YOLO

"... Which simplicity could change into complexity,.." (page 12)

This quote speaks the truth in every form possible.  Life is complicated but it starts off simple.  Take one person's life for example.  When you're a child your only worries are what color crayons you're going to use for coloring a fish.  Then the person grows up and life gets complicated! Everyone feels the need to judge you, relationships come into play, you need to focus on your future, etc. Other than that touching truthful quote, I feel like I'm reading a biology book! The only difference is that Richard Dawkins puts his opinion into the already known fact.

"Their modern descendants, the DNA molecules, are astonishingly faithful compared with the most high-fidelity human copying process, but even they occasionally make mistakes, and it is ultimately these mistakes that make evolution possible." (page 17)

When I read this quote, I think of Ms. Gregory and how she always says, "Biology textbooks are a waste of time! You guys need to know what is actually happening in the world of science!" Although I find the quote completely useless, a couple of questions did come to me like:

• What does this have to do with humans being selfish? I mean the book is called The Selfish Gene correct? 
• Did human's history, interms of evolution, make us all selfish?

A quote I found on page 18 gives a little explanation to these two questions. It states: "Evolution is something that happens, willy-nilly, in spite of all the efforts of the replicators (and nowadays of the genes) to prevent it from happening." You know that awkward moment when your parents or siblings tell you that you're an accident? Well that's exactly how I am feeling right now. The only difference is that I am definitely not alone. Hey guess what guys! No hard feelings for anyone! We are all accidents! Did our ancestors discover this long before us? Does this explain why we are so selfish? I mean it's understandable that they would all be in a crappy mood about this. I guess we are closer to monkeys then what we thought. "Monkey see, monkey do." That's exactly how we act.  Our ancestors were selfish and apparently so are we. Another thing Dawkins says that somewhat answers my questions is:

"The next important link in the argument, one that Darwin himself laid stress on (although he was talking about animals and plants, not molecules) is competition." (page 18)

This is when contradiction takes place in this book.  A couple pages before Dawkins clearly stated:

"Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' is really a special case of a more general law of survival of the stable. The universe is populated by stable things." (page 12)

After this he says that stable atoms come together to form something worthy of a name.  He also implies that the universe prefers stable things like rocks, grass, and even water.  I guess he never saw Disney's Pocahontas.  In her famous song, Just Around the River Bend, Pocahontas says, "My father wants me to be steady, like the river. But it's not steady at all!" Water isn't stable or steady.  It is constantly moving or flowing.  In my opinion, the universe enjoys a variety.  Any who, after saying that the universe prefers stable things, BAM! He decides to change opinion and say that we must all compete against each other.  He says that we are "survival machines" (page 19).  I guess this is where Survival of the Fittest comes back into play.  He says:

"Survival machines got bigger and more elaborate, and the process was cumulative and progressive."

Does this mean that human evolution is a good thing? Is being a survival machine ok? I don't really understand what side the author is on.  He is either saying that we are selfish organisms or progressive ones.  He also refers to us as "robots" on page 19. I feel like he is trying to say that we compete against one another inorder to survive the one life we all get. So basically we live on the terms of YOLO (you only live once).  We are all just selfish competitors that want to live the longest.  As soon as I realized this, I immediately though of my favorite TV show Make It or Break It.  All the girls compete and put down one another to win, even though they are best friends. This crucial reality is also very similar to the plot of The Hunger Games.  I think it's just sad that he says that all human beings are like that.  According to science, being selfish and cruel is just the reality of life.

MacBeth Log Entry

Act III. Scene VI.  Lines 1-57

MacBeth Video

He Has Finally Seen the Light!

Hallelujah! Candide finally learned something in this book! He finally realized that it is important to learn from experiences and not to believe what everyone tells him (Pangloss)! He sees the world for what it truly is and not as what someone else wants him to see it.  I strongly believe that this is important in life because we all have different perspectives and that is what makes us unique.  What if we all believed what Pangloss said? We would all have the same point of view about everything. We would all think that life is just a beautiful meaningless thing where everything happens for the best.

In the end, I realized that Candide does have meaning to it. In a way it mocks us. It describes what some people see life as and how others react to it.  Now I realize the dark humor and I see the lesson learned by reading this novel.  I guess I made the same mistake as Candide. He didn't ever look past his situations so he didn't learn anything. He would just look at what was sitting right infront of him and think "FML". I guess I was doing the same while reading this book so I failed to see the important message that was hidden in it.  The lesson is that by looking past the situations and realizing what the lesson is, we work through life. This is exactly what a quote Candide said in the book.  "I also know, said Candide, that we must go and work in the garden." (page 143)

Life is a garden. We must prune it, fix it, and make it look beautiful. By learning from our mistakes, we prune the garden.  By not committing the same mistakes, we fix it.  Then by smiling to everyone around you and saying that you are going to be ok, we make the garden look beautiful.  This is something we humans do daily and I had not realized this until after I read Candide.  So for you who read my previous blog, ignore it.  Apparently Candide does have an important message to tell the world.  You just need to look past the silly story and find it.

