For Friday: Voltaire, Candide, Chs. 1-12 (pp.1-29)
REMEMBER: these questions are meant as a kind of guide to help you ease into the book and find ideas you might otherwise miss or ignore. Ideally, by answering two of the questions, you will be forced to consider not only what you read but why Voltaire wrote it. Don’t worry about being right or wrong; the important thing is simply to attempt an answer based on the ideas in the book. Even a “wrong” answer can help our class discussion on Friday. Respond in a short paragraph--at least a few sentences for each question you answer.
Answer TWO of the following--due in class on Friday or no later than 5pm:
Q1: Describe Dr. Pangloss’s philosophy as it appears throughout these chapters, notably in the beginning of the book and during the earthquake in Lisbon. Is Pangloss the voice of “reason” in the work (Voltaire’s voice, in other words), or is he an object of satire? Use a specific passage in the book for support.
Q2: The name “Candide” means “candid, honest, or open,” suggesting that Candide is an innocent soul who believes the best of people. How does Voltaire test Candide’s faith throughout these opening chapters? Do you feel he agrees with Candide that mankind is essentially good, despite a few “bad apples,” or does he think Candide is an idiot for holding such beliefs?
Q3: How does Voltaire criticize the Church in the passages about the Lisbon earthquake (which was a real event)? Do you think Voltaire is an atheist (as he was accused of being in his lifetime), or is he more critical of how religion is used by those in power? Discuss a specific passage in support of your reading.
Q4: At the end of the Old Woman’s Tale, she explains, “A hundred times I was upon the point of killing myself; but still I loved life. This ridiculous foible is perhaps one of our most fatal characteristics." What, after all her trials and misfortunes, do you think she “loves” about life? What can she still see that most people in her situation could not? Also, do you think Voltaire agrees with this statement—or is he satirizing the Old Woman’s stupidity?
QUESTION ONE:
ReplyDeletePangloss’s guiding belief is that, demonstrably, “That things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessarily for the best end.” He’s saying that everything exists to serve a purpose, and the right purpose. Living in a castle, serving a generous lord, the tutor may be excused for thinking his life is the result of a kind God. Sick and ruined with an STD, he may be commended for sticking by his “it was meant to be” philosophy. But it’s when he takes this philosophy and uses it to dismiss the suffering of others, particularly in Lisbon, that we see the coldness, the uselessness of such an attitude. Of course it’s a satire, and of course it’s Voltaire’s voice: he’s pointing out how frustrating it is when people gloss over cruelty as if it doesn’t exist, and by doing so make it worse—like how, after the earthquake, he cared more about his sermon than helping the injured Candide.
QUESTION TWO:
Voltaire puts Candide through every pain humanly possible within the first few chapters. Parental death, family betrayal, homelessness, kidnap, forced conscription to the army, whipping, imprisonment; starvation, loss of loved ones, shipwreck and near drowning, natural disasters…Through it all, Candide tries to hold on to the lesson of his tutor, Pangloss, which said that this is the best of all worlds. Or, if this one, the next. He’s portrayed as brave for doing this, and tragic during those moments when he struggles with the idea. He doesn’t take responsibility for his actions—for instance, when he kills the two men in the cottage. Candide assumed that because it would benefit him to do something, it should be done. I think Voltaire is demonstrating the foolishness of those who let the hope for an afterlife justify their refusal to make positive changes in this one
Great responses...I think Pangloss does believe his philosophy, but uses a certain blindness and cynicism to do so. He assumes that criminals are bad, that rich people are good, because it must be this way. He knows better, but is determined not to look too closely lest he stop believing. He represents the voice of society that believes in the gospel of wealth...until they get conned themselves! In a way, it's an entire novel about the con-artists who get rich on other people's misery, and the poor who are desperate not to believe they live in such a world.
ReplyDelete1. I believe that Pangloss is a satire of (the then and I'm sure now to a smaller extent) popular form of thought and justification bloated to an extreme, as is the way of satire. A form of thought that encourages the wildest leaps to justify how the world is. In particular, how certain higher parties (religious leaders and the government) decides life should be. Like how, when the ship was crashing and the Anabaptist was drowning and Pangloss states that Candide shouldn't help him because it's for the best. Or how Pangloss justifies the horrible circumstances at every turn with backwards logic. To be honest, I think that he's been following this logic for so long that even if he didn't originally believe it, he probably does by the time the book starts. It takes some serious dedication to thoroughly bullshit each and every situation like Pangloss does.
ReplyDelete4. If I was a betting lady, I'd say that the old woman is holding on for the sheer fact that she will never be able to guess what happens next. And probably a bit of spite too, like, "The Turks couldn't finish me off and neither will these idiots!". This whole book is like the movie Joe Dirt (where hapless man goes on a journey and encounters increasingly wild situations, though Joe Dirt is, admittedly, much more tame than Candide). What's going to happen next? No one has a single clue, but it's probably going to be brutal as hell. I can't say whether or not Voltaire thinks the old woman is stupid (though I find it a little convenient that her story is just like Candide's lady's story only 10 times worse. In every respect. Literally) but I'm fairly certain that her part in the story is like a jab at society. "You think you've got it bad? Let me tell you why I only have one buttcheek!" and the pissing contest she plays a part in concerning how bad their lives have been but somehow missing the whole point. It doesn't matter who's had it worse, it neither justifies bad behavior nor does it diminish the suffering of others. It's a bad situation, period! But if you're just focused on yourself, nothing will get better. Or I'm looking into this a bit too much, but that's probably the point.
