Naive Candide

After leaving his fellow servant to wait for him in Venice, he encountered a compromising situation. He had to reach Venice somehow, therefore he had to find a ship that would take him there. He first tried to negotiate with a Dutch pirate, which asked for much more money tan it was worth to go to take someone to Venice. Each time he rose the price, Candide just gave him more money without questioning anything. He put his two sheep on board, and when he was in a rowing boat following the ship to get on board himself, the Dutch pirate took off. Candide was outraged by this, since he never thought a man would do that. He went to a judge but the judge also asked for a lot of money just to listen to Candide. Candide never suspected that he was being cheated on, being too naive and thinking that no man would be so cruel to trick him. Well, he was wrong. And he still had to find a way to get to Venice. Finally, he found a French ship, that would actually take him to Venice. Candide did not want to go alone, so after offering money for someone who would keep him company, he and Martin set sail to Venice.

Martin had the opposite philosophy to the one Pangloss had. Martin believed that the world was created to drive men crazy and that it was made by the force of evil, not the force of good. He had gone through so much that he couldn't have believed something else. He was robbed by his wife, left by his daughter, and beaten by his son. Martin believed that men were evil and that they have always been that way. They argued all the way to Venice, and were still arguing when they got to Bordeaux.

While they are at the ship, some gunfire is heard. Two ships were battling very close to them, so they were supposed to be scared. Were they? Voltaire says: "... but the wind brought them both so close to the French ship, that the passengers had the pleasure of watching the fight in comfort". (Page 93)That was very ironic, since the point wasn't to fight the fight in comfort, it was to prevent being killed by one of those two ships! I mean, who would want to be so close to war itself. After one ship won, one of his sheep was swimming towards the French ship. It was the only survivor. Candide was very happy to have one of his sheep back, and told Martin to see how crime is punished. Martin responded that the Dutch pirate had been punished, but the other 100 men were also punished and did nothing. He was right. The only conclusion I can draw from that is that the world is not just. Justice does not exist in the world, but one can make his own destiny and be successful with what he has. One can always be happy, no matter what. Sometime the day comes for some of us, but in the end we all die. Ones will be punished by the actions of others, and that is inevitable. I think that Pangloss and Martin are both to extreme, well I think the world is right in the middle. Some things happen for the best, while others make no sense and are unjust. That is just how it is, and there is nothing to do about it. It's all a matter of perception, therefore no belief is wrong but some to me are a bit too extreme.