Confusion

In Candide many confusing things are happening.  For example, how in the world does Lady Cunegonde always manage to find Candide? He could be in the middle of no where and will somehow manage to find him.  If it is not her than it is one of her family members.  How exactly does that work?  It is like that entire family is tracking him. That's definitely kind of creepy.  It is like if they both had an obsession with each other.  Candide with Lady Cunegonde and her family, and them with Candide.  Out of everything Candide has gone through I was hoping that he would have realized by now that there are so many other people in the world.  Why would he settle for a girl that isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shack? Additionally, why would he even think about her after everything he went through due to her fault.  It just doesn't make sense. I mean I realize that if you truly love someone, love will always bring you back together. However, does he truly love her? Or is it just some crazy obsession and intense feeling?  There comes a time where you must let go of certain people because they aren't good for you. After everything he has gone through how has he not managed to simply do that?! It's not rocket science!!

Another thing that I noticed that confused me is the differences for each character.  The two characters that really astonished me with their differences were Pangloss and Martin.  They are the exact opposite! Here we have Dr. Pangloss saying that "everything is for the best" (page ) and then we have Martin stating the fact that world and life itself was made to "drive us mad." (page 94) How can that make any sense to Candide or the reader? What is he supposed to believe?  It's as if Martin and Pangloss, together, form the perfect definition of life.  One sees it for it's positive characteristics and the other sees life for its negative characteristics. Isn't that what life truly is?! Negative and positive things happen to people so that they can learn from their experiences. How has Candide not learned anything?

I swear. This book is just going to continue with the same story of Candide running into people he already knows and then having a terrible or wonderful experience that he learns nothing from. I honestly find this book ridiculous. I know it is supposed to be filled with dark humor but I see it filled with stupidity.  It is common sense to not repeat the same mistakes twice unless the person really wants to.  Also, the things that happen to Candide are dumb and aren't really that entertaining. Will the book have any point to it in the end?

Someone Finally Got It Right

"I am afraid Pangloss cruelly deceived me when he told me that all is for the best in this world." (page 43) Someone finally got it right! Pangloss' moto was incorrect! Like I said in my last blog, things happen for a reason, but not necessarily for the best.  It all depends on the person's opinion and what they think of the event.  Cunegonde has proved me wrong and has learned from her mistakes.  She has become wiser and now sees the flaws in what Pangloss used to tell her and her classmates.  Will Candide ever learn from his mistakes? Will he become wiser?

When Candide is in Cunegonde's new home visiting her, the owner of the house and attacked him. "It so happened that the old woman had given our worthy Westphalian not only a suit of clothes but a beautiful sword, which he now drew, and gentle though his manners were, laid the Israelite out on the floor, dead as a door-nail, at the feet of the lovely Cunegonde." (page 44) Then the Inquisitor arrived to the owner's house to pick up Cunegonde when he found the owner dead on the floor. "His (Candide's) reflections were clear and rapid; and without giving the Inquisitor time to recover from his surprise, he ran him through and laid him beside the Israelite." (page 45) How did Candide learn to be so handy with a sword? I mean he killed two men in two minutes and didn't even hesitate.  I am sure that these men had to be skilled in the art of swordsmen, so was it all luck? Did he even know what he was doing? The first one was ready to fight back so that is what shocks me the most.  The second death was not as incredible because the Inquisitor was in a state of shock.  Is Candide finally becoming wiser? Is he going to continuously be a night in shining armor? Only time will tell.

Guess What This Chapter is Going to Be About... Go On! I Dare You.

Pangloss and Candide somehow get on a boat with James, the Anabaptist.  They start their journey when all of a sudden a storm hits and James eventually falls overboard because a sailor pushed him. "He (Candide) wanted to throw himself into the sea after the Anabaptist, but the great philosopher, Pangloss, stopped him by proving that Lisbon harbor was made on purpose for this Anabaptist to drown there." (page 33) Ok seriously I know that their motto is "everything happens for the best"since life's motto is very similar. There is a famous quote that says "everything happens for a reason"and I agree with it. Therefore I can see why Pangloss stopped Candide from jumping into the harbor.  It was James time to die even though it was an untimely death, but I think that Pangloss is using his motto in the wrong way.  Instead of saying, "Don't do it because it was his time to leave us," he says not to because the harbor was made for his death. That is incorrect.  I am 100% positive that the harbor was made for different reasons, more important reasons.  Harbors are used natural reasons and they were created naturally by the oceans.

