The Life of Candide - Literature review Example

Introduction The life of Candide, in the story, highlights the changes in perception and view of life. He wasbrought up with a Pangloss philosophy. Despite the existence of the philosophy, Candide character illustrates ignorance to the philosophy. The name Candide is in the book satirically to illustrate the fun of human idiocy and stupidity. The life of Candide depicts the quote of Martin perfectly with several challenges in his life and experiences making the story effective. With a defined focus, the story explores the life situations and elaborates the state of life and humanity. Humanity is by the environment to which they live in; thus the behavior of Candide is a product of environment. The success of the whole story illustrates the power of the environment on shaping behavior. Martin states that life is a convulsion of misery and lethargy of boredom (Voltaire, Candide 289). The story is based on two people one with a pessimistic view while the other is optimistic. Candide is optimistic at the beginning is optimistic of the view develops the story line with utmost clarity. However, Martin belief of line as journey comprising of convulsion of misery and boredom is in the story clearly. The behavior of Candide changes, from a humble young man focused on acquiring wealth, to a man who is unsatisfied and suffering from boredom and misery (Voltaire and Wootton, Candide: And Related Texts 45). Life from the perspective of Candide may be better if he marries the love of his life; Cunegonde, but because of his status in the society, he is not by the brother in law. In order to achieve the level desired by the brother in law. The outstanding issues are obtaining financial independence and accrue wealth. Convulsions of misery in the story Candide believes that with the wealth he can earn respect from the brother in law, but he does not achieve this at all. In fact, the brother in law; Baron does not approve of the relationship and leaves after witnessing the marriage of Cunegonde and Candide (Wheeler 45). Despite the hardships passed on the quest to marry the love of her life, it is evident that satisfaction could not be achieved illustrating the existence of misery in lives and boredom. Candide obtained wealth from Eldorado, but the wealth did not change is personality. Likewise, Candide did not achieve the satisfaction from the wealth. The desire for wealth is a convulsion that when achieved does not guarantee satisfaction. The inability to achieve satisfaction in life is to convulsion by Martin. The uncontrolled desire to achieve something occurring suddenly and may end abruptly (Jordan 134). According to the life of Candide, the convulsions vary in strength and nature. Baron does not want his sister to marry a commoner. The perception does not change even after Candide rescues him. The sticking to his view indicates the strong believe that Candide cannot offer the best to his sister. Several events highlight the concept shared by Martin. Martin is pessimistic and argues that life gives a change of two issues namely; convulsion of misery and boredom. The rapid meeting of problems according to Martin is a convulsion of misery. The life of Candide is with misery and problems thus proving the belief of martin. Candide’s life illustrates sporadic events of misery. The conception and birth of Candide are by how he is in the castle. He is an illegitimate child brought up in the German barons home (Voltaire, Candide 145). A relationship with the daughter of the baron leads to expulsion from the castle. He later joins the Burglar camp, but a brief walk to lead to flogging. A travel to Holland reunites him with Pangloss. Pangloss was his teacher, but at the reunion he is a beggar illustrating the convulsion of misery. In Holland, Candide finds the same treatment as in Germany. His teacher Pangloss is hanged while Candide is again indicating the misery. Cunegonde is a sex slave showing the misery existing in the life. Despite rescuing Cunegonde, the journey to Buenos Aires creates a new challenge for Candide. He loses the love of his life to Don Fernando and the pursuant from Portugal make his life miserable. The run for freedom continues as Candide flees to territory controlled by the Jesuits with a Valet called Cacambo. The commander of the Jesuit group is Baron the brother to Cunegonde. Despite the time elapse, Baron does not approve the marriage between Cunegonde and Candide. Candide, in turn, stabs him to death and escapes to land of the big lugs, a group of cannibal humans. The difficulty of the actions undertaken illustrates the level of misery within the lives of the main characters. The visit to Eldorado creates an opportunity to acquire wealth but still the wealth does not offer the required satisfaction illustrating the concept of Martin