Candide, Of Optimism

I began to read this one night before bed as my roommate was busy in the bathroom doing whatever roommates do in the bathroom before bed. As I read, "My Lady Baroness weighed three hundred and fifty pounds, and consequently was a person of no small consideration.." I burst out into laughter. While this may not surprise some of you, my roommate was a little surprised by my outburst and when I read this to her she did not think it was quite as funny as I did.

I found this piece from cover to cover quite humorous. But I do believe that is a rather obvious statement without much deep honors thinking. So I am going to add to this when I become more enlightened.

In an atempt to come up with something deeper and more meaningful to blog about I researched other forms of satire that would lead me (hopefully) in the direction of deeper truth. I found a site full of fun current events with a satirical twist.

This lead me to thoughts about Candide's brief stint in the military, one of his first misfortunes. (after being kicked out of the baron's house). With the satrical news stories to inspire me I began to consider the negatives aspects of war. One of the most obvious examples of this was the point int the story when Candide has escaped from the Bulgarians. As he is traveling he notices the great carnage and devestation in cities of both sides. I think this points to the author's view of war. Most obviously, he attacks the optimistic philosophy with the contrast of war and its effects on people (as the whole book points to this idea), but also the futility of war which leads two groups to accomplish devestation.