75 pages • 2 hours read
VoltaireCandide
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1759A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
How does Candide change over the course of the text? How and when does he change?
In Candide, how do women’s experiences in the world differ from men? What are some typical markers of the women’s experience as they circulate from place to place?
Voltaire’s satire is far-reaching and criticizes many voices of the 18th-century, and yet sometimes he presents characters with whom he seems to sympathize. Choose a figure that Voltaire seems sympathetic to and explain why that person seems to “get it right.”
How does storytelling function in Candide? What is the narrative impact of multiple voices, each telling their own stories to Candide (and the reader)?
When Candide says, “we must cultivate our garden” (94), what exactly is he saying we should cultivate in our lives?
As experienced in Eldorado, what is Voltaire’s idea of a utopia? How does he describe the perfect religion, government, and economy?
Consider the role of the narrator in Candide. Is the narrator impartial, or do they share their own opinion and perspective? When and why?
What role does good or bad luck play in the narrative? Give three examples of how characters in the text explain the good or bad luck they encounter, and how Voltaire satirizes these explanations.
The journey, both spiritual and physical, figures prominently in the novel’s structure. How do these journeys figure differently for various characters? Choose two characters and compare their separate travels and how it changes them.
