The Best of All Possible Worlds

Our world is unfair. Our world doesn't always respond the way we want to. Many times unexpected and cruel things happen to good people who do not deserve it. The world is all but predictable. We can protect and prevent disasters or diseases, but we never know who will die everyday, at least not until it happens. People are still going to die. However, who is there to blame? Who is the one who makes planet earth so unfair?  On earth, we can find two things, those we can control and conquer, and those we cannot control or conquer. 

The ironic part of Candide is that not "everything is for the best in this world of ours" (Pg. 27) and we don't live in "the best of all possible worlds."(Pg. 20)  Yet, we are the ones responsible for making our world a horrible place. Many people live miserably, why do you think people commit suicide each day?  The answer is very simple."I have met a vast number of people who detested their existence" (Pg. 57) 

We are the ones who make our world unfair. Ana Maria Villaveces, wrote in her blog, "As a species, we tend to want equality but still hope the best is given to us, we enjoy as other people suffer as long as this doesn’t affect the way we live." We are ambitious and cruel creatures making our world that way, we do not care about what happens to others, just to us. That’s one of the reasons our world is that way, because we are selfish, only seeking for personal pleasure. People only sit down and wines about how horrible their life has been, but never realize what took there. "He did not dare to say he was his wife because in fact she was not. He did not dare to say she was his sister, because that was not true either...his soul was too pure to commit such treason against truth" (Pg. 59) Candide only had a drop bad luck, he is an innocent and virtuous person who honestly didn't deserve to go through so much trouble. The same goes to James, Dr. Pagloss, Lady Cunégonde, or the Old Lady, all good people. 

Our world isn't atrocious. We make it that way, which is what seems to be portrayed in a satirical manner in Candide. People can suffer from incidents caused by nature, but there is no one to blame. It’s no one's fault that those things happen. We cannot control some things, and that's just life. 

"O Che Sciagura D'essere Senza Coglioni!"

Who is there to speak about the crude truth of war? Who is there with a strong voice to speak about it? Not many alive can ever speak of this, because no one will ever know what it is like.  Only those who have lived it, can talk about it. War is a crude topic, it reveals mens true ambitions and desires. It exemplifies men as a ravishing but blood and gold thirsted creature, it shows men's true and dark side.

"They fought like lions, tigers and serpents of their country to decide who should have us...Almost all our women were immediately disputed in the same fashion by four soldiers a piece..In the end I saw my mother and all our Italian ladies torn limb from limb, then slashed, and massacred by the monsters that fought for them. All were killed, both captors and captives, my companions, the soldiers, sailors, blacks, whites, and mulattoes, and finally my pirate chief; and I myself lay dying on a heap of corpses...Scene such as these took place all over that country..."(Pg. 52)

After a scenery such as that, after one has lost everything, pride included, the question of  why should one live arises. What would be the reason to keep on living a precarious life, one full of uncertainties and tormet, not knowing if one shall live the day after. Why live if there is nothing to loose because everything has already been lost? That, are the questions without answers that war makes, war makes people suffer, even if it is for a good cause, war is a selfish act were people let many others die and  let their lives be destroyed for ones own pleasure.

"I have grown old (with only half a behind) in misery and shame but I have never forgotten that I am the daughter of a Pope. I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life...I have met  a vast number of people who detested their existence, but I have met only twelve who have voluntarily put an end to their misery..."  (Pg. 57)   Not unexpected, Candide surprises the reader once more. By being a satirical novel one would think that this book would be the contrary of good and optimistic, as its ironic title implies, but instead it is a story about misery, loss and suffering, in which their characters are the contrary of pessimistic in those situations,  when they should be, but are rather positive and hopeful.

Ingenuous or Ingenious

Truthfully, I don't know what to think about Candide's actions. In this satirical novel, Candide has been portrayed as a naive character, not being at all street smart.  By depicting him as innocent young boy, Voltaire succeeds in making the reader unconsciously think that any word other than naive and its derivates would be amiss in describing him. Basically, Volataire  is tricking the reader into not  thinking otherwise. However, what I hand't realized up until that moment, was that the fact of Candide being naive, didn't exactly mean that he wasn't smart, at all clever.  However, it seems like has proved me all wrong. 

"He entered, and saw before him the man whom he had had flogged, with a sword in his hand, and dead body and lying on the floor, Cunégonde frightened out her wits, and the old woman offering advice...Candide made up his mind in an instant...His reflections were clear and rapid; and without giving the inquisitor time to recover from his surprise, he ran him through and laid him beside the israelite..." (Pg. 45)  In a situation such a that one, I would expect that someone as gullible as Candide would not react in such way when facing a situation as dangerous such as being found by a Cardinal Inquisitor, and plainly proceding to kill him. Much less, to come to a conclusion which in fact deceives lady Cunégode "Dearest lady, a jealous man in love doesn't know what he's doing, especially if he has been whipped by the inquisition" (Pg. 46) 

This only amazes the reader and makes him ponder about Candide. It makes us believe that Voltaire has played a trick on the reader, making him wonder that if someone as surprisingly innocent as Candide, can be that clever in pressuring situations like that. 

What Might Come Next?

Candide is a satirical book, therefore it comes with a fact that cannot be doubted, that if not all, but almost everything written in Candide is structured by one, or more, of the aspects of satire, is it irony, hyperbole or absurdity.

"His eyes were lifeless, the end of his nose had rotted away, his mouth as askew and his teeth were black. His voice was sepulchral, and a violent cough tormented him, at every bout of which he spat out a tooth." (Pg. 29) One would feel nothing but pity at the sight of a troubled man such as this, how awful must be the pain that man bears at the moment. Right now, any one could think he is a sickened beggar living on the streets, which could be a reasonable explanation due to his given state. However, ironically, he is the Candide's beloved master, the greatest philosopher of all Westphalia, Dr. Pangloss. That leads to reader to a question. How is it that that prestigious man ended up in such deplorable state?


“In her arms I tasted the delights of Paradise, and they produced these hellish torments by which you see me devoured. She was infected…Paquette was given this present by a learned Franciscan…I am a dying man” (Page. 30) Some say love hurts, other say that love kills, but in the case it seems like both are affecting Professor Pangloss. Having to endure all of that pain of disease, only for a night with a beautiful woman? "During treatment, Pangloss lost only an eye and an ear"(Pg. 31) Now, I being to think about the bad luck Dr. Pangloss seems to be facing. That man, having endured all that pain, now has to bear loosing an ear and an eye? What else could happen to him that could make his life more miserable? What might come next? It seems like having experienced a mortal sickness and having lost an eye and and ear isn't enough for Voltaire. Apparently he had to make him, including his companions, go through a storm, then through a shipwreck in which James, the honest anabaptist died, and then through an earthquake. Candide, which in fact means "optimism", is only but an ironical title for a book with such miseries, how can someone be optimistic in situations like this? Having only showed all the pain Dr. Pangloss went through, doesn't mean that many others in the book haven't suffered that type of pain. Thats the irony, with which Voltaire makes his book satirical.