Critique Book Review On Candide

Candide is one of the most renowned book from the enlightenment. The book was written by Voltaire also known as one of the best authors during the enlightenment. According to the guardian, “in Geneva, Paris and Amsterdam during January 1759, is when Voltaire wrote and published Candide.”, In my opinion the reason why we are analysing this due to the fact that Voltaire points out everything bad with the world except for what in Voltaire’s eyes is the most perfect place in his imagination. For example bartleby says

“Use of Satire to Target Religion, Military, and Optimism in Voltaire’s Candide In his work, Candide, Voltaire uses satire as a means of conveying his opinions about many aspects of European society in the eighteenth century. Voltaire successfully criticizes religion, the military, and the philosophy of optimism.”

The text shows what Voltaire was targeting in the book Candide. The book could help me understand how flawed the world was and how it could be better. Some practical information about the book is some things like when the Thieves Army rapes and kills all those women, which used to happen back then. Women were treated badly back in the day and events like that was not relevant or something that seemed like it needed to be stopped.

Candide wrote the book due to the fact of “Voltaire was a French writer, philosopher and one of the leaders of the Enlightenment movement. Voltaire wrote Candide using a lot of satire and irony to get his philosophical points across regarding the main theme of book, optimism.”, Candide as an enlightenment philosopher wanted to show the irony and satire while showing optimism at the same time, for an enlightenment author he was trying to criticize the world and show why the Enlightenment was relevant and should be enforced in the world for example in the book when Pangloss is first introduced he presents him like this “Master Pangloss taught the metaphysico–theologo–cosmolonigology.”, which metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology was Voltaire trying to tell people that other philosophers were just making up stuff and di so by making a wack topic. While the outcome was more of a comedic book than putting his point across it is still relevant to today. Candide was trying to persuade readers towards the Enlightenment and trying to show people why they should follow the world and also being comedic at the same time to entertain the reader. The intended reader at the team was people who were into comedy and also people who were maybe in for a change in the world. Voltaire probably was also aiming for other Enlightenment Philosophers to support what he was saying. The main message Candide puts out is around this “The central message Voltaire conveys in Candide is that all is not for ‘the best in the best of all possible worlds.’ The book satirizes and debunks that philosophy, which had gained traction in the mid-eighteenth century (when Voltaire wrote this work).” Candide tried putting out other popular philosophies also around this time. Candide was inspired by the Enlightenment to make the book because he wanted to make the Enlightenment put in action world wide. Voltaire’s point of view in the book was tilting towards supporting the enlightenment and the irony of the world and it helps me realize that no matter what the world will never be perfect even with places like Eldorado.

I would say that some of the key themes in the book would be Candide would be some things like when Candide was kicked out of the Dukes castle after kissing Miss Cunegonde. I would say another big theme was the the Thieves army raped all the women and found out that Miss Cunegonde was also. The next one would be Pangloss and Jacques and how Pangloss looked homeless. After that a big theme would be Candides time in Eldorado as a whole. After that the conversation with Martin is a theme that lets Candide realize that the world is dark. I would say the next theme is when Candide meets Miss Cunegonde but she wasn’t as pretty as she used to. The final and biggest theme would probably be the farm as a whole. For example Miss Cunegonde was someone who was brought up throughout the book and was Candide’s biggest objective and the farm represented something that showed that even though that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives, being separated for so long can change things. I feel that themes like Eldorado should be mentioned throughout the book because of how perfect it is. I feel that the meaning of Eldorado is more meaningful than Miss Cunegonde, who is mentioned throughout the book. Though Eldorado was a big impact on the book as a whole, I feel like it still deserved to be mentioned more.

The book at first seemed pretty gruesome and I didn’t think it could actually be funny but as it went on it made me laugh and make me really like the book as a whole. The book has a lot of meaning but at the same time makes you laugh, for example something that both had a meaning and was funny at points was Pangloss, Voltaire was trying to insult other philosophers who didn’t follow the enlightenment but also made you laugh at the same time just because how stupid he was compared to today’s knowledge. I feel like Voltaire fulfilled the comedic side but on the side of the meaning, it was meaningful but it definitely was not enough to derail big religions and beliefs like the Roman Catholic Church. The start of the book was action packed and there was tons of stuff to read and laugh at but I think near the end of the book around the area were they get the farm it started to get a bit boring still but it didn’t change my mind on the book because before that the book was really good. The book was really good and worth a read and in the future I may read it again.

The book helped me realize the reality of the world and how deep it was. For example parts like the conversation with Martin and how the thief army raped all those women, it showed me that how messed up the world was and showed how unequal it was but still the world today is messed up. As a scholar it helped me learn about the Enlightenment period. It helped me learn how it would be back then and realize everything back in the day and what an idea of a perfect society looked like. I would recommend this book to other students because it is a good read that I recommend that’s not just filled with information but is also funny. My perceptions of events have been altered, mostly when all the women got raped in killed. I knew that women weren’t equal but I didn’t know they were brutally killed like that.

Bibliography

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