Candide

Throughout the story Candide, it is hard to believe that Pangloss’s philosophy, that all things happen for the best, can possibly have any merit. The story begins in an ideal setting. Candide lives in the castle of Westphalia. Life is good until he is caught kissing the Baron’s daughter, Cunegonde. He is kicked out of the castle. And instead of sleeping in a nice warm bed, he wakes up in the middle of …

…misfortunes. And in the end Pangloss says it best when he tells Candide, “There is a concatenation of events in the best of all possible worlds: for if you had not been kicked out of magnificent castle for love of Miss Cunegonde: if you had not been put into the Inquisition: if you had not walked over America: if you had not stabbed the Baron: you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts.”