Soon after Candide had bought Cacambo to be his servant in Cadiz, Candide struggles to decide whether or not to leave Cunegonde with the governor while Cacambo attempts to assuage Candide of his fears regarding the fate of his ladylove. Cacambo recommends that Candide fight for the Jesuits, for his pedigree as a captain of the Bulgar army would allow him the opportunity to amass wealth and power, as well as the chance for fresh sights and adventures. When Candide asks Cacambo if he had been to Paraguay before, Cacambo replies in the affirmative and gives an account of the way the Jesuits govern Paraguay and deal with the Europeans. Cacambo says that the reverend fathers govern justly and without fault, yet everything that is written seems to be complete and utter sarcasm, as it seems that Voltaire finds the Jesuit governance to be filled with hypocritical and arrogant fools. This passage addresses the absurdity of …show more content…
The tone of this entire passage is overwhelmingly mocking and sarcastic. Cacambo remarks, “it’s a wonderful system” before he goes on to describe a regime of oppression and duplicitous war mongering. Cacambo describes the absolute magnitude of the land in each of the provinces in a way that would make one believe that the people at least own pieces of the land to farm, work, or live off of, but he instead reveals that the Jesuits “own the whole lot” while the people have absolutely nothing, This statement by Cacambo reveals the unevenness in the distribution of wealth of this society that leads to the possible corruption of many Jesuits, as well as indicates the oppression of the people wrought by the Jesuits. Voltaire