Jake Williams Mr. Wright HEL – Candide Essay 10 January 2012 Essay Response to the Midterm Question In the satirical novel Candide by Voltaire, the cruelties of the world are overplayed in the simple life of Candide. He goes through events others would call horrific; the same is true with his friends. Candide was the epitome of optimism due to the schooling of Pangloss, his mentor. Candide has the love of his life taken from him and raped and mutilated (which later leads to a loss of interest that he cannot express as he gave his word that he loved her), all the people he could ever call family killed by enemy soldiers, his mentor beaten, giving syphilis, and almost killed several times, and he himself suffers unimaginable pain at the hands of cruel soldiers. His journey is not a love story; it is the story of a man with no view of the down side. When Candide says “But let us cultivate our garden.” he is merely saying that they should get back to work so that they may be happy once more. The book is about optimism, but in the end presses the point that the happiness attained in life is gained by the pursuit of said happiness. When Candide finally reaches and has Cunegonde, the original reason he started questing in the first place, he realizes that achieving his goal did not make him as happy as the journey. Work will prevent vices which lead to being unhappy. It is better to do something to pursue happiness and suffer than do nothing and be discontent. In the beginning of the book, Candide strongly believes in optimism but as the novel progresses and more disturbing events happen to Candide and his friends he seems to lean more towards meliorism. Because of what they go through, this seems to be the more logical theory to follow, proving Voltaire’s point that blind optimism is not always the best theory to follow. Because of the change of philosophy, it can be said that Candide suffered a loss of innocence, from absolute belief in everything being good, to everything being subject to change if you work to make the world better. Compared to America when it was first created, Candide is very similar in the holding of his beliefs, and the story is quiet parallel to pressing the beliefs America has.Candide, from his actions, is a believer in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He is not a killer, though he does have to kill several times, he believes in liberty and justice from his conversations with Pangloss and Cunegonde, and the pursuit of happiness belief is shown with the last line. In modern America, we do not work to overcome any kid of hardship as a society, though those in the enlightenment there was a time of overcoming all the hardships of years of oppressive learning and people not thinking for themselves.
Candide shows the epitome of life as an optimist. He doesn't question any of the hardships going on around him until he really starts to lose his innocence. In his many journeys, he encounters some of the most horrible things that you can possibly encounter during this time period. He is resilient, but finally the real world gets to him. This is his transition to meliorism from optimism.
Mr. Wright
HEL – Candide Essay
10 January 2012
Essay Response to the Midterm Question
In the satirical novel Candide by Voltaire, the cruelties of the world are overplayed in the simple life of Candide. He goes through events others would call horrific; the same is true with his friends. Candide was the epitome of optimism due to the schooling of Pangloss, his mentor. Candide has the love of his life taken from him and raped and mutilated (which later leads to a loss of interest that he cannot express as he gave his word that he loved her), all the people he could ever call family killed by enemy soldiers, his mentor beaten, giving syphilis, and almost killed several times, and he himself suffers unimaginable pain at the hands of cruel soldiers. His journey is not a love story; it is the story of a man with no view of the down side. When Candide says “But let us cultivate our garden.” he is merely saying that they should get back to work so that they may be happy once more.
The book is about optimism, but in the end presses the point that the happiness attained in life is gained by the pursuit of said happiness. When Candide finally reaches and has Cunegonde, the original reason he started questing in the first place, he realizes that achieving his goal did not make him as happy as the journey. Work will prevent vices which lead to being unhappy. It is better to do something to pursue happiness and suffer than do nothing and be discontent.
In the beginning of the book, Candide strongly believes in optimism but as the novel progresses and more disturbing events happen to Candide and his friends he seems to lean more towards meliorism. Because of what they go through, this seems to be the more logical theory to follow, proving Voltaire’s point that blind optimism is not always the best theory to follow. Because of the change of philosophy, it can be said that Candide suffered a loss of innocence, from absolute belief in everything being good, to everything being subject to change if you work to make the world better.
Compared to America when it was first created, Candide is very similar in the holding of his beliefs, and the story is quiet parallel to pressing the beliefs America has.Candide, from his actions, is a believer in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He is not a killer, though he does have to kill several times, he believes in liberty and justice from his conversations with Pangloss and Cunegonde, and the pursuit of happiness belief is shown with the last line. In modern America, we do not work to overcome any kid of hardship as a society, though those in the enlightenment there was a time of overcoming all the hardships of years of oppressive learning and people not thinking for themselves.
Candide shows the epitome of life as an optimist. He doesn't question any of the hardships going on around him until he really starts to lose his innocence. In his many journeys, he encounters some of the most horrible things that you can possibly encounter during this time period. He is resilient, but finally the real world gets to him. This is his transition to meliorism from optimism.