Candide

Both Candide and his love Cunegonde undertake journeys. These journeys are specific to the characters but the fact that their adventures mirror those of Pangloss and the old woman shows that such journeys are part and parcel with the human condition. Voltaire's work is episodic: each new adventure strips away at Pangloss's philosophy of optimism. Candide continually trusts but questions along the way: "If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?" (12). When Cunegonde hears the story of the old woman, not only is this a foreshadowing of Cunegonde's story, but it becomes a microcosm for the whole book (chapter 11). In Surinam, Candide displays his mistrust of optimism: "Oh Pangloss!" cried Candide, you had no notion of these abominations! I'm through, I must give up your optimism after all." --"What's optimism?" asked Cacambo. --"Alas," said Candide, "it is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell." (41-42). Candide's journey takes him from Westphalia to Buenos Ares, back across the sea to France. When they pass England, Martin answers Candide's question about what kind of world they live in by saying "something crazy, something abominable" (56). Once in Constantinople Candide is reunited with the now worn (for goodness sake the woman's been raped and disemboweled throughout the whole epic) and ugly Cunegonde. Pangloss continues in his ideas of optimism by the end, but the others have developed a much more realistic view of the world: while Martin says it's better not to speculate about anything, Candide's conclusion is that work (cultivating one's garden) is the only satisfaction in life.This is the boon - that he is able to live life more realistically.

Candide is an outsider in that his philosophy (or the philosophy of Pangloss) makes him the constant prey of those seeking to take advantage of others. The fact that he is a sort of anti-hero places him outside of things. He is also a receptacle for the philosophies of others: Martin's sense is what prevails and perhaps helps Candide get beyond the extreme nature of Pangloss' theory. He is literally an outsider from the beginning when the Baron kicks him out of Thunder-Ten-Tronckh - he is a wanderer at the mercy of warring countries, pirates, popes, etc.

Religion plays the same part that philosophy and political ideology play. It is a possible approach to life that Candide can follow. The book's imagery is biblical: The castle in Westphalia is edenic in nature. Primarily religion is an object of ridicule and satire. The theory of optimism is a type of religion for Pangloss and Candide - it is an extreme belief that has fatal results because at its worst everything is excused.