Assorted Gardens

An odd novel indeed: Candide.  A book that was boring at times.  A book that was obscure at times.   A book that ended in a way that left me felling…pissed.  Whatever happened to the philosopher’s ambition to show the world his belief in good?  Some would say it never existed. 

How dare he title the last chapter: “conclusion!”  For God’s sake!  If you’re writing a satirical novel, you can’t just suddenly decide to end the book with a “conclusion!”  The hypocrite that is Voltaire already had the nerve to revive main characters time and time again for no apparent reason, now he decided to simply end the novel.   

“The chief executioner of the Holy inquisition was a subdeacon, and a genius at burning people, but he was not accustomed to hanging.” Pg 134

So not only does he put all religious institutions on a skewer throughout the entire novel, now he says the chief is incompetent.  The miraculous feat that occurred to Pangloss wasn’t a miracle.  He was just lucky that the church’s inept and clumsy executioner couldn’t handle burning the victim because it was raining.

All criticism aside, I took notice on the way that Voltaire plays with the concept of gardens in the final pages of the novel.

“’I also know,’ said Candide, ‘that we must go and work in the garden.’

’You are quite right,’ said Pangloss.  ‘When man was placed in the Garden of Eden, he was put there “to dress it and to keep it”, to work, in fact; which proves that man was not born to an easy life.’”  Pg 143

Dr. Pangloss, the wise and majestic Dr. Pangloss believes in the Old Testaments’ creation tale.  Wow.  Where did this come from? Out of context this excerpt is not very relevant to the ending of the book.  But given that Candide and his philosopher were simply talking, with no regard for the creation of man mentioned in the Book of Genesis, this really comes out of the blue.  I think the mentioning of Adam’s garden is a way to make the ending obscure, that is to say, there is room for different interpretations.  Voltaire mentions gardens figuratively, it actually has no relation to Genesis or the Bible.  Furthermore, he means to say that mankind has the hard task of taking care of the garden that is earth.  Not in an environmental way.  On the other hand, the priority is politics and knowledge.

I am angry with the author.  He says it all but doesn’t say anything.  Candide was confusing, yes, alas, so it goes…

A Hyperbolic Episode

Candide never disappoints.  By adding relevance to Candide's travels, the author keeps the reader entertained.  Furthermore, he is doing something that is always nice to see.  Voltaire is exposing both sides of philosophy, or both sides of good and evil.

"...he found he could not do without Martin, his philosopher." pg. 96

Clearly, Candide has forgotten Pangloss, and replaced his so-called mentor with this pessimistic companion.  It must have been easy, since Martin is the polar opposite of Dr. Pangloss.

"’Do you think,’ said Candide, ‘that men have always massacred each other, as they do to-day, that they have always been false, cozening, faithless, ungrateful, thieving, weak, inconstant, mean-spirited, envious, greedy, drunken, miserly, ambitious, bloody, slanderous, debouched, fanatic, hypocritical, and stupid?’

‘Do you think,’ said Martin, ‘that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they could find them?’" pg. 96

First of all, it seems odd that Voltaire apparently picked up a thesaurus, figuratively of course, and put down all the synonyms of scoundrel that he found, in order to generalize human behavior. It's even more absurd, that after an entire novel that persuades the reader to reform and that intends to show the reader the negative aspects of society, the philosopher that wrote it seems to think that human nature will never change.  After such a big fuss regarding God and religion, how could Voltaire even insinuate that human behavior can be compared directly to that of a bird? 

On a different note, Candide's plot has lost all relevance to the point the author is trying to make. This can be proven in the discussion that Martin and Candide have out at sea, whilst discussing the misfortunes of war, a battle starts right in front of them. There is no logical structure that the plot follows. The coincidence, if you will, seems so improbable that it’s as if the entire episode is hyperbolic. 

What about the ending of the novel?  That will be discussed in my next post.  For now, Candide is en route to an obscure yet definitive ending. At least I hope it is.

  

Optimism

In K Billy’s Super Sounds of the 70’s a certain blogger mentioned that Candide had taken a turn for the worst.  The opposite is true in the part of the novel that I have just analyzed.  Voltaire has finally decided to take a leap of faith, as did Candide and Cacambo, to vary from the structure he had been using.  He has switched to a form of adventurous narratives that not only entertain the reader, they show a new, more direct satirical style.  

