All For The Best..

The book Candide is a satire written by Voltaire, it is a hilarious book I really enjoyed. After finding myself laughing alone at home I thought about the genius Voltaire is and how he mocked everyone in his society while writing a great and entertaining novel. This novel has many targets many of which include philosophers such as Pangloss, the aristocracy such as Count Pococurante, and just mocking things like death, war, and the idea of happiness and mostly "all is for the best" although the characters were stabbed, hanged, robbed, etc. 

First making fun of philosophers by constantly mentioning Pangloss and what he would have done, and his way of seeing things when the reader is actually thinking: What kind of moron thinks that after going through such tragedies all is for the best? Clearly nobody in our society today. Voltaire also mocks the aristocracy through out the book, a great example is Count Pococurante, this man is a Venetian noble who does not appreciate anything, a perfect statement of a satirical tone is the following: "You must admit he is the happiest man alive, because he is superior to everything he possesses." (Pg. 123) 

I also think he makes fun of the idea of death and the pursuit of happiness. He mocks death by having everyone dyeing and then bringing them back to life, like most of the characters in the book.  And I think one of his targets is the idea or the pursuit of happiness, there is a point in the book were Martin and Candide make bets and go around asking people about their lives, and Candide always looses because they don't manage to find people that are actually happy with their lives, they ask nobleman and poor people and after finding everyones life was miserable Candide finally gives up saying "There is nobody so happy as I shall be when I see Lady Cunegode again." (Pg. 124) This phrase is another example of satire because when Candide actually finds Cunegode, she is a horrible woman that Candide would actually rather not marry although he does, and his destiny winds up with him working in a garden.

I think the book is great and I would absolutely recommend it to somebody who enjoys laughing, and although I read some grotesque parts in the book I think "all is for the best." 

Dead or Alive?

Candide is a book full of violence were people often die in different and grotesque ways, we find at the begining of the book that Pacquette is dead later on we find out that Lady Cunegode is dead, as well as his brother the baron, and Candides dear philosopher Pangloss. These characters are killed under critical and grotesque circumstances and one would never think that we would hear from them again, I mean when somebody is dead that's the way its going to be, they are not coming back to life again. One would never imagine that people would survive after being hanged, disembowled, stabbed by a sword, and at the bord of disection! And all the characters previously mentioned went through all those things and we find them to be alive at the end. I think Voltaire is mocking the reader. Every time I read somebody revived I thought to myself is Voltaire actually serious? Well offcourse he is not, Candide is a satire and when Voltaire brings all this people back to life he is mocking the concept of death and how "poorly" people killed each other because they all revived! Whether it was because of a wet rope or something else they are all alive, I mean seriously dead or alive?

This concept or theme of people dyeing and actually being alive at the end is also present in the movie Sweeney Todd, we think that the main characters wife is dead all the time and at the end we find out she never died she is actually an old women we constantly see through out the movie, and we discover its her when she is actually dead. I think that movie could also be some sort of a satire because we never notice that the old lady is actually the wife, the director of the movie could be mocking the viewers and the actual man who was incapable of recognizing his beloved wife.

The Golden One

Candide reaches a city were people treat precious stones such as diamonds and gold like dirt and soil, this city is called El Dorado. There are many legends concerning El Dorado, most during the time of the spanish inquisition were people told legends about a place were gold was seen everywere and were a king covered himself with golden dust.
This is the place that candide reached in the book, I think Voltaire is mocking the spanish conquistadors. He thinks as well as I do that the mere thought of such a perfect city was extemely impossible, so he decides to include this in the book to make fun of the greed people experienced when they thought this city actually existed, and that Gonzalo Pizarro went on an actual expedition to find it. It is ridicoulous what some people will do for gold and the extremities they will reach. This is why he constantly mentions El Dorado through out the book using a satirical tone.
I also thought about how he describes the place, were nobody cares about wealth, and where luxuries are seen everywhere. I think by this he is actually mocking the whole concepts of our society meaning wealth, power, war, etc. An old man quotes "So far we have been sheltered from the greed of European nations, who have quite irrational lust for the pebbles and dirt found in our soil, and would kill every man of us to get old of them" (Pg. 79) That quote summarizes my point, people today pay ridicoulous amounts of money for diamonds and gold when they are just pebbles and rocks found in our soil, and it is true that many man actually would kill to get hold of them. I think Voltaire is making fun of society, its actually stupid that human beings are so materialistic to the point that shiny stones can make someone feel superior or even inferior, and they can cause one to have certain "power".

