When I read a
novel, the first thing I do is try to relate with one of the characters, trying
to find one that I can root for and consider to be the “good guy”. In this
novella, it would appear to be easy to attach myself to Candide, a man seemingly
fated to chase the love of his life forever with no luck. However, it really
bothered me how stupid and naïve Candide is throughout the story. At the
beginning, I really sympathized with him; he was kicked out of his home at a
young age, put through the hells of war, and then forced to hear about the brutal
murder of his soul mate. I even admired his positive demeanor, never giving up
and firmly standing by his faith that the world will be good to him in the end.
But at the point when he leaves Cunégonde in Buenos Aires is when I gave up on
him. In all honesty, I consider myself a pretty positive guy. But I know that
if I went through even half of the
troubles Candide did, I would be ready to give up. We’ve all loved someone or
something so much we feel like we can’t let it go, but eventually moving on may
be the best course of action. Candide’s stubbornness honestly annoyed to the
point of not being able to “root” for him anymore. Without a main character to
pull for, I found myself disinterested in the plot and felt the story getting
repetitive (i.e. he finds Cunégonde, loses her, goes through trials, rinse and
repeat). When at the end he finally gets the chance to marry her and she has
lost all her beauty, I wasn’t surprised at all. In most cases, when one
desire’s something for so long, the image of the dream becomes so vivid that
reality is not nearly as good. In this case, I think Candide pursued Cunégonde
for too long to ever have a chance at a happy ending, as the constant thoughts
of her beauty and grace masked the reality of aging, travel, and turmoil. I
promise I am a very positive and sympathetic guy, but in the end Candide was
much too naïve and for me to support him in his endeavors, and I believe at some point one must reflect on their decisions and really asses whether the goal is really worth it. In the end, it might have been better just to give up and start over.
