The purpose of Candides satire is to contrast comedy and tragedy

voltaire satirizes natural disasters by exxagerating eatrthquakes and plagues.

Candide mocks religion with Eldorado. He gave it heaven aspects , such as streets of gold and other riches

" 620 BC: Draco, Athenian law-maker, was smothered to death by gifts of cloaks and hats showered upon him by appreciative citizens at a theatre on Aegina."

Candide discussion questions

Question 3:

1. Within the context of the novel, Eldorado really is the “best of all possible worlds.” Overflowing with riches, ruled by an enlightened king, it is a land with no need of courts or prisons, where the inhabitants lack nothing and live in a state of continual gratitude. Why do Candide and Cacambo decide to leave such a paradise and return to a world riddled with greed, lust, ignorance, dishonesty, and cruelty, a world where violence both savage and civilized is the norm? What aspects of human nature is Voltaire satirizing when he writes that “our two happy wanderers resolved to be happy no longer and to seek His Majesty’s permission to depart” (p. 49)? 

When Candide and Cacambo leave El Dorado they leave behind the best they’ve had their entire journey. I believe at that time of the book they were ignorant to the troubles of the world. They left thinking they could survive on the riches and jewels without harm or evil occurring to them. This was an ignorant action because if there is evil elsewhere and this is the best of all possible worlds, then surely they had the possibility of being robbed of their possessions because robbing is an act of evil. They were too optimistic about their fortunes and success.

Question 12:

1. At the end of the novel, Martin says, “Let us set to work and stop proving things, for that is the only way to make life bearable” (p. 93), echoing the Turkish farmer who says, “our work keeps at bay the three great evils: boredom, vice, and necessity” (p. 92). Do you think Voltaire is endorsing this view? Why would doing physical work be preferable to the life of a philosopher? 

 At the end of the book they meet a farmer who cultivates a garden. They travelers are impressed by his life style. They decide to mimic the farmer’s lifestyle and cultivate their own garden. When doing this Martin, Pangloss, and Candide had a tendency to discuss philosophy which in turn always turned into an argument/ debate. Martin says, “Let us set to work and stop proving things, for that is the only way to make life bearable”, this is referring to the way philosophers think. They critically analyze everything and find new troubles and always want to find the answer of “why”. That is why the physical labor is useful for the philosophers because if they had not begun cultivating the garden then they would begin to question the new lifestyle everyone was now living, and being that Candide is very impressionable he would have followed them and would have agreed. If this were to happen the travelers would begin wandering again looking for happiness in a world that is the best of all possible worlds.

8. Near the end of the book, while Pangloss was “being hanged, and dissected, and beaten, and made to row in a galley,” he still holds firm to his original views that this is the best of all possible worlds. “I am a philosopher after all. It would not do for me to recant” (p. 88). What are the dangers in holding beliefs that are impermeable to reality, that do not alter according to actual experience? The dangers in holding beliefs that are impermeable to reality make you unaware or cautious of death.

 A: When you hold the belief that all is meant for good then you ignore the idea or truth of certain things which could possibly lead to “certain death” and isn’t the goal to stay alive? Pangloss believes that he is put in each situation for a particular reason. For instance while he was enslaved on the boat with the Jesuit,”The Baron” he says that it meant to be when Candide found him. That everything that happened to him should have because it led him back to Candide, yet in his face you could see the bare truth of how he felt which happens to be the exact opposite. So is it humanly possible to have this mindset.

 11. Martin believes that man is equally miserable wherever he lives and that even in cities which are free from the ravages of war, “men are more devoured by envy, cares and anxiety than all the tribulations visited upon a citadel under siege. Private griefs are crueler even than public miseries” (p. 56). Is Martin’s view more accurate than Pangloss’s, or does it simply represent the other extreme? Would you agree that “private griefs are crueler even than public miseries”? 

A: I believe that Martin has the view of the realistic extreme, while Pangloss has a less realistic extreme. They both believe in their opinions strongly, and for something to become real all you have to do is make it so in your head. Just because there positions are polar opposites doesn’t make one right and one wrong. Private griefs aren’t necessarily any crueler than other tribulations. Things like such are justified off your own mental strength and ability to withdraw from certain situations and make the best of them like Pangloss. More or less like Martin who will dwell on the idea that God has left us to suffer is personally a weaker standpoint. In some eyes that makes me stronger, in others weaker.

What is Voltaire suggesting about the exaltation of romantic love? 

