All Is Not For The Best Essays -- essays research papers fc

"All is Not for the Best" 10-K Candide Voltaires Candide isthe story of an innocent mans experiences in a mad and evil dry land, his struggle to survive in that world, and his convey toultimately come to terms with it. All wad experience the excitement of life and essential overcome obstacles, both naturaland man-made, in club to eventually achieve happiness. Inlife, "man must set a medium between what Martin (scholarand companion to Candide) calls the "convulsions ofanxiety" and the "lethargy of boredom"" (Richter 137). Aftera long and difficult struggle in which Candide is forced toovercome adventure to find happiness, he concludes that allis not well (as he has previously been taught by his tutor, Dr.Pangloss), and that he must work in order to find even asmall amount of pleasure in life. Candide grows up in theCastle of Westphalia and is taught by the learnedphilosopher, Dr. Pangloss. Candide is abruptly exiled fromthe castle when found k issing the Barons daughter,Cunegonde. Devastated by the separation from Cunegonde,his true love, Candide sets out to different places in the hopeof finding her and achieving total happiness. On his journey,he faces a scrap of misfortunes, among them beingtortured during army training, yet he continues to believe that on that point is a "cause and effect" for everything. Candide isreunited with Cunegonde, and regains a life of prosperity, nevertheless short all is taken away, including his beloved Cunegonde.He travels on, and years later he finds her again, but she isnow fat and ugly. His wealth is all gone and so is his love forthe Barons daughter. Throughout Candide, we see howaccepting situations and not trying to transpose or overcomeobstacles can be damaging. Life is full of struggles, but itwould be nonproductive if people passively acceptedwhatever plenty had in store for them, shrugging off theirpersonal responsibility. Voltaire believes that people shouldnot wai ve themselves to be victims. He sneers at naive,accepting types, informing us that people must work toreach their utopia (Bottiglia 93). In Candide, reality and "thereal world" are portrayed as being disappointing. Within theBarons castle, Candide is able to unfold a Utopian life. Afterhis banishment, though, he recognizes the evil of the world,see... ...appiness. Hebelieves, in his optimistic way, that he get out find Cunegonde,his true love, and Dr. Pangloss, his mentor, and all will bewell. When Candide is reunited with both he realizes that hewas right not to suffer hope. In essence, it was Candidesoptimism that keeps him from a state of total dejection,maintaining his sanity during troubled times. Candideeventually achieves happiness with his friends in their simple,yet full, lives. The books ending affirms Voltaires moral thatone must work to attain satisfaction. Work helps Candideovercome his tragedies and enables him to live peacefullyand in contentment. The mess age of Candide is "Dontrationalize, but work Dont utopianize, but improve. Wemust cultivate our induce garden, for no one is going to do itfor us" (Richter 161). Works Cited Bottiglia, William."Candides Garden." Voltaire A Collection of CriticalEssays. New Jersey Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Richter,Peyton. Voltaire. Boston Twayne Publishers, 1980.Tsanoff, Radoslav. Voltaires Candide and the Critics.California Wadsworth publish Company, Inc., 1966.Voltaire. Candide. New York Viking Publishers, 1976.