of the convulsion of misery. The fortune obtained from Eldorado opens a new life, but with the same challenges as before (Voltaire, Candide 45). The social elites met in Paris manage to take some of the acquired wealth. The desire to marry Cunegonde drives Candide to Venice where he carries out his long standing dream of marrying Cunegonde, but at the time she is old and worn out after the life journey. The marriage to Cunegonde does not facilitate achievement of satisfaction leading to the development of desire to do something else. The final action is to join the elementary farming life with a lot of dedication to work. The last action let peace prevails in the situation, and satisfaction is for the main character. From the story line, the events indicate the nature of humanity and the power of events in shaping the lives of characters. The life of Candide is with misery that follow him wherever he goes making his life challenging and filled with sorrow. The success in life is a product of accepting boredom in the farmland thus allowing of the perfect end of the story. Despite the climax ending, the life of Candide is with the problems that are not easily. Consequently, the problems tend to outweigh the pleasurable things that happen to him thus illustrating the concept of misery presented by Martin. Martin presents the negative events and occurrences as a convulsion of misery which is true in the sense that he addresses the issues affecting the life of Candide (Cooksey 167). Lethargy of boredom Martin argues that while not in confrontation, humans live in lethargy of boredom which is a state of inactivity or silence. From the book, several issues can be highlighted as factors that led to dissatisfaction of Candide and the resultant effect of the whole situation is peace. After a prolonged adventure in several countries, Candide marries Cunegonde and settles down as a farmer a life of hard work and boredom. The significance of the challenges is in the concluding chapters of the book creating a dramatic twist from the convulsions of misery to boredom and simplicity. The support of Martin’s philosophy is evident in the life experiences of the character. At the old age, Candide and Cunegonde live on the farm as a strong shift from the initial desire to have wealth and gain status in the society. From the life of Candide, one vital issue that stands out is the dissatisfaction in life (Jordan 67). Humanity struggle to achieve several issues, but once achieved, they still do not achieve satisfaction. Regardless of the situation, humanity does not achieve success if their lives are not with contentment. The seeking for approval from others creates a serious problem of misery because it is hard to impress everyone. For the case of Candide, Baron views him as a commoner even after struggling to acquire wealth. Despite the changes in life, Baron doesnot approve of Cunegonde’s marriage to Candide illustrating the power of perception and myopic approach to life. According to martin the scenes of inactivity are as a result of boredom in humans’ life as such humanity is with two issues misery and boredom. The reasoning of Martin is a pessimistic view that is throughout the story by the negative events that happen to Candide (Wheeler 98). However, several issues existed in the society that lead to twists in the whole story such as injustice and mystery death and resurrection of the various characters in the story. Conclusion The story of Candide depicts the idea of Martin in a wide perspective on the events and actions of the main characters. The main characters experience different level of misery as well as boredom in the story. Humanity is faced with several challenges in a bid to achieve satisfaction. However, satisfaction cannot be obtained in all the situation. From the story, it is evident that satisfaction can be obtained in ordinary things and not complex life. The ending of the story depicts the ease of achieving satisfaction through simplicity and living an elementary life. The success of simplicity is based on living a basic life. Despite obtaining wealth, Candide does not get satisfaction until meeting the farmers who teaches him the basics of life and allows for the development of a new perspective about living (Cooksey 156). Works Cited Cooksey, Thomas L. Masterpieces of Philosophical Literature. New York: Greenwood Publishing, 2006. Print. Jordan, Karin. The Quick Theory Reference Guide: A Resource of Expert and Novice Mental Health Professionals. New York: Nova Publishers, 2008. Print. Voltaire and David Wootton. Candide: And Related Texts. Paris: Hackett Publishing, 2000. Print Voltaire. Candide. Paris: NuVision Publications, LLC, 2007. Print. Wheeler, Gordon. Beyond Individualism: Toward a New Understanding of Self, Relationship, & Experience. London: Routledge, 2000. Print. Read More