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Candide By Voltaire

My book report is on Candide by Voltaire and consists

of 326 pages. Voltaire's Candide is the story of an

innocent man's experiences in a mad and evil world,

and his struggle to achieve happiness without having

to work and taking the easy way out of all situations.

Everyone has to work and eventually they will achieve

happiness and joy but in Candide's case, after a long

and difficult struggle in which Candide is forced to

overcome misfortune to find happiness, he concludes

that all is not that easy and that he must work in

order to find even a small amount of pleasure in life.

        Candide grows up in the Castle of Westphalia

and is taught by the learned philosopher, Dr.

Pangloss.   Candide is abruptly exiled from the castle

when found kissing the Baron's daughter,

Cunegonde.   Devastated by the separation from

Cunegonde, his true love, Candide sets out to

different

places in the hope of finding her and achieving total

happiness.   On his journey, he faces a number of

misfortunes, among them being tortured during army

training, yet he continues to believe that there is a

"cause and effect" for everything.   Candide is

reunited with Cunegonde, and regains a life of

prosperity,

but soon all is taken away, including his beloved

Cunegonde.   He travels on, and years later he finds

her

again, but she is now fat and ugly.   His wealth is all

gone and so is his love for the Baron's daughter.  

Throughout Candide, we see how accepting situations

and not trying to change or overcome obstacles

can be damaging.   Life is full of struggles, but it

would be nonproductive if people passively accepted

whatever fate had in store for them, shrugging off

their personal responsibility.   Voltaire believes that



people should not allow themselves to be victims.   He

sneers at naive, accepting types, informing us

that people must work to reach their utopia (Bottiglia

93).

        In Candide, reality and "the real world" are

portrayed as...