Of course, Voltaire never misses a chance to lash out at religion.  “A Jesuit sprinkled holy water on us.  It was salt water, and a few drops of the disgusting stuff got into my eyes.” Pg. 65   The irony lies in the fact that it is a Jesuit telling the story.  Yet, he refers to holy water as “the disgusting stuff”.  Furthermore, Voltaire added a hint of sweetness to the salty tale that engulfs Cunegonde’s family.  The Jesuits took the bullet in this part of the novel, as Voltaire uses the story to depict them as horrible creatures that everybody hates and some want to eat.

The adventure: Candide and Cacambo are forced to run away from the Jesuits’ territory after the killing of Cunegonde’s brother.  After that, they embark upon a quest towards Cayenne, where they supposedly will find honorable Frenchmen.  “They had a rough idea which direction to take, but they found formidable obstacles everywhere in the shape of mountains, rivers, precipices, brigands, and savages.”  Pg. 73   Candide and Cacambo are forced to go through horrible endeavors in order to find shelter.  An annex to this excerpt would say some thing along the lines of: ever since Candide was born, he had trudged along only to finally arrive at the ideal place.  Is that what Voltaire would say?  No.  My proposed annexation doesn’t go along with the author’s approach towards writing.  It does however, go along with the plot and the pitiable life that Candide has had.

Finally, when the adventure is arriving at its climax, Voltaire lets fly an idea that I have suspected for some time now. 

“’What Country can this be?’ said one to the other.  ‘It must be unknown to the rest of the world, because everything is so different from what we are used to.  It is probably the country where all goes well: for there must obviously be some such place.  And whatever professor Pangloss might say, I often noticed that all went badly in all Westphalia.’”  Pg. 77  

Voltaire used sixteen chapters to focus on the worst places in the world, and the despicable aristocracy and religious institutions.  In Chapter seventeen he describes the country of Eldorado. He surprises the readers with a utopia.  Voltaire takes power as Candide and describes the perfect place.  It is pleasing to see that Voltaire/Candide sounds optimistic when he says that there must be a place where all goes well.  I hope this isn’t just a period of respite for Candide/Voltaire, as I hope that the book ends on a positive note.  

Experiencing Satirical Enlightment

Have you ever realized that when discussing something that you've never experienced it seems simple?  But after you actually do it, you have a newfound respect for the degree of difficulty that it entails.  This has happened to me with Satire.  In previous posts, I may have described Voltaire's use of this literary genre as confusing or obscure.  After writing my own satirical essay, I realized that finding a balance between an outrageous hyperbole and a subtle message is key to success in satirical writing.  For that reason, this blog will be dedicated to textual examples of masterful use of irony, hyperbole, or absurdity in Candide.

"While each passenger was telling his story the ship was making good progress, and at last reached Buenos Ayres, where Cunegonde, Captain Candide, and the old woman landed and went to wait upon the governor, Don Fernando d'Ibaraa y Figueroa y Mascarenes, y Lampourdos y Souza, a noble business man with a degree of pride appropriate to one who bore so many names." p.58

In this except Candide achieves several underlying messages through Satire. The first, and perhaps the most obvious, is the amount of names that the governor bears.  The hyperbole present represents Spaniards, and the aristocratic nature they must have in their blood in order to be considered respectable.  The second is more general.  Voltaire has demonstrated that he despises everything that relates to religious institutions and aristocratic social structures.  When he says that this man is as respectable as the amount of names he has, he's mocking him.  Think of it as the opposite of what he wrote.  In truth, Voltaire respected those who made of themselves what they were, philosophers like himself.

