The True Test

Chapters 6 and 7 of Voltaire’s Candide present the reader with crucial controversies in the development of the protagonist. Candide strongly supports his mentor’s ideas of cause and effect and that this world is the best possible, but this mentality has met a devastating test. In chapter six, Dr. Pangloss, his mentor, meets his death in effect of a recent earthquake. The chapter starts with “The University of Coimbra had pronounced that the sight of a few people being burned alive was an infallible prescription for preventing earthquakes,” and soon selects both teacher and student as a couple of these martyrs. Soon enough, Dr. Pangloss is hanged, which shakes the pillars of his own theory as seen by Candide. The student then wonders: “If this be the best of all possible worlds… what can the rest be like? (37).” This tough immediately warns the reader of an emotional change in the character. He no longer believes unhesitant in the best possible outcome being always what happened.

Many times in our lives we tend to go though the same story as the text is showing us: or at least a similar in consequence. It is very easy for us to make up philosophy based on other peoples’ loss and then announce ourselves as serious believers in such ideas. As Candide finds out, many times we must live it ourselves: we must undergo the situation which we pretend to judge in order to understand the components of the event in depth. That may be what Voltaire may be trying to say to us in the text: don’t teach others how to affront harsh situations when you haven’t got personal experience on them. But beyond the moral generalization, the text also warns us against our own mentalities and beliefs. It may be an invitation to reexamine everything we have learned and all that which we argue true even when we have no proof to convince ourselves other than external experiences. Don’t wait for reality to kick in and shock the pillars of your mentality, get one step ahead and reevaluate you own bases.