Editing Candide (section)

== Style ==
As Voltaire himself described it, the purpose of ''Candide'' was to "bring amusement to a small number of men of wit".<ref name = aldridge251254/> The author achieves this goal by combining wit with a parody of the classic adventure-romance plot. Candide is confronted with horrible events described in painstaking detail so often that it becomes humorous. Literary theorist Frances K. Barasch described Voltaire's matter-of-fact narrative as treating topics such as mass death "as coolly as a weather report".<ref name=barasch3>Barasch (1985), p. 3</ref> The fast-paced and improbable plot—in which characters narrowly escape death repeatedly, for instance—allows for compounding tragedies to befall the same characters over and over again.<ref name=starobinski194>Starobinski (1976), p. 194</ref> In the end, ''Candide'' is primarily, as described by Voltaire's biographer Ian Davidson, "short, light, rapid and humorous".<ref name = davidson54/><ref name=wade1959b133>Wade (1959b), p. 133</ref>

Behind the playful façade of ''Candide'' which has amused so many, there lies very harsh criticism of contemporary European civilization which angered many others. European governments such as France, Prussia, Portugal and England are each attacked ruthlessly by the author: the French and Prussians for the Seven Years' War, the Portuguese for their [[Portuguese Inquisition|Inquisition]], and the British for the execution of [[John Byng]]. Organised religion, too, is harshly treated in ''Candide''. For example, Voltaire mocks the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit order]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. Aldridge provides a characteristic example of such anti-clerical passages for which the work was banned: while in [[Paraguay]], Cacambo remarks, "[The Jesuits] are masters of everything, and the people have no money at all&nbsp;…". Here, Voltaire suggests the [[Jesuit reduction|Christian mission in Paraguay]] is taking advantage of the local population. Voltaire depicts the Jesuits holding the indigenous peoples as slaves while they claim to be helping them.<ref>Aldridge (1975), p. 255</ref><ref name="ayer139" />

===Satire===
The main method of ''Candide''{{'}}s satire is to contrast ironically great tragedy and comedy.<ref name = davidson54/> The story does not invent or exaggerate evils of the world—it displays real ones starkly, allowing Voltaire to simplify subtle philosophies and cultural traditions, highlighting their flaws.<ref name="starobinski194" /> Thus ''Candide'' derides optimism, for instance, with a deluge of horrible, historical (or at least plausible) events with no apparent redeeming qualities.<ref name = aldridge251254/><ref name=barasch3/>

A simple example of the satire of ''Candide'' is seen in the treatment of the historic event witnessed by Candide and Martin in [[Portsmouth]] harbour. There, the duo spy an anonymous admiral, supposed to represent [[John Byng]], being executed for failing to properly engage a French fleet. The admiral is blindfolded and shot on the deck of his own ship, merely "to encourage the others" ({{langx|fr|pour encourager les autres}}, an expression Voltaire is credited with originating). This depiction of military punishment trivializes Byng's death. The dry, pithy explanation "to encourage the others" thus satirises a serious historical event in characteristically Voltairian fashion. For its classic wit, this phrase has become one of the more often quoted from ''Candide''.<ref name=davidson54/><ref name=havens843>Havens (1973), p. 843</ref>

Voltaire depicts the worst of the world and his pathetic hero's desperate effort to fit it into an optimistic outlook. Almost all of ''Candide'' is a discussion of various forms of evil: its characters rarely find even temporary respite. There is at least one notable exception: the episode of [[El Dorado]], a fantastic village in which the inhabitants are simply rational, and their society is just and reasonable. The positivity of El Dorado may be contrasted with the pessimistic attitude of most of the book. Even in this case, the bliss of El Dorado is fleeting: Candide soon leaves the village to seek Cunégonde, whom he eventually marries only out of a sense of obligation.<ref name = aldridge251254/><ref name=barasch3/>
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==== Picaresque ====-->

Another element of the satire focuses on what William F. Bottiglia, author of many published works on ''Candide'', calls the "sentimental foibles of the age" and Voltaire's attack on them.<ref name=bottiglia8992>Bottiglia (1968), pp. 89–92</ref> Flaws in European culture are highlighted as ''Candide'' parodies adventure and romance clichés, mimicking the style of a [[picaresque novel]].<ref name=bottiglia8992/><ref>Vannini (2011), pp. 106–107</ref> A number of archetypal characters thus have recognisable manifestations in Voltaire's work: Candide is supposed to be the drifting [[rogue (vagrant)|rogue]] of low [[class structure|social class]], Cunégonde the sex interest, Pangloss the knowledgeable mentor, and Cacambo the skillful valet.<ref name=aldridge251254>Aldridge (1975), pp. 251–254</ref> As the plot unfolds, readers find that Candide is no rogue, Cunégonde becomes ugly and Pangloss is a stubborn fool. The characters of ''Candide'' are unrealistic, two-dimensional, mechanical, and even [[marionette]]-like; they are simplistic and stereotypical.<ref name=wade1959b303>Wade (1959b), pp. 303–305</ref> As the initially naïve protagonist eventually comes to a mature conclusion—however noncommittal—the novella is a ''[[bildungsroman]]'', if not a very serious one.<ref name = aldridge251254/><ref>Waldinger (1987), p. 20</ref>

=== Garden motif ===
Gardens are thought by many critics to play a critical symbolic role in ''Candide''. The first location commonly identified as a garden is the castle of the Baron, from which Candide and Cunégonde are evicted much in the same fashion as [[Adam and Eve]] are evicted from the [[Garden of Eden]] in the [[Book of Genesis]]. Cyclically, the main characters of ''Candide'' conclude the novel in a garden of their own making, one which might represent celestial paradise. The third most prominent "garden" is [[El Dorado]], which may be a false Eden.<ref>''Readings on Candide'' (2001), p. 92</ref> Other possibly symbolic gardens include the Jesuit pavilion, the garden of Pococurante, Cacambo's garden, and the Turk's garden.<ref name=bottiglia727>Bottiglia (1951), pp. 727, 731</ref>

These gardens are probably references to the Garden of Eden, but it has also been proposed, by Bottiglia, for example, that the gardens refer also to the ''[[Encyclopédie]]'', and that Candide's conclusion to cultivate "his garden" symbolises Voltaire's great support for this endeavour. Candide and his companions, as they find themselves at the end of the novella, are in a very similar position to Voltaire's tightly knit philosophical circle which supported the {{lang|fr|Encyclopédie}}: the main characters of ''Candide'' live in seclusion to "cultivate [their] garden", just as Voltaire suggested his colleagues leave society to write. In addition, there is evidence in the [[epistle|epistolary]] correspondence of Voltaire that he had elsewhere used the metaphor of gardening to describe writing the {{lang|fr|Encyclopédie}}.<ref name=bottiglia727/> Another interpretative possibility is that Candide cultivating "his garden" suggests his engaging in only necessary occupations, such as feeding oneself and fighting boredom. This is analogous to Voltaire's own view on gardening: he was himself a gardener at his estates in [[Les Délices]] and [[Ferney]], and he often wrote in his correspondence that gardening was an important pastime of his own, it being an extraordinarily effective way to keep busy.<ref>Davidson (2005), p. 55</ref><ref name=scherr>Scherr (1993)</ref><ref>Aldridge (1975), p. 258</ref>