Where Will Candide End Up?

As I had mentioned in my earlier blogs everything that happens in “Candide” is so unexpected!  I am really enjoying this book because it is not like everything that I have read in the past, things happen out of nowhere and Voltaire writes them as if they were the most normal things in the world. For example, “We’ll have Jesuit for dinner.” That was said by the Oreillons and it didn’t have much emphasis when it was said. It is as if everything that had great importance in the book wasn’t highlighted and that is what makes it even more interesting.

 

Voltaire uses satire to its maximum and beyond, everything that happens is absurd. The sheep’s of poor Candide were stolen but out of the blue one of them appeared after the boat had sank. Now Candide finally had his money back. Also how Candide has reunited with three important people, Pangloss, Lady Cunegonde and Lady Cunegonde´s brother is the weirdest part.  I would have never imagined that this would happen, I thought that the story would be of Candide making a new life, never did I think it was to recuperate a person from the old one.

There are times when I start to get frustrated because of all the obstacles that Candide bumps into because it is as if bad luck was around him. Finally when he remeets with people, they are taken away, for example Cacambo he was his servant, who stayed by his side in Eldorado but they were separated since Candide wasn’t permitted to go to Buenos Aires. But even though it seems as if bad luck went behind him, something god always turned out of it. It is Pangloss´s theory that even though he might no be conscious while doing so he is following it making everything better at the end. With his optimism he is able to make bad things into good ones. I hope that Candide will find Lady Cunegonde again and that all goes well for him but it wont be easy. This book has shown me that anything can happen and that the craziest thing is the one that should be expected. That is one of the main reasons of why I am enjoying “Candide” because it makes me start thinking of crazy ideas that might be the ones that happen. Voltaire had a crazy and very creative mind that doesn’t give me any idea of where Candide will end up. 

What Love Means to Candide

Love. That’s something that is around our lives whether we like it or not.  Some people look at is as if it was the only thing that mattered in life and others try to ignore it as if it didn’t exist. While reading Candide, there is the perfect example that Candide only lives for the love he has for Lady Cunegonde.

He has passed through so much but never gives up because he always fights to be reunited once again with Lady Cunegonde. She is the “love of his life” at the beginning of the book they were separated and I was sure that she was dead. Pangloss told Candide that she had been killed by the men that attacked her home and family. But so unexpectedly she was alive and they were both reunited. To escape their troubles they left and she ended up with the Governor of Buenos Aires, and he had to run. How crazy is that? After all they’ve been through she had to be with the governor or else they would be killed. Finally Candide met Cacambo and went all the way to Eldorado where they found themselves with great things that would make them rich. They stayed there a while and got diamonds and gold and left to harbour to go back for Lady Cunengonde now that they had money. When they arrived Candide wasn’t aloud to go to Buenos Airs so he sent Cacambo and he went to Venice. But his sheep were stolen and all of a sudden when another boat sank he found one of his sheep in the ocean. How lucky but extremely ridiculous is that? Now that he has once again his money he can go and look for his love.

Everything that he does is with the hope that he will meet again with Lady Cunegonde. I don’t know if everything is a foreshadow of what is going to happen next because although he does suffer great obstacles he always overcomes them and gets what he wants. Meeting once again with Pangloss and with Lady Cunegonde is a total surprise, but I can see that it might be by the effects that Pangloss´s philosophy taught Candide. Although there are times when Candide feels there is nothing else he can do there are always signs that he will surpass his troubles. Candides only motivation to keep on living is Lady Cunegonde so I hope that he will meet with her once again. As the story goes I find that there are two possibilities: Candide will reunite with Lady Cunegonde or something crazy and unexpected will happen as it has happened throughout the whole story. But nevertheless I am almost sure that he will reunite with his love because everything that he does is for the purpose of seeing her again and it would suck if this didn’t happen.

“Candide, however, had one great advantage over Martin, which was that he kept hoping to see Lady Cunegonde again, whereas Martin had nothing to hope for.” This demonstrates how Candide does love Lady Cunegonde and it’s as if his life didn’t mean anything without her. I hope he is able to marry her as he wishes, but at the same time I am nervous to find out what will happen next!

How to Look at Life?

Candide has been through so much throughout the story but he always finds his way out of his terrible moments. Pangloss, his great friend and philosopher taught him that one should always be optimistic no matter the circumstances. Pangloss would look at situations the way that normally people wouldn’t. For example when people were talking about the volcano that might erupt he said not to worry because "For it is impossible for things not to be where they are, because everything is for the best." Pg 35. I find it interesting that there was a chance that the volcano would explode but he was calm about the situation. Pangloss influenced so much Candide that I believe that is the reason why Candide has gotten so far. Since the moment Candide was kicked out of Lady Conegonde everything seemed bad for him, the earthquake, almost being sacrificed but also I realized that he has made it through okay. Just the fact that he reencountered with Pangloss and with Lady Conegonde, it is a good sign. 

