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Candide: Difference between revisions
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The Folly of Optimism is a recurring theme throughout the novel. By most definitions, optimism is a positive outlook on life and situations, assuming there are good times to come even in the darkest of hours. However, through this novel, optimism is at times not seen as a beneficial outlook. According to Candide himself, optimism "is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell" (Voltaire 410). Optimism is seen as a slight sign of insanity, a trait that causes a person to constantly suffer in the mere hopes that troubled times will one day turn around. | The Folly of Optimism is a recurring theme throughout the novel. By most definitions, optimism is a positive outlook on life and situations, assuming there are good times to come even in the darkest of hours. However, through this novel, optimism is at times not seen as a beneficial outlook. According to Candide himself, optimism "is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell" (Voltaire 410). Optimism is seen as a slight sign of insanity, a trait that causes a person to constantly suffer in the mere hopes that troubled times will one day turn around. | ||
The old woman is a prime example. Through all her hardships, all her torturous sufferings, she carried on; a glimmer of hope inside her that all hope is not lost. In telling her story, she talks of an optimistic outlook, of her own optimism; "A hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but I always loved life more. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts; is anything more stupid than choosing to carry a burden that really one wants to cast on the ground" (Voltaire 396). | The old woman is a prime example. Through all her hardships, all her torturous sufferings, she carried on; a glimmer of hope inside her that all hope is not lost. In telling her story, she talks of an optimistic outlook, of her own optimism; "A hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but I always loved life more. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts; is anything more stupid than choosing to carry a burden that really one wants to cast on the ground" (Voltaire 396). | ||
Candide is another example. He went through some hardships as well. Candide says "The enormous riches which this rascal had stolen were sunk beside him in the sea, and nothing was saved but a sheep." He was talking about the man who had robbed him of his possessions. He said very optimistic things about the fate of this man and the sheep that was his was saved. | |||
Although their optimism is the main reason for their survival and ability to continue on through their sufferings, the characters view their optimism as one of the main causes for those sufferings they must go through. | Although their optimism is the main reason for their survival and ability to continue on through their sufferings, the characters view their optimism as one of the main causes for those sufferings they must go through. | ||