Multiple Places In Candide

In the novel Candide, the author shows Candide on a journey through multiple places. His journey plays a huge part in showing not only how Candide grows, but how the world is not full of all good, but is also not full of all bad.

The journey is shown as a metaphoric journey of personal growth. Candide is brought through multiple challenges and settings throughout this journey of his and he is exposed to the dark reality of the world that he comes to see and at the end of his journey is a firm believer in this dark truth. The physical part shows an understanding of a lesson of human existence. For example, when he was captured and taken into the army camp he “signed up” for. Furthermore, Candides's travel shows a contradiction between philosophical optimism and the actual state of the world. Pangloss tries preaching to Candide a theory of his that he starts off to believe it until his surroundings from his journey makes him believe otherwise. Throughout his travels, his eyes are opened to natural disasters, human suffering, killings, war, robberies, betrayal, and even a world of all good. For example, he lived through the seven year war and heard of multiple killings, which was a major reason to go against pangloss theory. He then comes to realize the world is not all bad too when he comes across El Dorado. But he realizes even in a world of all good, it still won't ever be good enough without his love Cunegonde.
He was brought through both mental and physical pain. Mental being the rough path without his love and him having that big hole in his heart. The physical being the whipping he takes and the almost being burned but saved by the rain. These also served as lessons which he overcomes and he realizes at the end of his