Extra Credit Blog

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Something that really bothers me about Candide, is that no matter what happens to him, good or bad, he always takes what someone says to heart. Following Pangloss's philosophy he always believes that the only the best can come from any circumstance. He does not try to figure out his own thoughts about any sort of situation but just goes along with what Pangloss taught him because it has to be correct if someone else said it... right???? And for bad situations, Candide just turns down right miserable and melancholy. There is no middle ground where Candide just sits and ponders why life is the way that it is. Which could be Voltaire's point... Many people just take what others say to heart without trying to think things out for their own and to understand why they believe the things they believe. Questioning the ideas people have taught is good because then one can truly know what they believe. This act of questioning reminds me of Descartes and Kant. How they took everything they believed into question and wanted to know more. Candide is the opposite of that.

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  1. Will BradyOctober 2, 2017 at 9:27 PM

    There are two reactions to have during trials: you can throw out everything you believed in as worthless, or you can cling to your beliefs as the only thing you have left regardless of whether they make sense. Candide seems to take the second course of action, though for all his clinging despair still makes his grip slide on occasion. Since Voltaire created a world where life is just an endless string of pointless cruelties, I can understand why our hero would prefer to believe that things happen for a reason rather than consign himself to utter meaninglessness. I'm sure he'd also rather not betray the memory of his beloved teacher by discarding everything the presumed-late Pangloss ever taught him.

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