Chapters 16-20 continue Candide and Cacambo's story after having killed the Reverend. I find that Candide acts too rashly, despite the fact that he ia a very educated being. He doesn't take time to think about his actions and ends up in really tough situations, where he's being chased for murdering a Reverend and an Inquisitor. Maybe Voltaire is criticizing society for not thinking before they act, for being too naïve and for acting too rashly instead of taking time to think on what can be made the best decision. I also noticed that he is being chased mainly for killing two high figures in the Church, and in governance. What of the third man? Is he not important at all? Voltaire is continuing his attacks on the Church by showing their power, but power in what? Is it their political power that Voltaire dislikes?
Candide used to constantly question Pangloss's idea of cause and effect and "everything happens for a reason. But when he kills the two men, instead of comforting himself by saying there's a reasomn for this, he cries and weeps and asks why do bad things happen to good people like him. Everyone makes mistakes, but I just think that Candide is too rash and stupid. Without Cacambo, the old woman or Pangloss, he would be completely lost and he would have no idea what to do. When they are attacked by the Oreillons and are about to be roasted and eaten by them, this is when Candide starts to focus on how beatiful life is and that the Oreillons must carry out their way of life. "Ah! What would Pangloss say if he were here to see how pure nature is formed?" (Voltaire) Pure? You're about to be eaten by people! He chooses the worst moments to praise how beatiful life is and to think about the wonders of cause and effect. And when the real cause and effect of the story happens, being it that he killed the Jesuit so he doesn't get eaten by the Oreillons for killing their enemy, here, he doesn't notice the cause and effect.
There something I found very interesting in chapter 16. This is when the two girls are being chased by the monkeys, Candide shoots them and Cacambo explains that those were the two ladies' lovers. Cacambo explains that "they [the monkeys] are the fourth part of a man as I am the Fourth part of a Spaniard." (Voltaire) Voltaire is saying that man and monkeys are related species, even though Darwin came much after him. Maybe Voltaire had the same beliefs and denied religion (if not wholely to a certain point), but he never published his ideas on it. I just found this very interesting.
Voltaire continues to show how great Europe is, but I think he is really trying to show that Western society needs to change, being that it is corrupt, power hungry, and is impulsively driven. Sure he shows good things about Europe. "You see this hemisphere is not better than the other." (Voltaire) Better in what ways? He fails to explain why though. I also found it kind of funny when Cacambo talks about the French. "...Frenchmen, for you know these gentry ramble all over the world." (Voltaire). Being that Voltaire himslef is French, why does he mention this? Perhaps he is trying to show a good image of France, showing that they have lots of power? Or is he trying to attack his country's dependance on "imperialism"?
Voltaire shows the corruptness of the Old World by showing us a type of utopia in South America, a fantastical, non-reachable place known as El Dorado. When Candide and Cacambo stumble in here, they are very surprised, given the fact that they see school children playing with precious stones, gold, rubies and emeralds, as if they were regular playtoys. This "perfect" society does not care for riches, they don't care for having more power than the other. Sure, they have a King, but he acts not like royalty, but rather as a part of the people, showing them they are all equal. They don't want to compete with neighboring societies, they just want to live their own life peacefully. Voltaire is showing how Europeans are corrupt, laden with the necessity of being better than each other and not seeing the true meaning of life. The European Man has been corrupted by power. The King of El Dorado mentions that their inaccesibility has "hitherto secured us from the rapacious fury of the people of Europe, ...fondness for the pebbles of our land...sake of which they would murder us all."(Voltaire) Europeans don't care about anybody, they just want their own well-being. Voltaire might be asking here for a change in European society, to have them look at how they really are. Take the Dutch captain at Surinam for example, he saw Candide was willing to pay lots of money, so he took as much as he could and ran away. Why is man reluctant to help one another? Is he so center-driven?
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