How Was Candide Selfish

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In most cases a man who travels the world has many experiences, is considered wise and knowledgeable, but in the novel Candide written in 1759 by Voltaire, the protagonist Candide is very childlike for his age and the extent of what he’s gone through. He was reckless and did not care about anything except reuniting with the love of his life, Cunegonde, the daughter of the Baroness. He was responsible for several murders and thought nothing of it. Candide’s childish actions were greedy because all he wanted was Cunegonde and would stop at nothing to get her. His actions had negative effects towards the people around him, he lacked a sense of empathy and portrayed qualities of arrogance. Candide was also very naive similar to a child, he couldn’t …show more content…

Candide shows many signs of being reckless throughout his journey.“ It is I, Indeed, but my mother lied four hundred yards hence, torn in quarters, under a heap of dead bodies”(12.5).Candide did several murders with no regrets or guilt which showed how reckless he actually is. Not only did he murder he also gave away all his money. Candide lost his wealth many times by giving away more money than he could afford. He gave his riches to the Dutch captain and also to the Jews. Candide showed many signs of being reckless through ruthless murders and naive money decisions. (Tj …show more content…

He still went on Pangloss’ philosophy of that “.....Consequently they who assert that all is well have said a foolish thing, they should have said all is for the best” (1.5). He does not think that people are being evil or tricking him for the worst he believes that everything that happens is for the best. Candide innocently believed that the people he came across wanted to help him. He did not realize when the Bulgarians were asking him about his height they were checking to make sure that he was of the correct height to fight for their king in which he did end up having to do. Even the sight of war that did expose the horrors of the world to him did not change his outlook on how the world is for the best. (Alyssa

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