candide chapters 17-18

In these chapters of Candide, Voltaire shows how unfortunate life can be. You must always be prepared for whatever life may throw at you. Candide and his traveling partner go through episodes of very unfortunate events, but beyond all that hardship, the two men find themselves in a strange village which seems to be quite wealthy, but not aware of it. There are also many examples in life where the same situation takes place. "You don't know what you have until it is gone," is the perfect saying to match it. Back in Cali, i had many friends and it was normal to me. I played with them when i was very little but i never really appreciated the fun times i shared with them. Then the day came when I was forced to move to Bogota. I truly realized what i had lost and what a treasure i had while i was there.

The book continues with Candide and his partner going to an inn which was quite similar to the european palaces he had seen. He is quite confused because staying at a place like that should cost a great deal of money or gold, but the managers would laugh when they would try to pay. In the end, Candide begins to think that maybe this city runs on goodness. maybe the people of the city do their jobs and provide for others just for the good of it, or because they know they will receive the same hospitality in return. still, his curiosity could not be quenched; therefore, he went to go find someone who could tell him a little more about the city's past and why they acted the way they did. On the road they came to a sage who told them about the grand city of El Dorado. The city was full of grand riches but that did not matter to the people because of their humbleness and love for one another. They were very thankful to their gods for keeping them safe from conquests and other intruders and they had many ceremonies to celebrate their abundance of joy.

even though the city was grand and the people were amazing and it was the closest place to a utopia then could ever be imagined, Candide decided that he could not stay in El Dorado any longer. After a month, Candide goes on a journey to go find Cunegonde and to try and bring as many riches as he could in order to be the love of his life away from the man to which she was with. This also demonstrates the theory that love conquers all. Candide was basically in a Utopia, but because his love was not there to share it with him, he did not feel satisfied.