Candide: Chapters 5-11

As we coninue to read the book we see that Candide is on his way to lisbon with Jacques and Pangloss. In the ship something horrible happens and it sinks leaving only three survivors: Candide Pangloss and sailor. Something strange is that they get to lisbon and its a complete caos because it had just experienced a terrible earthquake. This tells us that so far Candide has had a terrible luck and his life is like a complete tragedy. Candide and Pangloss help the wounded and in that attempt they accuse Pangloss of heresy because of his optimism. "A little man in black, an officer of the inquisition, who was sitting beside Pangloss and politely said: It appears, sir, that you do not believe in original sin; for if all is for the best, there can be no such thing as the fall of Man and eternal punishment" (pg. 35). Because of this acusation of heresy, the portuguese authorities dcide to burn a lot of people that practice heresy to prevent more earthquakes. They indeed hang Pangloss. Candide is also hurt and an old lady cures his wounds. Happens to be that the old lady takes him to the house of his real benefactor: Cunegonde. Cunégonde explains to Candide that the Bulgars have killed her family. After executing a soldier whom he found raping Cunégonde, a Bulgar captain took Cunégonde as his mistress and later sold her to a Jew named Don Issachar. He keeps Candide and Cunegonde for a while so hecan get better.

Candide: The start

As we start reading The book Candide, we see that the main character (Candide) is a very special character. He seems to be very uptight and decent but in a sort of way he is like a wannabe rich. Candide is the illegitimate son of the baron’s sister. His mother refused to marry his father because his father’s family tree could only be traced through “seventy-one quarterings.” Still Candide is thrown away from the castle because Pangloss finds him and Miss Cunegonde, the barons daughter kissing. This is a very drastic manner but still they do it. "Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, happening to pass the screen at that moment, noticed both cause and effect, and drove Candide from the house with powerful kicks on the backside" (pg. 21). He starts wandering everywere to find some shelter when two man in blue noticed him. He starts to dine with them. One important event is that they convince Candide to serve in the army of the king of the Bulgars, but that was a problem for him later on. He is destroyed in the army because everyone sees him as a deserter and hates him. they make him run the gauntlet that is to hit him with their weapons for 36 times. "The regiment being two thousand strong, he received four thousand strokes, which exposed every nerve and muscle from the nape of his neck to his backside" (pg. 24). He still fights for the king of the bulgars but he doesn`t feel good and at the first chance he escapes to Holland were he starts working with Jacques, in his rug factory. We see something very interesting as he works here because he sees again Pangloss but as a bum. The bulgars attacked the barons palace and killed everybody in the family. Jacques helps Pangloss and he now is Candide´s new friend.

The Selfish Gene: The Immortal Coil

As we keep on reading this interesting book, we see how Dawkins has started to explain and define the world of genetics. He starts telling us that in the chapter there will be very important terms to facilitate the gene explanation. As Dawkins says " Different sorts of survival machine appear very varied on the outside and in their internal organs" (pg. 21) meaning the different gene terms.

allele: When two genes are rivals in a chromosome (Dawkins).

Meiosis: Division of cells produced in sexual relations (Dawkins).

Mitosis: The normal division of two new cells (Dawkins).

START Symbol: The first letter of a sequence of nucleotides in a protein chain (Dawkins).

END Symbol: The last letter of a sequence in a protein chain (Dawkins).

mimicry: Edited or rearranged.

Point Mutation: Error corresponding to a single misprinted letter.

Attached to this key terms in regards to genetics, Dawkins explains that the immortal coil is the DNA. "It consists of a pair of nucleotide chains twisted togetherin an elegant spiral; the double helix; the immortal coil" (pg. 22). This chapter is more scientific than any other one. This gives us a better perspective to continue undestanding th book.

Active to Passive Voice

Passive voice

1. The bottles can´t be easily opened by the children.

2. A road was built right outside her front door, by the goverment.

3. As he walked through the store, he broked the antique vase.

4. The changes amazed her when she arrived.

5. Street repairs are being made by the construction workers all month long.

6. His retirement will be celebrated by the party.

7. His oral exam was being discussed by his professors in front of him.

8. All the homemade cookies were eaten by my son.

9. The hull of the ship was damaged by corrosion.

10. While I was there, the old homestead was being visited by some children.

Passive and Active

1. Change this active sentence to the passive:
A client delayed Joanne when she was leaving the office.
-Joanne was delayed by a client when she was leaving the office.

2. Change this active sentence to the passive:
The tennis club was holding a meeting at 6.30.
-A meeting was being held by the tennis club at 6.30.

3. Change this passive sentence to active:
The doorway was blocked by Sheba, the dog.
-Sheba, the dog, was blocking the doorway.

4. Change this active sentence to passive:
Joanne had to take Sheba to the vet.
-Sheba had to be taken to the vet.

5. Change this active sentence to passive:
Her condition worried the vet.
-The vet was worried by her condition.

6. Change this passive sentence to active:
The dog was treated by the vet while Joanne went home.
-The vet treated the dog while Joanne went home.

7. Change this active sentence to passive:
The vet told Joanne to get out of the house.
-Joanne was told to get out of the house.

8. Change this active sentence to passive:
The telephone call confused Joanne.
-Joanne was confused by the telephone call.

9. Change this active sentence to passive:
The police captured the burglar.
-The burglar was captured by the police.

10. Change this active sentence to passive:
The dog had bitten off his fingers.
-His fingers had been bitten off by the dog.

The Selfish Gene: The replicators

In this chapter Dawkins starts talking about simplicity an how every living thing starts simple and starts getting more complex. This is an obvious statement because throughout live living things experience different changes that make of this a more complex way to live as they evolve. Because of this, Dawkins says that there is a more simple theory way to survive and its the survival of the stable. He says that If anything changes and keeps the same way forever, it will stay that way and "survive". In his text he describes this survival skill as the first one on earth."The earliest form of natural selection was simply a selection of stable forms and a rejection of unstable ones"(pg. 13). This might be a new theory stated by the own author and that really makes a lot of sense. Afterwards, Dawkins talks about the biological part of the genes and how after a long, long time the 'replicator' which is a molecule that can copy itself is created and provides stabilization. This is called primeval soup. He continues telling us about the replication of genes and how these are machines that provide live to our body and mind.

The Selfish Gene: Why are people?

As we start reading the selfish gene by Richard Dawkins, we see how he supports Darwin´s theory of evolution in every aspect in regards to the human being and every living thing. These series of historical theories make the author realize that our genes are always in competition and are what define all human beings. He talks about to very important points that affect the live of every living thing, in both positive and negative aspects. This two important aspects are Altruism and Selfishness.

Evolution is just a theory that we don´t really know for fact if it is true; Just like Dawkins said "Have they discovered evolution jet?" (pg. 1). But we know that there have been outstanding minds over the years that have invented these theories of why we are here, such as Charles Darwin. Darwin talked about the survival of the species, instead Dawkins changed it to the survival of the gene. To explain this he defines these two words. Altruism is the act of risking oneself for the well being of another and selfishness is caring about yourself and no one else. What I think about this is that Depending on the behavior of the gene, we are what we are. It is scietifically proven that your genes make you what oyu are. In this case, It is important to state that the selfish gene may exist because of the survival of his own. Also if it is altruism, it is also selfish do to the fact that you are acting in a selfish way because you are defending your species. It will always be a selfish gene. "Anything that has evolved by natural selection should be selfish"(pg. 4).