The End

What a story! Candide is full of drama, humor, tragedy, romance, murder, philosophy and mockery. An exaggeration of everything through an exceptional class humor, I enjoyed noticing the target of mockery in the novel, and picturing to myself the scenes and characters. I laughed out loud in many occasions, my brother would ask me from across the room what was I laughing at, and I would answer, the stupidity of the story. Every event was exaggerated. Every character was a mockery of a real person or persons in life. Voltaire makes fun of the high aristocracy a lot. Right from the very beginning I noticed that he had that specific target. He mentions Governors, Barons, Priests, Inquisitors, and Kings among many others, and plots them with hyperbole and irony. It is a criticism of the high class people, and how foolish it actually is.

In between all the funny things and the satirical writing, there was some real philosophical analysis in the story. Maybe not in comparison to what is actually philosophy, but I managed to get some quote that could be useful in life. For example, in page 93, Candide’s friend Martin was talking about the evil and good forced to Candide, “I have scarcely seen a town which does not seek for the ruin of a neighboring town, nor a family that does not wish to exterminate another family. You will find that the weak always detest the strong and cringe before them, and that the strong treat them like so many sheep to be sold for their meal and wool.” When I read this, I did not find the humorous part of it, I took it very seriously. It is true what he is stating, in our evil world we are seeking for the bad to others in order for us to have the best. If we could care more about others then everybody would be having good things. My aunt always tells me that “the best is the enemy of the good”, if you seek for the best the good is nothing because it will never be enough. The good becomes the weak, and the best becomes the strong. In our world the best, the strong, will eventually fall while the good, or the weak can always improve.

When Candide was stolen, the thief was defeated by a Spaniard, and Candide says, “You observe,’ said Candide to Martin, ‘that crime is always punished. That rogue Dutch captain has had the fate he deserved.” (pg.93) I think that we do always get the fate we deserve, I deeply believe in karma, even though sometime in life it was defraud me, I think that we get what we earn, from our actions. If we do wrong, something bad or unfortunate will come to us, and vice versa. That’s why I act as cautious as I can, to deserve the good.

“But what was the world created for?’ said Candide. ‘To drive us mad,’ replied Martin.” (pg. 95) I could not agree more. Maybe not the world, but yes life. Life is there to drive us mad. Mad about living, mad about loving, mad about feeling.
Candide describes very well what we have unfortunately become in these lines, “Do you think,’ said Candide, ‘ that men have always massacred each other, as they do to-day, that they have always been false, cozening, faithless, ungrateful, thieving, weak, inconstant, mean-spirited, envious, greedy, drunken, miserly, ambitious, bloody, slanderous, debauched, fanatic, hypocritical and stupid?’” (pg. 96) Yes, it is a little exaggerated, but mostly true. We have always been like that, there is an evil part in every single one of us, every individual has acted wrongly in some way. Some more that others, but I am certain that everybody has done something wrong. It is human nature. There is absolutely nothing we can do about it. We were born that way. The only problem is that, we are supposed to learn from it. Many never realized they could have known better.

Voltaire wraps the whole story with this theory, “When man was placed in the Garden of Eden, he was put there ‘to dress it and keep it’, to work, in fact; which proves that man was not born to an easy life.” (pg. 143) Candide’s journey all over the world, all the calamities and challenges he finds in his way, is because “man was not born to an easy life.” We are not supposed to have it all figured out. We are trusted to work it out, to make the best of it and struggle along. If not, why do we live for?