A man, Candide, and his trials in 17th/18th century Europe. He's kicked out of his house, kidnapped and abused by the Bulgarian army, saved by an Anabaptist, whipped for "causing" the Lisbon earthquake, runs off to Buenos Aires as a Spanish captain (he's German), almost eaten by the natives, finds paradise then leaves, is robbed several times, is forced to marry the most beautiful woman in the world who became quite hideous, all the while staying optimistic.

The satirical and philosophical aspects. I also liked some of the real historical events that the author included in it.

Having to figure out how to pronounce all those French words that I don't understand! Also, there were a lot of coincidences that were just very...coincidental...making it seem very planned out and fictional, and less realistic.

Well, I first wanted to NOT write a paper comparing and contrasting this to the Communist Manefeso (I'm sorry, but they really have very little in common).

Mad at a lot of people, compassionate for others, and completely confirmed the disgust I often feel for mankind.

as I said, was an Enlightenment thinker (ie, 1600s). He spent many of his days locked up in the Bastille or visiting the Prussian king (Fredrick) at the time. He lived in Switzerland, too, right next to the French border, so he could cross to Switzerland if he got into any trouble in France (which he often did, as the King and the rest of the aristocracy did not appreciate his satirism of them).

It really gives insight on life. It was probably more profound at the time it was first written, but it still applies today, especially about optimism and work ethic.

Really, Candide is a parody on the faults of being too optomistic. It also was meant to pinpoint the various faults of Voltaire's contemporary society-such as the French consmen, the Spanish Inquisition, and Dutch settlers in the New World. There really were no targets left uncriticised, including the Roman Catholic Church, Jesuits, Russians, Arabs, Africans (in Morrocco), Brits, and God knows who else. I also thought it very interesting that the South American paradise was very much like Thomas More's Utopia, but then again, Voltaire's favourite people to poke fun at were the English.

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Created Jun 20, 2002 at 11:25pm • Submit your own review...