Thursday, September 17, 2015

AGENDA 9/17

Preparing a thesis for Candide papers

Discuss themes/big ideas in Candide: review and reread the last two pages of the book. Then consider:


  • Why a "garden"? How does this mirror Ch 1 and 2?
  • What elements of Leibniz's philosophy and Optimism does Voltaire exaggerate?
  • What does Voltaire show through the "honest Turk" at the end of the book? How does "cultivating a garden" keep men safe from "weariness, vice, and want"? What does Voltaire think people should do to be happy?
  • What are the roles of women in the book? What does Candide (and through Candide, what do WE realize) realize about "love" and the treatment of/roles of women? How does his perspective change, and what might we learn from this?
  • What is the significance of the paradoxical El Dorado?

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