Book+Report+-+Candide

3. Book report -- on wiki page or other (just not all plot) to the rest of the book.
 * a. identify climax, major conflict, resolution or denoument, what type of plot (see page of literary terms)
 * b. comment about setting
 * c. identify one major symbol and one minor.
 * d. discuss two characters. Label as round or flat, dynamic or static. Are they archetypal or foils?
 * e. Open to the exact middle. What page? Write one paragraph about how this one page relates thematically, symbolically,
 * f. Tell me one thing other that really only someone who has read the book will get.

=Voltaire - __Candide__=

a. major conflict is when candide reaches eldorado, climax is optimism vs reality, candide finds a small piece of land and lives an unhappy life with an ugly wife, chronological/climatic plot

b. setting changes throughout the story as candide travels around europe as well as parts of the New World. in each setting, voltaire changes the attitude of the people and how they treat each other, freshening the readers and also the readers can feel his bias

c. major symbol: candide's name. minor symbol: eldorado and diamonds

d. Miss Cunegonde is both a round character as well as dynamic. At first, she used to be a respectable teacher at the Baron's house but she is kicked out of the house for inappropriate behavior and leads an adventure. She is beautiful, young, jubilant, and full of energy, at least that's how she started out in the story. Unfortunately, she goes through many husbands and masters throughout the story in order to sustain her life and the hardships reshape her both internally and externally. She loses all her optimism that she used to have and she lost all her beauty working under the Turk. It's unfortunate that she had to be both round and dynamic because she was affected negatively by both.

Pangloss is, in contrast to Miss Cunegonde, a flat and static character. The philosopher starts out the story as old and as the story ends, he is still old and retains his philosophy that all is well. Pangloss goes through similar misfortunes as Miss Cunegonde. He is almost killed in the Baron's house, then almost hung, and then worked as a slave for many years while Candide travels around the world to discover all the misfortunes of the world. Candide, finally, at the end of the book with money running out that he took from Eldorado, settles down on a little farm and asks the philosopher if the world is still all well. And he returns the reply with the same answer that he did in the beginning of the book, all is (indeed) well.

While Miss Cunegonde is a archetypal character, submissive to all the misfortunes that she has faced, Pangloss is not. Pangloss makes the misfortunes of others shine by saying that all is well... when it's really not.

e. page 50 Page 50 is one of the most important pages of the book as Candide and Cacambo enters Eldorado to discover the world that they had been told by Pangloss. The theme of optimism versus reality comes into play in the situation as the characters enter the world of wonders. There are no prisons, and diamonds are left on the streets for everyone to share. It seemed as if optimism would conquer reality and the two will live forever in utopia, but soon the readers find out that characters cannot resist the materialism and decide to return to venal society.

f. Is Miss Cunegonde beautiful at the end of the story? No, she has withered from all the hardships and bitterness that she faced in the society.