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Lit 2013

Pangloss's Philosophy in Candide

Throughout the book Pangloss has this ongoing philosophy that everything will always end wells and is for the best and that this world is the "best of all possible worlds" but throughout the book it proves that's likely not the case in almost every situation Candide gets him self into. Even at the end when you find out that Pangloss and the baron are actually still alive it still doesn't all seem exactly right. When Candide finally reunites with Cunagounde for good she has gotten old looking and ugly and even after all his adamant searching he debates even staying with her. Throughout the book after every horrible situation Candide gets into he usually miraculously escapes it as if some sort of fate is working with him to get him out of things. However when he finally escapes most perils he is so discontent and never satisfied that he's screws it up somehow and ends up in a worse situation than he was before. It's almost like karma is punishing him for his rash decisions like killing people on a whim with no thought about it. This ties into Pangloss's theories/attitude in that things in the end seem to find a way of working themselves out for Candide and yet he never seems satisfied and is always messing things up. In chapter 30 when he finally gets Cunagonde back she is ugly and he is only somewhat satisfied even after the giant trek to find her. And then when Pangloss and the Baron are found to be alive it seems like everything worked itself out like Pangloss's philosophy and yet after a while they all seem to not be satisfied with how things turn out. Even though the story often proves Pangloss's theory of everything turns out for the best it's ironic that the characters, when it does happen for them, don't seem to be satisfied with how things turn out, like there is always something better and they always screw up what they have to achieve it and the they just end up worse than where they were at before.

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