Candide's ending was definitely not what I expected it to be. I imagined a completely different story with completely different characters at the end. But the fact that characters are thought to be dead and then are suddenly alive is getting a little old by now. Now the Baron and Pangloss are alive too. Wait what? Yes, you read it well. Not only was I surprised but I also got to hate Candide by the end of the book.So these two have been alive all along and even though Candide saw them dead and even killed one of them he couldn't see what was right in front of him? I believe this is selfish and naive from his part because he just thought they were dead and left, running away from his problems while everyone else suffered. It really pisses me off how Candide always gets his way, no matter what. He always has a tendency of running away with the help of someone else and never gets caught for anything, but the other characters do have to pick up after him. He is superficial, selfish, immature, stupid, and a coward.
It is also very absurd hoy Candide, after everything he has gone through, ends up happy with the people he wants to be. For example, he gets Pangloss, the one he missed so much and remembered everyday, the one he saw being hanged and dead. So while Pangloss was suffering, Candide was with his servants escaping his problems (for example when he killed the Baron) and managing the easy way out of everything. Seriously?
Apart from all the negative qualities I just listed about Candide, he is superficial too. So it turns out he doesn't want to be with Cunégonde anymore because she has grown to be very ugly. I found this stupid, ironic, and in a way the author was mocking the situation and Candide because he was willing to be with Cunégonde just to contradict the Baron and prove that he won or whatever. "At the bottom of his heart, Candide had no wish of marrying Cunégonde,but the Baron's intransigence determined him to go through with the match" (p.138). This was clearly ironic and stupid of Candide because why would someone do something to hurt someone else if they are going to end up hurt too? It makes no sense at all! And in a way, the author is also mocking Candide because of his naiveness and self centered world, even though it seems as if he loved Cunégonde and would do anything for her. I think not.
I also think it is very unfair how Candide, despite everything he has gone through, always gets his happy ending. At the beginning of the book, for example, Pangloss dies and then he is separated from Cunégonde, then finds out she was dead, which was devastating, and then she was suddenly alive, so here he got what he wanted. Then, he loses Cunégonde in buenos Ayres, and then meets her brother. Everything is going well until Candide kills him. So he was clearly in a lot of trouble, so he just put on his clothes, pretended to be the Baron, and left him there and escaped. Really Candide? Really? This proves his self centeredness, not to mention when he saw Cunégonde at the end that he didn't want to be with her anymore because of her looks. This demonstrates what a coward he was and how he had the ability of falling into his own lies.
The ending was not only surprising but it also gave me a new perspective on the book and clearly the characters. It is endings like these which actually make me realize whether I liked the book or not, and in this case, I did (a lot) even though I am not reading it by option. I could also notice that by the reaction I had as I read, and how attached I got to the book.
So congratulations on your hundredth happy ending Candide! Im done now.
No comments:
Post a Comment