Candide chapters 16-20

From Chapter XVI to chapter XX I was very entertained with all the misfortunes and all the funny adventures Candide experienced. Some of my amusement was due to Candide’s misfortune while other part of it was due to Voltaire’s ignorance about the new world.
First of all, I thought it was very unfortunate of Candide to kill the lovers of the Oreillian girls and I thought he had a really bad luck since he had already gained new enemies. Apart from this Candide and Cacambo were really careless of sleeping out there without escaping further away after having killed the two lovers of the Oreillian girls knowing that they would as Cacambo says: “…play us some dirty trick…”(pg 70) Something very funny that I noticed in this chapter was that when they had them captives and were about to eat them, Candide thought that they were savage and uncivilized people but as soon as the Orellians learned that they were not their enemies and that their intentions were the best and they started treating them well, then Candid said: “ ‘ What grand people they are!’ he said. ‘What fine fellows! And what culture!...”(pg 72).

I didn’t understand why they didn’t stay with the Oreillians where they would have food and whatever they needed in exchange of teachings whatsoever Candide could offer them. Also, I thought it was very stupid not to ask the Oreillians where should they head after they were in the border. I thought it was hilarious when Voltaire mentioned that the sheep could be faster than the finest horses, and that the children played with gold, rubies and emeralds. Other thing that amused me a lot were the reasoning of Candide about that unknown place. However, what really made me laugh was that Voltaire said that they spoke Peruvian, and that Cacambo knew Peruvian since he was brought in an Argentine town where that was the only language they knew. Why wouldn’t Voltaire know that in Peru as well as in Argentina and many other South American places we speak Spanish or that at least in that time there wasn’t any language such as Peruvian but the one that the Incans spoke whatsoever. Throughout the two chapters in El Dorado, there are lots of hyperboles and elements of satire portrayed in the novel. First when the author mentioned a “boiled vulture weighing about two hundred pounds, two delicious roast monkeys, three hundred doves on one plate, and six hundred humming-birds on another,…”(pg76).

Other hyperbole I found was that the old man was one hundred and seventy-two years old. It was funny how both cultures crashed and how different they were. I thought their religion was the best since there were neither intermediaries nor institutions which could be corrupted by the power given to them by people as it happens with many of the actual churches or religious institution. I found it very funny when Cacambo asked for the procedure they should follow when saluting His Majesty and they explained him that he should kiss him on the cheek and to embrace him. I found this chapter very paradoxical since it was the opposite of most of the European cultures and it showed how good El Dorado culture was and how bad and corrupted European culture had become. I couldn’t understand why would anyone want to leave El Dorado if he/she were to arrive there and return to a corrupt and unfair world just for a woman who had already betrayed him by engaging with another man just because of his power. I thought the people from El Dorado were extremely generous and they were very generous since they were willing to create machines just to help them and give them sheep and food for their voyage to the outside world. El Dorado looked to me like an analogy of the paradise and the outside world would represent the forbidden tree from which Adam and Eve (the people from El Dorado) were forbidden to taste or to experience and if they did there would be no turning back.

As I continued reading I couldn’t believe how Cacambo and Candid didn’t care about losing the majority of their sheep and comforted themselves with what they had. I didn’t understand why didn’t they help the black slave. However, something important occurs in this chapter and is that finally Candide stops believing that everything is as it is meant to be and that it’s all for the greater good. I was infuriated by Candide’s innocence and stupidity since he was willing to give as much as the captain asked for. Something else that made me angry against Candide was that, after he had lost most of his money as the pirate sailed away with them, he continued spending his money as if he had it still with him. I didn’t understand why would Candide need someone to make him company throughout the voyage and why would he make a contest to choose who should accompany him. I thought it was unwise to pay the others conciliatory prices and also pay the fine for being disrespectful against the judge if the judge didn’t even help him when he should have done so.

I was glad when the one of the sheep returned to Candide’s power and I thought it was awkward that from all the people from that miserable place Candide had chosen the one who was precisely against Pangloss’ philosophy. I didn’t share Martin’s Philosophy either, and I thought that as Pangloss’ thinking had gotten Candide into trouble so would happen with Martin’s way of thinking.