The novel Candide, by Voltaire is a novel about a man by the name of Candide and his struggles with realizing the harsh truths of life. Candide is the son of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh's sister. With Candide's family lived Panglos, a man that Candide often looked to for insight and understanding. One of Panglos many great beleifs is that all is for the best and that good can be found in everything. Candide fell in love with a girl by the name of Lady Cunegonde who is described as having extravagant beauty. Early into the novel Candide is driven out of his home and left was left out in the cold where he almost died. This is where the story really begins to pick up. Panglos and Candide travel all over the world in search of Lady Cunegonde and happiness. They go through many obstacles such as thinking Panglos was dead for a large part of the novel, Candide loses contact with his beloved Cunegonde and almost kills her brother, Candide travels to El Dorado where he finds a large group of content people who give him lots of money and jewels that are of no value to the town. The story comes to an end when Candide, Panglos, Lady Cunegonde and the old woman have all gone through horrible misfortunes but once again end up together. Candide realizes that Panglos was correct in his assumption that good can come of everything. Candide realizes also that happiness is achieved through hard work and that we must not complain but simply "go and work in the garden."(p144).
In my opinion. One of the major weaknesses of this novel was the fact that it bounced all over the place in such a short time. It was difficult for me to grasp at first but I eventually got used to the style of writing. The book was strong in it's delivery of the message that all people experience tragedy and man was not born to an easy life. I also enjoyed very much how the novel was told in a simple fashion. The novel was interesting and at many times I was eager to find out what happened next.