Candide Optimism Analysis

Voltaire, author of the short novel, Candide, employs exaggeration in order to satirize the optimistic thinking of pre-enlightenment philosophers. Voltaire’s cynic point of view is clear throughout the novel as unending horrors befall the main character, Candide. Pangloss, Candide’s mentor and teacher while he lived with his uncle in Westphalia, is the source of the novel’s main idea of optimism. On the other hand, Martin, his traveling partner later in the novel, represents everything that Pangloss doesn’t, therefore creating a fascinating parallel of pessimism and optimism, dark and light. Candide is initially described as a “gentle manner[ed]” (1) boy, yet his hardships began at a young age when his uncle “chased Candide from [his] castle with great kicks on the backside” (2). Nevertheless, Candide remains optimistic as he wanders around the world enduring hardship after hardship. Later readers are faced with the first example that the world cannot be sorted into good and bad when Bulgarian soldiers nurse Candide back to health, then force him to fight alongside them; later, the Bulgarians begin to torture Candide, before he is saved by their king who recognized that his …show more content…
The orator’s wife’s actions leave Candide doubtful of Pangloss’ teachings after she pours human feces on his head; however, as soon as someone is nice to him and takes him in, he believes Pangloss’ words once again. Candide is admittedly “infinitely more touched by [Jacques] extreme generosity” (6) than by the horrendous things that have been done to him. Candide’s selective vision and choice to ignore the bad and embrace the good is his weak spot. While Candide’s optimism protects him from having to face the true horrors of the world it also stops him from realizing what is truly happening to him and therefore tapers his ability to fight back and get out of the endless horrible situations that seem to follow him