Discussion Of The Earthquake Shown In Voltaire's Candide

The residents of Lisbon are understandable shaken after the earthquake, but act irrationally and rash. They believed in order to end the earthquake they must sacrifice three people. When Candide, the sailor & Pangloss arrive in Lisbon, the earthquake has just occurred, the city is in complete ruins and thirty thousands of people are dead. Again Voltaire mocks Pangloss philosophy of "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”. However, there is also a part where the resident whom, have lost everything, still help feed Candide and Lisbon. I think the fact the residents whom lost everything, are willing to share the little they have. This gives hope to the human race. The issue came when the resident felt that by roasting several

people over the fire it would stop the earthquake from happening again. The manner in which they choose the 3 people to sacrifice, they choose people in their opinion where living in sin. Two of the people chosen based off the fact they didn’t eat pork, No, physically sacrificing someone is not ideally a Christian reaction, however, I saw similarities in what communion represents to the Christian church. In the Christian church, the communion represents the body of Jesus Christ, who died and sacrificed for our sins, the masses and this was the same thought process behind the 3 people after the earthquake. They believed they must sacrifice of a few people, for the betterment of the masses. Unfortunately, this sacrifice didn’t help, another earthquake hit minutes later.