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.