Silence

" "

Myths of Evolution (Improved)

In Candide chapter 16 they mention “two girls and two monkeys, and what happened to them amongst the savage Oreillons.” Candide saw two naked girls tripping across a meadow while two monkeys followed them “nibbling their buttocks.” (Pg. 69) He thought the girls were in danger so he shot both monkeys. After killing the monkeys he found out  they were actually the ladies lovers. Candide thinks Cacambo is actually mocking him but Cacambo says the following “Why should you find it so strange that in some parts of the world monkeys obtain ladies favours? They are partly human, just as I am partly Spanish.” (Pg. 70) As I read this I was amazed, it was so absurd so random but then again its satire.

There are many myths of evolution, the most famous one is that we actually have evolved and our descendants are monkeys. Recent studies have proved that according to the theory of evolution humans and monkeys have a common ancestry, so Candide is not so far of from the truth. I like comparing this myths of evolution to the book because maybe Voltaire is also mocking  humans in a sense that we are still animals like the famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used to say we are still animals the only thing that has changed is that we are in some terms more advanced. Or maybe he is saying men where such brutes at the time that anyone could have mistaken them for monkeys even Candide. 

 At first I found it awkward that monkeys were the ladies lovers, although Candide also has a satire tone so it could be a hyperbole. You could interpret that in many ways seeing that it is a satire it has all its characteristics; it is a hyperbole because I have heard myths of zoophilia although I think its a hyperbole because there are messed up people in the world but I think saying the monkeys were actually the woman's lovers is a total exaggeration!  I think he is mocking people that actually suffer from zoophilia and he is mocking that women were so desperate in those days because men where total brutes that their only option was recurring to monkeys, how absurd can that actually be? But at the same time its also ironic how so many men fought over women till the point of actually killing them and here are two ladies running after monkeys. I think Voltaire is a genius he meets all the expectative in an entertaining novel, and he links together many topics, all concerning satire making it hilarious and entertaining.

VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igq_niFmXNs

Wounds

Excruciating pain, I see it coming towards me, silence. Red.

Darkness

Rope, a chair, "clung," darkness.

Run

I hear screaming, I run. Faster, back and forth. I see it run after it, I kick. More screaming.

Pick a Target

Candide has many of the characteristics of a satire, or a satyr play. And one of the characteristics of satire is it always has a target. I think some of the targets mentioned in Candide are, monarchy, the authorities, pangloss therefore the philoshophers of the time, war aristocracy and the whole idea of romance. But what is the actual target of the play?
Pick a target...

Vocabulary Chapter XIII

Auto-da-fe:
The burning to death of heretics (as during the Spanish Inquisition)

Sagacious:
Perspicacious: acutely insightful and wise; "much too perspicacious to be taken in by such a spurious argument"; "observant and thoughtful, he was ...
skillful in statecraft or management; "an astute and sagacious statesman"

Harangued:
A monologue (or monolog) is an extended uninterrupted speech by a character in a drama. The character may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud ...

Quarterings:
The division of an escutcheon containing different coats of arms into four or more compartments A quarter of an escutcheon or the coat of arms on it2 : a line of usually noble or distinguished ancestry

Farthing:
A former British bronze coin worth a quarter of a penny

Magistrate:
A lay judge or civil authority who administers the law (especially one who conducts a court dealing with minor offenses)

Haste:
The act of moving hurriedly and in a careless manner

The Ugly Truth

"Imagine the situation of a Pope's daughter aged fifteen, who in three months had undergone poverty and slavery, had been raped nearly every day, had seen her mother cut into four pieces, had undergone hunger and war, and was now dying of the plague in Algiers." (Ch. 12)

It shows us the brutality that took place during the time. Voltaire writes this book with a satire tone meaning he is actually mocking war but in many books, even history text books the truth is sometimes omitted so things don’t sound as dreadful as they really are. History always tries to hide the brutality of events, for example the "Masacre de las Bananeras" in Colombia. This was a massive event during the time of all the revolutionary events that were going on during the time. This was when workers asked for a raise to the UFC (united fruit company) and instead of getting a raise they all got killed. The UFC said there were 9 dead people, and newspaper said there were only 32 but today we know there were approximately 3,000 workers that were killed. I think that sometimes the ugly truth is better than a pretty lie.

The quote at the beginning of the entry could easily be the story of a poor Colombian girl, off course with changes, for example it could look like this: “A poor girl aged fifteen, who in three months had undergone poverty and had been raped various times, had seen her mother shot and had undergone hunger, and was now dyeing of disease.” The ugly truth is always staring us in the face but we decide to look away. We read Candide thinking Voltaire is a brute when we experience the same kind of violence decades later.