"'Madam,' said the old woman to Cunégonde, ‘you have seventy-two quarterings to your coat of arms but not a farthing to your name; you have only yourself to blame if you do not become the wife of the greatest nobleman in South America with the most handsome of moustaches.”  Pg 59

The wise Old Woman knows that in order to make herself valuable and guarantee wealth in the future is marriage. By marrying a man with such an honorable reputation, she will be safe.  There is a correlation between this episode of the story and the Old Woman's dreadful life.  When the Old Woman started her story, one of the first thing she mentioned is that she is "...the daughter of Pope Urban X and the princess of Palestrina.*" The footnote is the important part!  Voltaire wants to play with the condemnable Catholic Church.  He wants to emphasize that the Old Woman is of the purest blood. How does this relate to the excerpt from page 59?  In both points Voltaire wants to note that the fact that you are of a rich family doesn’t guarantee wealth.  It is contradictory however, that the Old Woman thinks that marrying into aristocracy is better than being born into it. 

“The reverend fathers own the whole lot, and the people own nothing: that’s what I call a masterpiece of reason and justice.  I don’t think I have ever seen such godlike creatures as the reverend fathers.” Pg. 62

With this excerpt I find an extended hyperbole.  Voltaire is known to be against religious dogma and to oppose most, if not all, religious institutions.  Some might have thought that the Jesuits would be left out of this satirical massacre because of…pity?  Don’t be naïve.  Voltaire went all out when saying that they are reason and justice.  This, according to his philosophy, couldn’t be further from the truth.  He also plays with word choice in the second sentence.  Godlike reverends?  No coincidence.  I have come to realize that satire is based on details, one of the reasons why Voltaire is praised in this genre: word choice.  

K Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's

Purity and truthfulness have lost themselves.  Candide (candid) has taken a turn for the worst.  After some chapters that used humor and jocose satire, the novel has become dark.  What does Voltaire want to accomplish with this radical change? 

“In the end I saw my mother and all our Italian ladies torn limb from limb, slashed, and massacred by the monsters who fought them.”

Notice how Voltaire chooses the words wisely.  He says, “In the end” as if to say that after that nothing else is relevant.  The story could be stopped with the conclusion of this bloody episode.  Furthermore, he makes the reader visualize this horrific act by describing it with pinpoint accuracy. 

Some might say that Voltaire is taking his turn to criticize women.  He has joined the club of those who think they are inferior.  This may seem true, but it isn’t what he wanted to accomplish.  We must remember that at the time when the book was written, women were not the activists that they are today.  In some cases, they were treated poorly.  So this isn’t what Voltaire wanted to portray.  This can be proven, or disproven, with the following description of the Old Woman.  “White as a lily, and as firmly and elegantly molded as the Venus de Medici’s.”  He is objectifying women as sexual elements, but he praises them.  He describes the woman with class, pun intended, and compares them to highly esteemed things.  The first is a lily, which we know, is, by nature, beautiful.  The second is the Venus de Medici’s, a sculpture that depicts the Greek goddess of love: Aphrodite.  Do you still think he thinks they're rubbish?

Voltaire is starting to remind me of Quentin Tarantino.  Both of them boast a satirical style, they’re not afraid of being crude and graphic, and they always want to leave the reader/viewer with an obscure message.  In reference to that second point, about the crudity, Voltaire’s depiction of the slaughter of women is as gruesome as the ear-cutting scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. 

I look forward to finding out where this spectacle will take the plot of the book.  Moreover, I look forward to a scene where Voltaire goes all out and empowers a character to depict exactly what he thinks of the world.  

(viewer discretion is advised)

A Love-Hate Relationship

Voltaire is a mysterious man.   His works will be forever interpreted, yet they will never be fully understood.  Why?  Satire.  By hiding himself under the coat of this literary genre, he ensure that no one will ever be completely sure of the message that he wanted to convey.  This makes the analysis of his work, Candide, all the more difficult.  Reader, know that the mistakes I make in my humble attempt to decipher this undecipherable cipher have philosophy in mind.  Because of this an honorable blogger like myself will never yield to public flagellation because of in your face interpretations or insults towards other people that have previously attempted to shed light on this subject.

Voltaire chose Lisbon as the earthquakes' target because he knew that adding a real event to his work would mystify readers even more.  For those of you who don’t know, a devastating earthquake hit Lisbon four years before the publication of this work.  He chose this city to take the fall as the pit that represents social decadence in his work. 

