It was difficult for me to come up with something to write about. I thought Candide was hilarious. Perhaps I just need to be more enlightened... Like Olsen, I'd have to say that Martin is my favorite character.
'But what was this world created for?' said Candide.
'To drive us mad,' replied Martin.
Martin is such a pessimist. It cracks me up. For some reason, I find his views more tolerable than those of Pangloss or Candide--their beliefs are so frustratingly dumb it makes me cringe.
I love at the end when Pangloss and Candide ask the dervish why man was made, why there was evil, and what there was to be done about it.
'Keep your mouth shut!' said the dervish.
Once again, I am reminded of Job. Basically, God's answer is 'who do you think you are to correct me?' Which, in a way, resembles what the dervish told Pangloss and Candide in his responses. Yet still Pangloss acts a fool and thinks that he is entitled to a discussion. He's so dumb! In reality, though, I think everyone is like this. We want an answer from God, but the answer we get often isn't good enough for us and we want more. What do we get then? A door slammed in our face.
--Danielle
Commented on Lucy Beth's.
I thought Candide was super funny too. It's taken forever to get through reading it though, just cause it confuses me half the time. But I have to say that Candide's optimism is more humorous to me than Martin's pessimism. Maybe I just like the naive nature behind a man that also seems so smart, it's a strange contradiction.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love your reference to Job. Partially because I feel like in this class we relate everything back to Job. But it's also a good point. Who are we to question God at all?