FREE ESSAY ON CANDIDE

CANDIDE

Candide
(Journal)
Character: Candide
Candide seemed to be a very naive person, but he wasn't what you would call a bad person.
What I don't understand is how he was casted out from a fine castle, and he was basically
forgotten about. Even though Candide and Cunegonde were caught being intimate whith each
other, was this worth his emancipation? And what was so unique about the differences of
Candide's seventy-one quarterings to Cunegonde's seventy-two quarterings. Does it really
make that much of a difference?
An issue that I cam still trying to deal with, is why Candide was treated so badly in
many of the places he visited. For one example, is when Candide was amongst the Bulgars.
At first, he was a hero and then before you knew it, he was being flogged because he
dedided to walk around on his own two legs. I feel as if the Bulgars had duped Candide.
My reason being is because since he was given money, he was now their property. Also, he
was considered a Bulwark and he was now even a part of their army too. Another example is
in the town of Lisbon. To what magnitude of deception was it worth for Candide's
whipping? Just for listening with an air of approval? This is quite bizarre! My third and
last example is the brother of Cunegonde who was the commander. Here, the author takes us
back to the, "quarterings." This really must have had a great significant value,
especially if Cunegonde had one more quartering than Candide. And even though Candide
saved Cunegonde out of the arms of an inquisitor and a Jew, it still wasn't good enough.
Candide seems to get or aquire the bad ends of the stick. And that is why he is naive in
one way. He is a rather kind hearted person, but the chips are always down in his favor.
Candide, being naive, brings me to other envisions in his life. One wxample is that
Candide thought his way of life existed wxactly the same as if he were still in
Westphalia. One parable is when Candide had shot the two monekeys who were chasing two
girls and were snapping at their buttocks. It seemed as if he was astonished and
dumbfounded when he had learned that the monkeys were the lovers of these two girls. He
was totally in awe. Another parable is when he reached the country of Eldorado. Even
though when Candide tried to return the children's quoits (gold) to the schoolmaster; and
when the schoolmaster tossed them back on the ground, Candide should have known that they
did not have any significance to the natives there if they were left lying around. This
was rather amusing to me when Candide and Cacambo tried to pay for their dinner with the
children quoits that they had picked up earlier. They seemed to be very bewildered when
the hosts were laughing at them and told them that they basically meant nothing to them.
This is the point where Candide finally realizes that he isn't in his "World" anymore,
and he makes the best of it.
This story of Candide was interesting to me, and I saw Candide himself as not a bad
person. His edges just needed to be sharpened a little. Though he killed three people, it
was done for justifiable cause, and he finally got his reward in the end; the gold in
which he deserved.