This book report is on the book Candide by the French author Voltaire also known as Francois Marie Arouet. Voltaire lived in a couple countries in Europe from 1694 A.D. to 1778 A.D. and wrote Candide in the last twenty years of his life. This book is a fiction book published in 1759 about the story and experiences of a man named Candide who was from Westphalia. He looks at his experiences through out the book in an optimistic way and the main theme is that everything on earth happens for the better. .
In my report I will be giving an outline of Voltaire's Candide and adding my opinion as well as comparing it with general thought of religious ideology in relation to Voltaire's way of expressing this ideology in the book.
The beginning of the book begins in Westphalia where Candide lives. The characters introduced in the beginning are Pangloss, Candide's personal tutor, stated to be the greatest philosopher in the area, the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, which was the owner of the estate and one of the most influential noblemen of Westphalia, and Cunegonde the daughter of the Baroness, which leads to Candide's expulsion from the Baron's estate by means of a kiss between Cunegonde and Candide. Pangloss taught many things to Candide, but most importantly he taught Candide his optimism and all things happen for the better. .
In chapters two through six Candide goes through the process of being a soldier in the Bulgar's army during the time they were at war with the Abarians. Candide's recruitment was at an Inn of the neighboring town of Westphalia, where two men buy him food after he went through a complicated travel. He attempts to leave the military training and gets caught and chooses torture over death. The king of the Bulgars pardons his near death torture and then joins the fighting of the war. The glory of war was then described by Voltaire in the third chapter by showing the brutality of European war, cities burnt to ashes and so forth.