Ch. 5-6

Candide

P. 32-37

January 6, 2008

12:00 P.M.

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......Chapter 5 critisizes the selfishness that rules humanity. James, the righteous Anabaptist, rushed to help a soldier that was going to drown, but he was received with his own death after the sailor let him die in the rough sea. As I was reading this example I related it to Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene." Jame was completely altruistic, his own survival did not cross his mind during his heroic act. He was willing to risk his own survival for someone else that wasn't willing to do that for him. This is somewhat survival of the fittest. Once the sailor was safely on board, he knew that if he tried to save James he would probably perish too, so he desisted. James saved the sailor without measuring the risks or the possible repercussions. Apart from connecting this scene to "The Selfish Gene" I think Voltaire wanted to show how selfishless can destroy humanity and leave it in the deepest dump there is. After the sailor indirectly helped drown James and after the earthquake hit Lisbon, he decided to look around the ruined city and the dying people for money to steal. This shows how selfishness and indifference plague humanity. I mean, how evil can you be to steal from a dying person instead of getting them help? How can anyone be capable of that? Yet, we are as amazing as it sounds even to our own ears. What I found peculiar about this chapter was the mention of an Inquisition officer. I have yet to understand what his conversation with Pangloss means or represents.

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.......Chapter 6 is horriby absurd and superstitious. People live by their superstitions and will accept any answer when they are looking for one to explain something which they know nothing about. People in Lisbon thought that by burning and hanging and flogging they could escape the natural disaster that an earthquake represents. Voltaire satires the ignorance and fakes bliss in which humanity lives. Just as well, he wants to portray how gullible we are. In the story people are willing to murder just to prevent something unpreventable. Voltaire does a good job at frustrating the reader. How can be people be so dumb? Superstitions are a horrible plague that will destroy all of humanity.