Candide’s love for Cunégonde is the driving force of his journey in the novel. The irrational lengths to which Candide goes to pursue his love, including abandoning the paradise of El Dorado, committing multiple murders, and barely avoiding capture and execution, are mocked by the reality that once Candide can marry Cunégonde, he’s no longer attracted to her. He suggest that romantic love is only lust. Candide was after Cunégonde because of her beauty. Once, she became ugly and Candide was no longer attracted to her, feelings went away, making romantic love only desire. No real romantic love seems to exist in Candide

In 2003, an American amusement park operator was killed when his hair and arm got caught on a roller coaster car, pulling him up as high as 12 meters before he fell, back-first, onto a fence. Doug McKay, 40, was spraying lubricant on the tracks of the Super Loop 2, a ride at the Island County Fair on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, when his long hair got caught on a car full of fair goers. It basically scalped him, then he fell and landed on the fence. 

Symbolism

Some characters places and situations in this novel have a symbolic significance. Symbolism provides meaning and effect in a literary work.
Candide means innocent. He is very innocent and charming. He is a symbol of innocence itself.
The Baron is killed with many of his family members. His castle is razed to the ground. This symbolizes the fall of aristocracy.
Cunégonde is an extremely pretty young girl at the beginning of the novel. She symbolizes the transitoriness of youth and beauty. 

XVII- Chapter 17

Cacambo and Candide are walking for a long time after their horses die and finally when they could walk no more a boat appears and some coconuts..... Irony right???

Voltaire uses hyperbole to add emphasis when going into detail. 


"Immediately two waiters and two girls, dressed in cloth of gold, and their hair tied up with ribbons, invited them to sit down to table with the landlord. They served four dishes of soup, each garnished with two young parrots; a boiled candor which weighed two hundred pounds; two roasted monkeys, of excellent flavor; three hundred humming-birds in one dish, and six hundred fly-birds in another; exquisite ragouts; delicious pastries; the whole served up in dishes of a kind of rock-crystal."

Voltaire was against the ideas in the society of his time. He has exposed his rebellious thoughts through humor and imagination.

Overly Optimistic: Pangloss: He came up with the idea that Westphalia is the best of all worlds and nothing is better and that everything happens for a reason so its going to be good eventually.

Why evil?

The problem of evil is shown purposely in this book to challenge the reader and Candide's faith and to answer the problem of evil which is, If there is an all powerful and almighty God then why is there suffering if he can take it away. Candide suffers Multiple Times....why? That is the problem that the problem of evil creates. It challenges you to find the answer to why evil exist when there is a God.

Satire???

Candide sees two monkeys biting these girls butts. This would be considered satire in the book because it is suppose to be funny.

Optimism vs. Pessimism

Candide has always been optimistic throughout the book and when he is something bad happens to him.
Example: Everything was going just fine in El Dorado and he and Cacambo decide to take the jewels and sheep to go back to Westphalia "Best of all worlds" to have more money than everyone else. Then he ends up losing mostly all his money to a slave owner that offered to take him and his sheep to Europe.

When Candide is pessimistic, good things happen to him.
Example: Candide and Cacambo were captured by some Oreillons and they were going to cook and eat them and Candide becomes sad and thinks pessimistic and Cacambo talks the Oreillons out of killing them. Eventually they even become close with the king of El Dorado and with riches.

Satire

Pangloss has affected the way Candide views life as an individual.

Pessimism

Pessimism: a state of mind in which one anticipates undesirable outcomes or believes that the evil or hardships in life outweigh the good or luxuries.

Although Candide is a very optimistic person he encounters moments when the positive thoughts are over powered by the negativity of pessimism. He encounters a man on the ground missing a hand and a leg and
 he is over-whelmed by the scene and the reason the mans limbs are missing. Candide explains that Pangloss' idea of optimism is bad and he begins to explain the definition of optimism to Cacambo saying "Alas!...it is the madns of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong." 

Optimism

Optimism: a mental attitude or world view that interprets situations and events as being best (optimized), meaning that in some way for factors that may not be fully comprehended, the present moment is in an optimum state. The concept is typically extended to include the attitude of hope for future conditions unfolding as optimal as well. -Wikipedia 

Throughout the book Candide uses "The larger view on life" and accepts everything as a positive. Such as when he is traveling and sees all the gruesome things that the other countries suffer through. Candide Continuously says Westphalia is the best of all worlds and Pangloss' theory is always right.