Candide Faints and Faints Again

So I’ve read a good part of Candide and I must say that it’s actually an interesting book. I laughed a lot and it’s probably a good thing that my roommate was not in the room with me because I do believe that she would have killed me. I think what really makes this book so intriguing is the fact that it feels so exaggerated. I especially liked the part on page 29 when Pangloss is telling Candide of Cunegonde’s death. It says in the top paragraph, “At these words Candide fainted,” then a few paragraphs down it says, “At this tale Candide fainted once more.” I was laughing so hard that I completely forgot that Pangloss was telling Candide that Cunegonde had been raped and murdered. Voltaire has such a cynical, sarcastic way of writing that it actually is more interesting to me then other books that I have read. My mind is not exactly forming complete thoughts on Candide yet because I haven’t read the whole book yet, but I feel that the exaggerations are really good at hiding the actual somber tones of some of the story.

This book reminds me of the Mel Brooks parody film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. There is a scene in the movie when Robin of Loxley comes home and he finds that his home has been taken and the only person there is his “loyal, blind servant, Blinkin’.” Blinkin tells Robin that his family has been killed and he goes on to tell Robin that his dog was run over by a carriage, his goldfish was eaten by the cat, and his cat choked on the goldfish. This scene came to my mind when Pangloss tells Candide about Cunegonde’s death. There was so much humor implied in it that it actually covered up the sadness of both Cunegonde’s death and the death of Robin’s whole family, including his pets. Maybe I’m looking at all of this the wrong way, but this is what I have so far.

P.S. Commented on Katelyn’s post.