“After the earthquake, which had destroyed three-fourths of the city of Lisbon, the sages of that country could think of no means more effectual to preserve the kingdom from utter ruin than to entertain the people with an auto-da-fe…”

Sages says Voltaire, as if he weren’t one.  He uses sarcasm when he says that they want to preserve the kingdom, and they do that by entertaining the people, that seems... logical.  The entire metaphor refers to religion and the fact that Voltaire opposed the church and the aristocracy. He especially disliked their ways of justice, such as the auto-da-fe during the inquisition. 

Voltaire seems to like personifications. He seems to like anything tricky. Among them, is that of philosophers.  It isn’t exactly a personification, but Voltaire does portray philosophers as if they were worthy of being personified. The hanging of Pangloss is narrated as if a dog was killed, and although some might regret his going, the world will not miss him.  Voltaire objectifies his profession. He probably does this to add yet another hyperbole to the work. 

“A Bulgarian captain came in, and saw me weltering in my blood, and the soldier still as busy as if no one had been present.” 

Cunegonde isn’t just narrating her story; she is filling the shoes of Voltaire.  By doing this she also assigns other characters of fiction roles as major stereotypes that Voltaire despises.  Case and point.  When she says that a Bulgarian captain saw her being raped, he is referring to all the times that the authority will look the other way when something terrible is being imposed onto the people.  That is why the people are weltering in blood, they are being confused and harmed by the aristocracy! In all of this, the middleman, the soldier in this case, knows that no one will reprimand him for his actions, so he continues.  Many people might take note to the phrase: "'Oh, how I should like to see it!'”  Furthermore, they might proceed to comment about how Voltaire treats women as inferior creatures, but that is irrelevant.  At the time when this satire was written, they were inferior!  Nevertheless, men loved them and enjoyed their company, including Voltaire.  The message this satirical work wants to convey is not one of sexual equality, but one of social equality.  

Candid? No. Candide.

Candid: Truthful or straightforward.   The novel’s main character and the title of the work hint that the book will be forthright in all aspects.  However, this satirical piece is anything but candid. 

Full of subliminal messages and conversations that need every bit of attention in order to avoid completely misunderstanding the intentions of the author, the satirical elements in Candide can be overwhelming.

“What has happened to Lady Cunégonde, that pearl among women, the masterpiece of nature?” pg. 28

The way that Candide describes his loved one stands out.  When he says that she is a pearl among women, he is also making a reference to her personality.  Pearls’ connotation involves purity. By using that word in description of a woman, one can assume that she is loyal and honest.  Funnily enough, the reader will learn that Cunégonde had been raped and murdered. Ironic. As a reader, I feel stunted by the syntax of the novel, as I feel that given the plot’s mysterious nature, every single comma or capitalized word has a message that I need to take into account when analyzing my progress.  

“'Your Excellency must excuse me,’ said Pangloss: ‘Free Will is consistent with Absolute Necessity, for it was ordained that we should be free.  For the Will that is Determined…'” Pg. 35

It seems as if one should be laughing, but come on! The book is written by a philosopher! Who would be candid enough to laugh when what can be perceived as jocose is really a world-famous satirical masterpiece?  In the excerpt above Voltaire plays with Capitalization and the power that it gives the actual sentence.  By capitalizing the words Free Will and Absolute Necessity, he makes a connection that would otherwise not exist.  He strengthens the bond between Free Will, the fact that society overlooks its importance, and the element of Necessity that comes to mind when addressing such issues.  Furthermore, by ending the conversation with an ellipsis, the author implies that the reader should fill in the blank.  But what ending is appropriate?

Voltaire has made it clear that his satire plays with the idea of morality in society.  This can be seen throughout the entire episode that describes the conversation before the storm and James’ death.  It had been established that James portrays Voltaire’s opinion when James and the one-eyed man discuss the morality of man and the effects of society on what is considered acceptable behavior.  Later, the author emphasizes this point by describing the sailor’s near death experience.  James is described as “worthy” when he decides to save the sailor.  This one was “falling, he was caught on a piece of broken mast and hung dangling over the ship’s side.” (pg. 32)  This not only describes the literal, it is an analogy with reference to the deterioration of society.   Society is hanging on a broken mast, struggling to endure, requiring that the worthy sacrifice themselves to ensure survival, and then not even noticing what the world has lost.  Will this continue?