Candide Essay, Research Paper

CANDIDE

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 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.