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... Jensen
Fordham University
10/28/2003
Optimism and Pessimism in Voltaire’s Candide
The novel Candide, written by Voltaire, is about a young man who travels around the world and faces many difficulties. ... Despite Voltaire’s subtle over development of the ideal, the story itself seems to present a unique outlook on life. The key contrast in the story deals with preposterous ideas, which are taught to Candide about being optimistic in comparison to the reality viewed by the rest of the world.
The main theme presented throughout the novel is optimism. Out of every unfortunate situation in the story, Candide, the main character, has been instructed by his teacher that everything negative in this world happens as a means to improve society, "private misfortunes contribute to the general good, so that the more private misfortunes there are, the more we find that all is well" (Voltaire, p. ... Even during his traveling around the world, Candide sticks to the idea taught by his teacher, Pangloss, that everything happens for the best, which is one of the ridiculous ideas taught to him. ... Even in Candide’s life, he tried to put an optimistic twist on every misfortune that would happen to him. Because of that, it is obvious that Candide grows up learning that optimism is "the passion for maintaining that all is right when all goes wrong " (Voltaire, p. ... Voltaire cleverly thought that Pangloss would be an upbeat activist in the story because he refuses to accept the negative. However, he is also somewhat naïve by believing that he would make the world a better place by spreading out his theories of optimism.
Approximate Word count = 1298
Approximate Pages = 5.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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