By just looking at the title and cover page of Candide, I immediately believed that I wasn’t going to like it. As I started reading the first chapters I realized that the love story of Candide and Lady Cunégonde was going to be interesting and like any other. Still, this wasn’t what caught my attention, but what it did was the different form of writing of Voltaire. We can see how he uses the four elements of satire: irony, hyperbole, absurdity, and target since the beginning of the book. This makes a greater impact on the reader since you are never sure if the author is being sarcastic or serious. Even though this hooks more the reader, it also creates more confusion.
“Since the King was a man of great insight, he recognized from what he was told about Candide that here was a young philosopher utterly ignorant of the way of the world, and granted him a pardon, an exercise of mercy which will be praised in every newspaper and in every age.” (Pg. 24)
The first thought that came to my mind after reading this sentence was that the King was a good man and was willing to forgive and give second chances. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Voltaire was being sarcastic, since after a few days Candide was sent into battle. So the King saved his life, but once again took it away the moment he enter war with King of the Abars. After all, it wasn’t an action of good deed because he knew that he needed men for the battle and that he will eventually die. This is a good example of how he uses irony to capture the audience, but once again he is playing with the odds because he doesn’t know if the readers are going to get the message he was sending or the complete opposite. I believe this is a risk an author has to take if he/she wants to write with satire.
“All things are necessarily connected and arranged for the best.” (Pg. 26) From my understanding from this sentence is that everything happens for a reason, and once something has happened it can’t be changed. In a way I agree because things happen for a reason, but if somehow you don’t like the result, I believe that you should try to change it. One shouldn’t give up on something just because “it was meant to be”, if you believe there’s a better way to arrange the things you should try to change it. Candide could fight and try to win Lady Cunégonde back, instead of being punished for something he believed was true love, but still he though that they were separated for the best and that there was nothing he could do to win her back. Is this true? Is he ever going to see the women he loves again? Is he going to give up on true love?
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