Candide

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“So Is this the Best of All Possible Worlds?”

In this activity, students will use collaborative learning and critical thinking to debate whether or not we live in the best of all possible worlds.

Voltaire’s Candide, reduced to a nutshell, satirizes the philosophical notion—popular in the 18^th century—that we live in the best of all possible worlds. In this activity, students will split up into two groups and hold a debate: One group will argue that we do live in the best of all possible worlds, while the other group will argue that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds. Each group may consider the following points:

• What are some examples of suffering and/or unhappiness that exist in the world?
• What are the causes of suffering and/or unhappiness in the world?
• Is it possible to be happy in the world despite all the suffering and/or unhappiness that exists?
• Is it really better to live without any kind of suffering and/or unhappiness?
• Is there a way to eliminate all suffering and/or unhappiness, or would any effort to do so merely cause more problems?

Once both sides have drawn up their arguments, hold an in-class debate. Each side can present their opening argument and then take turns attempting to rebut the other side. After a predetermined number of rounds, the instructor can name a winner.

Teaching Suggestion: As in any class debate, it will be important to make sure that students respect one another and follow certain ground rules (such as time limits) that must be established beforehand. It may also benefit students to discuss the origins of Pangloss’ ideas about the “best of all possible worlds” in the writings of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried von Leibniz.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Over the course of the text, Candide undergoes many changes, both spiritually and physically.

• How and why does Candide change over the course of the text? (topic sentence)
• Using specific examples, describe the ways in which Candide’s experiences change him.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on whether you think Candide changes for the better.

2. The text features several important women characters, including Cunégonde, the Old Woman, and Paquette.

• How are women’s experiences in Candide different from those of men? (topic sentence)
• Analyze some of the typical elements of women’s experiences as they travel or are dislocated.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, reflect on why the experiences of the women characters in the text are so different from those of the men.

3. Candide’s fortunes frequently change in the text, sometimes for the better though more often for the worse.

• What is the role of luck in the text? (topic sentence)
• Discuss three examples that show how good or bad luck impacts the characters in the text.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate the ways the characters in the text explain their luck.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Voltaire’s satire pokes fun at many voices from his time as well as from well before his time, including philosophers, authors, and political figures. Choose one figure that Voltaire satirizes in Candide. What about this figure does Voltaire critique? Is this critique justified, in your opinion? Is there any aspect of this figure’s thought with which Voltaire seems to sympathize?

2. At the story’s conclusion, Candide says that “we must cultivate our garden” (94). What is the significance of this phrase? What does Candide’s “garden” symbolize? What is Candide saying we should be cultivating in our lives, and how did he arrive at this belief?

3. Candide is full of embedded narratives, with many of the characters having stories of their own that they recount to Candide or other characters. Choose one embedded narrative from the text and discuss its role within the text. How does this narrative reflect the role of storytelling in Candide? What voice (or voices) does the narrative represent? How does the voice (or voices) in this narrative fit into the larger story?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following quotes best illustrates Pangloss' philosophy?

A) “He could prove to wonderful effect that there was no effect without cause, and that, in this best of all possible worlds, His Lordship the Baron’s castle was the finest of castles and Her Ladyship the best of all possible baronesses.”

B) “After the earthquake, which had destroyed three-quarters of Lisbon, the sages of that country could think of no more effective means of averting further destruction than to give the people a fine auto-da-fé; it having been decided by the University of Coïmbra that the spectacle of a few individuals being ceremonially roasted over a slow fire was the infallible secret recipe for preventing the earth from quaking.”

C) “[W]hen you are in love, and jealous, and have been flogged by the Inquisition, there’s no knowing what you may do.”

D) “[I]f hawks have always had the same nature, why do you expect men to have changed theirs?”

2. Why is Candide banished from the Baron’s castle?

A) Because he is caught kissing Cunégonde

B) Because he is not a true noble

C) Because he kills the Baron’s son

D) Because he opposes Pangloss’ optimistic philosophy

3. Which of the following characters is kind to Candide?

A) The governor of Buenos Aires

B) The people of Paris

C) Jacques the Anabaptist

D) The Grand Inquisitor

4. Why do Candide and Cunégonde leave Europe?

A) Because Candide wants to find Eldorado

B) Because Candide killed the Grand Inquisitor

C) Because Candide and Cunégonde cannot get married in Europe

D) Because Candide is eager for adventure

5. How does Candide pass the time on the voyage to Paraguay?

A) Drinking with the captain

B) Struggling with seasickness

C) Weeping for Pangloss

D) Listening to the passengers’ stories

6. Who accompanies Candide when he leaves Buenos Aires?

A) The Old Woman

B) Pangloss

C) Cunégonde

D) Cacambo

7. What makes Cacambo a foil for Candide?

A) His extreme pessimism

B) His practicality and resourcefulness

C) His impulsive nature

D) His naivete

8. Why does Candide make peace with having killed Cunégonde’s brother?

A) Because killing a Jesuit saved him from the Oreillons

B) Because Cunégonde’s brother was rude to him

C) Because he was not a good priest

D) Because he needs to practice killing people

9. Why does Candide leave Eldorado?

A) Because he is miserable there

B) Because Cacambo is miserable there

C) To rescue Cunégonde

D) To find Pangloss

10. What is Martin’s philosophy?

A) Materialism

B) Optimism

C) Pessimism

D) Stoicism

11. Why does Candide see the sinking of the Dutch pirate’s ship as evidence that there is justice after all?

A) Because he retrieves one of his red sheep

B) Because it was a beautiful spectacle

C) Because Pangloss tells him the pirate ship was created to be destroyed

D) Because the passengers on the ship were all evil

12. Where does Candide plan to reunite with Cunégonde?

A) Paris

B) Venice

C) Eldorado

D) Constantinople

13. Why is Martin disgusted by Senator Pococuranté?

A) Because he hates Italians

B) Because he is a Manichaean

C) Because he is not a true noble

D) Because he is not satisfied with anything

14. Why does Candide sail to Constantinople?

A) To become a philosopher

B) To buy a farm

C) To kill Cacambo

D) To reunite with Cunégonde

15. How does Candide react when he learns that Cunégonde has become ugly?

A) He stops loving her.

B) He resolves to love her still.

C) He blames Cacambo for her misfortunes.

D) He renounces optimism.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Why does Cunégonde feel she has been deceived by Pangloss?

2. What new perspective does the Turkish farmer introduce to Candide? How does this new perspective inspire Candide?