Maybe that is what is missing in the world. Thanks to Pangloss´s philosophy of always being positive Candide is on a roll, but what would happen if all of us applied that same philosophy in our own lives? We would probably be better off. A bad situation will never change, but we can change the way we look at it. My mom always tells me that everything in life has a meaning and when I am going through difficult times she always tells me to stay positive. Even though it is something nice to hear it is hard to do, but when we do it, it starts changing the situation and what comes out of it. Because Candide was always positive good things started coming towards him. He was faced with terrible situations but because of his attitude towards them he was fine. 

I hope Candide continues with this philosophy because if he was able to escape from being killed, and saved from an earthquake he can overcome whatever. I use this philosophy when I am going to exams because I get very nervous, so I always say to myself that I am going to do fine because if I start saying that I don’t know anything I know ill do poorly. Staying optimistic relates to a phrase that my mom always tells me, "El poder de la palabra hablada" it means the power of the word spoken. What you say to yourself is what’s going to happen. Sp if we stay positive good things are going to happen to us just like Candide. In the moment it seems like it is the end of the world but at the end we understand why that happened and why it was the best thing that could have happened to us. 

Expect the Unexpected

At the beginning of the story I felt bad about Candide. He had fallen in love with Lady Conegonde just with one kiss and in seconds he was being kicked out (literally). He had past through terrible things, the earthquake, almost being sacrificed and the thought that Lady Conegonde was dead devastated him. When I reached the part when he reencounters with Lady Conegonde I couldn’t believe it. He had past through such terrible things that I never thought something to cheer him up would happen, especially because Pangloss death had been so sudden. 

When I read the title of Chapter VII, How an old woman took care of Candide, and how he found the lady he loved I though that in another of his adventures Candide would meet a woman that would make him get over of Lady Conegonde, but for my surprise it was her! The old lady that took care of him was very mysterious because she didn’t say much but when he got to Lady Conegonde´s house we understand why. When Candide and his love finally meet I couldn’t help myself to start reading faster because I wanted to know what was going to happen, and how on earth was Lady Conegonde alive. I though it was enough of a surprise that Pangloss was alive but no, this book is full of surprises. 

When I learned what had happened to her I didn’t know if to feel bad or good for her. She lost all of her family and although she was alive she would have to pass through all her days without them. Not only were they dead but also she had to see how they killed them. When the Bulgars got her they didn’t kill her but she was put in harsh conditions being a maid and later being sold. But even though she passed through all this she wasn’t so bad because she had almost her own house and lived most of the time by herself except when the two men would go and visit her. That is what I think is the worst of all, that although she seems to be alive she might as well be dead because she doesn’t control her life, her owners do. But at the same time it is great that she is alive because something more can happen between her and Candide. 

I finished reading when Don Issachar arrived at the house, I haven’t read further but I can’t wait! What will be his reaction with Candide? Will he get mad? Will he punish Lady Conegonde? Is it the last time Candide and Lady Conegonde will be together? Well this story has shown me that anything can happen. If I were Candide I would act something out, I would say that I was looking for a job and that I would be ready to serve Don Issachar with whatever he wanted, so he wouldn’t have to be separated from Lady Conegonde once more. This is a story that has love in it and I hope that the love that Candide and Lady Conegonde have towards each other can grow even more.  After all poor Candide has been through Voltaire should give him a break. 

Satire?

In class we started to read Candide by Voltaire. At first I felt a little scared to read it, because it is satire. It is something that I was never faced with before. As I started reading, it was difficult to understand when Voltaire was using elements of Satire, such as: irony, hyperbole, absurdity and the target. But as I started reading along I got the hang of it and enjoyed it because it was fun to see what would come up next. For example it was absurd that for there to be no more earthquakes the University of Coimbra said that they had to sacrifice people. Of course this wasn’t true, and right after the sacrificies there was an other earthquake. Also when Candide fainted in the barn, Pangloss spontaneously woke him up with sour vinegar that was lying there. Why would there be sour vinegar on a barn? That’s a pretty big coincidence.

The Hyperboles that I have found are weird but interesting. It makes it fun because as I am reading its something that stands out and it doesn’t let you daydream. For example, "Castle Thunder-ten-tronckh" pg 42 is not something we hear everyday. So when I read this I laughed because I found this name long and funny. 

Its cool to read something that I am not used to reading because this is a book that everything that is said cant be taken seriously. If you look at it as a literal work the book wouldn’t make sense but if you start playing with what the book is saying it starts to be fun because you don’t know what to expect. 

I love it when Voltaire starts using irony because it reminds me of my uncle, that there are times when what he says something you don’t know if what he’s saying is true or not. I remember that since I was a little kid every time he would say something it was ridiculous because I didn’t understand the meaning of what he wanted to say. As I started getting older I started to understand what was the meaning behind what he was saying, and I think that that is what is going to happen to me while reading this book. At first it was complicated to understand but as I am going through it I am getting the hang of it and hopefully at the end of the book ill be a pro at it. 

This book is like life, it’s always good to try out something new because we don’t know what to expect! Maybe I’ll like this book although it’s complicated to read and start reading more satire book, who knows! I guess I’ll have to wait and see until I finish it.