Candide Essay, Research Paper

Book Review # 1

C A N D I D E b y : V O L T A I R E

(FORMALISM )

Voltaire’s CANDIDE is a story about a man who was in search of true

happiness and who was in a journey that proves that not all is for the best. He grew up

in castle of Westphalia , but was exiled when found kissing the baron’s daughter.

That was where his misfortunes began,among them was when he was tortured during

An army training, when his philosopher was hanged in an autoda’fe,when he rescued

his true love from the hands of the Inquisitor and the Jew ,when the Anabaptist James

and his friend died during the quakes in Lisbon ,and when he realized that a nation ,in

order to be happy, should be secluded from the rest of the world,despite of these? he

still believed that there is a “cause and effect” for everything!At this point,we would

still find him struggling and fighting in hope that he and Cunegonde would still be

together.He started to witness the cruelty of life.There were a lot of times that he

wanted to give up?but the only thing that kept him alive was the hope that things

will get better. As Dr.Pangloss would always say,”Everything was made for a purpose,

all is necessary for the BEST purpose”.The theme of this book is that no one should be

a victim?in life we know that there are struggles and obstacles that SHOULD be

overcomed and that not everything should be passively accepted?Voltaire’s initiates

the idea that people should work to make their happiness.

Voltaire as the narrator of the story was also able to criticize some of

the present people during his times.He did this by using their names or siting similar

situations that happened in real life. Because of this he was able to come up with such

marvelous characters that was able to contribute a great deal to Candide’s journey.

Dr.Pangloss..the greatest philosopher of all time as his tutor.Lady Cunegonde as the

apple of his eye.The old woman who was said to be the daughter of Pope X. Cacambo

..his faithful servant.Baron..as the brother of his beloved.Martin as his valet and who

accompanied him through Venice.And lastly,this poor turkish farmer whom he meets,

and allows Candide to realize that all he needs to be happy is a garden that he could

build his life around and that he was right not to lose hope.

In the end the reader might think that Candide was happy?Yes..he was

reunited with his teacher and was married to his true love Cunegonde.But he was not

happy,he no longer loves her and he doesn’t believe in the principles of his teacher

anymore.This book had so many unnecessary scenes in the story that wasn’t really

needed at all. It travelled from places to places allowing the same things to happen

again?and again?there were so many characters involved but only few were really

significant?It’s quite dragging because you have this feeling that you know

what will happen next.Another bad point of this book is the ending part.The climax

was so high already,as a reader you will be looking for something, but instead it ends

with a garden scene,it was quite symbolic but it wasn’t satisfying.The only message

here is we shouldn’t hope for the best but we should strive for it. It was skillfully

written but,it’s not complete?it shouldn’t've ended that way.