connection to her life story and optimism. After seeing her family members die, she was beaten, taken as a kitchen slave for a Jew and Inquisitor 7 days a week, she saw the death of two Jews, the death of Pangloss, someone she dearly loved, and saw how the love of her life was beaten as well. To be honest I can't find one single reason why there is any happiness in her world, or why her world would be the best. I know that sounds extremely depressing, but you can't say you disagree. I have no idea how she is able to keep her head held high, after all of this. I don't know how she is able to move on with her life, and act as if nothing had happend. I have absolutely no idea how she just accepting what happend to her. I guess something that does makes things a little "optimistic" is the fact that she reunited with Candide. She got someone to talk to, and someone who listened to every single word. After all the tragedy I personally believe thats exactly what she needed. Things started to twist around when a little green monster named jealousy got into Candide. The death of the Jew and the Inquisitor seemed to break every single bit of peace Condegone had in a way found.  So I ask you this: By reuniting with her long lost love was she able to fill up the whole in her heart, or just make matters in her life worse?

Naive Candide

If I had books like,  "Voltaire Candide" and "Dear John" put in front of my face, for me to read, I would never choose "Voltaire Candide". The only books that have really caught my eye are pathetic romantic novels. I have no idea why, but they just do. When we were first assigned this book, I honestly believed that it was going to be one of those dreadful books you always have to read for English class. For example, last year it was "The Catcher in the Rye". When I finally finished the second chapter, my low expectations suddenly seemed to rise. The whole plot of the past 6 chapters really got my attention. 

Basically this story revolves around Candide life.  He had it all. The big house, a philosopher as a tutor, and even what may be too seem as the love as his life. This book starts off with the "physical experiment" that he and his cousin (the love of his life), Lady Cunegonde do. The statement "physical experiment" has a connotation, that I never believed it did. To be honest, as I was reading I truly believed that they were really doing an actual experiment. It turns out that they were doing some other sort of experiment. That they were actually having sex. Out of the four elements of satire,  the one that really defines this part is absurdity. Why? Well, for one, I find it a little weird and twisted that Candide is having sex with his cousin. In today's culture it's seen as unusual, and in my opinion, gross. This whole intimacy eventually caused some problems for Candide.  Others looked down on this relationship, and he was eventually kicked out of his dream life, and had to go live life on his own. All because of this, things started to change.

With no home, no money, no food, Candide walked to neighboring town also known as Waldeverghoff-trarbk-dikdorff, and stopped at an inn. As he glanced through the window, two men spotted him. These two men described him "well-made young fellow." Why would this detail be so important? Why would these two men notice this specific detail? Eventually we find out that it's because they were going to use him as an admirer of the King of the Bulgars, and fight in his name. You see, this plan was pretty much a bust seeing as Candide eventually escaped to village nearby. He met a few people, but wasn't really liked or treated well. The only person who did was James, the Anabaptist. At the same time, he reunites with his old tutor, also known as Pangloss. He was reunited with him just to find out that his dear Cunegonde had died when she was disemboweled by Bulgar Soldiers. I kind of find that whole situation a little bit ironic seeing as, Candide was forced to fight as one as well.  Pangloss also tells him about the women that he loved, Paquette. He states that she was infected and perhaps even dead.  Infected of what? By what? How did she even know that she was infected? A franciscan was able to trace it back to the source. This makes me think that it could probably be something like STDS, since most of the people living in that house were sleeping with one another. Even Pangloss was sick. So sick he needed to be treated, but he had no money. If he were to be treated, it would be have to be done in some sort of favor like, charity even. When we think of catholics, we think of the fact that they are always giving back. That they always have to be doing some that goes along with charity. Well at least I do anyway. No Catholic would treat him though, the only person that did was James, the Anabaptist. It's kind of ironic right? Someone who isn't even baptized, doing Pagloss this favor. The sad part is that James eventually drowns when Candide, Pangloss, other passengers, and him sailed to Lisbon. 

They finally arrive, but only for more disater. They arrive to an earthquake. Where they find men, women, children crushed to death. One of the sailors traveling along with them, didn't seem to find this traumatizing at all. The only thing he was interested was finding money. This to me seemed absurd. How could a person be so sensitive? As if the last couple of pages couldn't be more tragic, Magnificent auto-da-fe was staged. This was because people seemed to believe that it would prevent earthquakes from happening. Dr. Pangloss was arrested for speaking out, and Candide, just being a listener was arrested as well. Pangloss was hanged and Candide was beaten. Things just didn't seem to work out for these two. The whole time Pangloss just kept on saying that there needed to be misery in order for there to be happiness. He said that everything was happening for a reason, so they shouldn't even try to prevent more tragedy. That every reaction had it's effect. I believe this whole idea too. The only thing is that, Pangloss would take it to another level. When something bad happens to you, or is going to happen to you, you can do what you can in order to change its "effect", create a new one. A new effect and a better one. You shouldn't just stop yourself from doing what you feel is going to have a positive outcome in the end, because everything that is happening around you is for a "reason." If they would have at least tried to fight for what they wanted as an effect, they could have avoided the death of James. Overall, this was what really frustrated me the most. Making me want to read more, to see if this philosophy would ever contradict itself.