Kenia Starry
Great responses! You're not looking into it too much...Voltaire wants you to read into life too much. Otherwise we think too little. :)
DeleteQ2: I find it interesting that Candide is given a name with a connotation of honesty or openness, yet his character is actually blind and constricted by narrow mindedness and false doctrine. His innocence seems to be a commentary on ignorance, as ignorance leads him to great misfortune in many cases. This blind faith, or ignorance is tested when Candide experiences terrible hardships and horrors. Although it seems he would learn that perhaps Pangloss's teaching was flawed, Candide remains extreme in his optimism and clings to this idea that “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” I think that Voltaire was asking people to examine the absurdity of certain beliefs, especially those that are absolute and seen as unquestionable.
ReplyDeleteQ3: I think Voltaire is critical of how those in power use religion to manipulate and control the masses. After the Lisbon earthquake, Candide asks the question, "If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others?" Poor Candide fails to fully realize that the evidence points to the fact that this is not the best of all possible worlds. Specifically, the world in which Candide lives is not as it was made. As Jacques, the anabaptist points out, "men have corrupted nature." Jacques points out that men made weapons, not God, and that men use these weapons to destroy themselves. The idea that the nose was made for spectacles shows the absurdity of those who think that the world is perfect and everything happens for a divine reason. Just as the nose was not made for spectacles, the earthquake was not a product of moral failure. And Voltaire seems to be saying that punishing and destroying life in an attempt to keep the earthquake from happening again, is as absurd as thinking that legs were made for pants.
Great responses! Yes, this book is a philosophical satire that asks "how do you know what you know? And do you know it because it's easy to know it--easy for you, but maybe not so easy for others?" Like when Candide is thankful he killed Cunegonde's brother since it saved him later...does that mean murder is 'good'? Not so good for Cunegonde's brother!
DeleteQ2: Candide personifies a juvenile sense of wonder and innocence that can usually only be found in children. Children aren't afraid to speak their minds and want to know the truth about everything. Adults on the other hand have lost that ability and aren't as apt to questions beliefs, laws, actions, and culture. Candide as he goes out into the world suffers so many hardships and learns about the terrible things that have happened to the people in his life. However, I also think Candide personifies human nature. We see Candide's ignorance about religion, and how he is indifferent about the entire institution (which reflects back to Voltaire's own opinions of religious dogma). Candide loses his innocence and wonder as he goes out into the world, much like any normal adult, though Candide witnesses horrors that most people could never imagine. After twelve chapters I think Candide has started to fray at the edges, and I can see him being a completely different person by the end of the story. He might even become a "bad" person. The important message that I assume Voltaire is trying to convey is that everyone, even someone as naive and childlike as Candide, is capable of great good and great evil.
ReplyDeleteQ3: Chapter 5 and 6 are striking for their portrayal of the 1755 Great Lisbon Earthquake in the Kingdom of Portugal which killed anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 people (considered one of the deadliest earthquakes in history). Candide is right in the middle of the destruction and death. He witnesses officials ordering survivors to be rounded up and burned so as to appease God and prevent another earthquake (and a 8.5-9.0 earthquake would have had hundreds of aftershocks). He is rounded up himself and flogged, and Pangloss, his teacher and someone whom he admires, is hanged. There is a passage which describes how Candide stands there among the carnage, death, and fire, covered in blood and utterly terrified. This is not the same Candide from chapter one. Voltaire would naturally project his views about religious dogma onto his character, being a deist critical of the institution of religion, but that isn't to say that he is portraying the Catholic Church (who ordered the burning's) as evil. Many lackeys of the church were horrible people and used their beliefs not just to their advantage but because they were stupid enough to believe that burning innocent people would prevent another earthquake from occurring. This has occurred all throughout history, in Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition, in Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials, in England during the reign of Catholic queen "Bloody" Mary. All Voltaire is trying to do is shed some light on the dark, blood-stained past of the Catholic Church.
Wonderful responses! Very detailed and insightful! As you suggest, everyone has the potential of being corrupted by the 'evil' of this world, even someone as good-hearted as Candide. Which makes me wonder, is Martin the Manichean ultimately right? Will his philosophy win the day?
DeleteQ1: Pangloss’s philosophy is that everything was made for something better or a higher purpose, in the book he says, It is proved," he used to say, "that things cannot be otherwise than they are; for since everything was made for a purpose it follows that everything is made for the best purpose.” Throughout the first few chapters Voltaire shows Candide this. Nothing is safe from Voltaire in this novel not power, wealth, love, philosophy, religion, education, or, most significantly, optimism.
ReplyDeleteQ2: In chapter 2 of Candide, he is in the next town over and runs into the Bulgarian soldiers and is taken. He makes the mistake of going for a walk the next morning, and is accused of wanting to leave. They gave him a choice between getting whipped or getting shot. Choosing the first, he ends up begging for the second once they begin. The King of the Bulgarians pardons him after learning that he is a philosophy student, and therefore ignorant about the world. Candide an adventure story that follows the antics of a wide-eyed, innocent boy who only sees the good in people. Finally after everything he see and encounters throughout the book he understand that not everyone is good but he still has hope for mankind.
Bailey Copeland
Great responses!
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