The Naivete of Candide essays

The Naivete of Candide essays The Naivet of Candide as Exemplified by His Experiences in El Dorado Innocent, inexperienced, ingenuous. Candide is the personification of naivet. Amidst his travels and adventures Candide represents the folly of optimism. Upon his arrival in the clandestine utopian country, Candide is in awe of El Dorado. A place that not only is aesthetically beautiful, but also provides its citizens with endless foods, jewels and pleasures. Pleasures that are otherwise the cause of unending terror and disaccord as experienced by Candide and his cohorts throughout the rest of Europe. As displayed by his reaction to El Dorado and its people, Candide floundered with the philosophy of Pangloss that this world is the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire created El Dorado as a contrast to a number of fallacies within European scoiety at the time. Fallacies including the imperfections of European governments, the hypocrisies of religion, and the inability for Candide to be content with the utopia that was El Dorado. After Candide and Cacambo arrived in El Dorado, they instantly were shocked by the citizens apparent aloof attitude towards jewels and gold. They stood agape as a group of children and their headmaster casually left the seemingly prized riches on the ground. Candide made the assumption that the children playing with these riches must be children of the king. However, as he quickly learned, the people of El Dorado had no attachments to material items nor were they ruled by a king of extreme wealth and power. Throughout the rest of Europe, many countries were ruled by monarchies or other government systems that maintained a state of superiority, wealth and power. Candide was accustomed to living within a class system where ones status dictated the potentials of their lifestyle. Voltaires El Dorado was the antithesis of these practices. When Candide and Cacambo were receive...