Voltaire puts Candide and Pangloss through so many unfortunate events, like the earthquake, shipwreck, loss of James, being poor, etc.  It seems like he is taking the pleasure in making fun of Candide's misfortunes.  He keeps bringing in more problems but keeps making Candide think that everything is for the best.  "'This earthquake is nothing new,' replied Pangloss; 'the town of Lima in America experienced the same shocks last year. The same causes produce the same effects.  There is certainly a vein of sulphur running under the Earth from Lima to Lisbon.' (page 34) He tells Candide this because he was freaking out about the earthquake.  When Pangloss tells him this, the reader can tell even more that he isn't the best philosopher.  He continuously makes the same mistakes by explaining things in the wrong way.

In the next couple of chapters nothing interesting happens other than what the subtitles tell you.  For example:

• Chapter 5 Describing tempest, shipwreck, and earthquake, and what happened to Dr. Pangloss, Candide, and James, the Anabaptist 
• Chapter 6 How a magnificent auto-da-fe was staged to prevent further earthquakes, and how Candide was flogged
• Chapter 7 How an old woman took care of Candide, and how he found the lady he loved

Since the chapters are two to three pages long nothing really seems to happen.  It's frustrating because then I don't even want to read the chapter.  Every time I do it ends up being the same thing as the subtitle.  How can Voltaire give it away? No, it does not give specific details but it gives the reader a main idea of what the chapter is going to be about.  There is absolutely no element of surprise and that is just annoying. 

Curiosity Killed the Cat? NO. Stupidity Killed the Cat.

After Candide is kicked out of Westphalia life becomes the exact opposite.  He gets depressed and won't stop moaning about his stupid life.  I say stupid because he is literally retarded!  Two men see him and invite him to dine with them.  Candide says that he doesn't have the money to pay for the dinner so the men reply that they would help him because: "Thats what men are for, to help each other." (page 23) Men were definitely not created to help each other.  They always want something in return, any kind of payment. If any stranger invited me to dine with them and told me that they would pay for it I would naturally ask what they wanted in return.  It just isn't in our nature since we are, sadly, kind of greedy. The ignorance of this man continues when the men ask if he is some sort of admirer.  "'Are you not a devoted admirer...?' began one of the men in blue. 'Indeed I am,' said Candide earnestly, 'I am a devoted admirer of Lady Cunegonde.'" (page 23) Here, I must admit, his response was not air headed. The Bulgars were not exactly clear by what they meant so naturally I thought, "Lady Cunegonde, duh! He has only been complaining about loosing her for the past five or six pages." 

After that nice little dinner the Bulgars capture Candide and traine him for some type of war against the Abars. (To be honest, I don't even know what Bulgars and Abars are.) "Those who have never seen two well-trained armies drawn up for battle, can have no idea of the beauty and brilliance of the display." (page 25) What is so beautiful about a battle field full of blood and suffering people? What is so brilliant about killing others that you don't even know and who have done nothing to you? These are the questions that haunt me every time I read that sentence.  After reflecting on those questions Voltaire quickly contradicts himself and describes the horrid scene of what's left after the battle. "Old men, crippled with wounds, watched helplessly the death-throes of their butchered women-folk, who still clasped their children to their bloodstained breasts." (page 26) This reminds me of the Volturi in Twilight.  The similarity of the names kept making me think of Twilight and then the idea of people contradicting themselves came up in my mind and then I realized that the Volturi do the same thing!  I know you are probably thinking, "What the f*$k?!" I mean what does a young naive boy have to do with vampires and werewolves? The truth is... they have absolutely nothing in common except one thing. In the book (and movie) the Volturi (vampire leaders) always contradict themselves when something has to do with Bella Swan (main character).

After the war he escapes from the Bulgars and along his journey he finds Dr. Pangloss.  He starts talking to him and obviously asks about the love of his life.  Dr. Pangloss tells him that she is dead and Candide goes off whining: "'Cunegonde is dead!' said he. 'Oh, what has become of the best of worlds? . . . But what did she die of? No doubt it was grief at seeing me sent flying from her father's lovely mansion  at the point of a jack-boot?'" (page 29) His "show" is just as dramatic as Romeo and Juliet's! Romeo had no reason for killing himself. That just caused Juliet to kill herself because Romeo had died for her.  Then there is Candide. He goes on and on and on about the world having no meaning and it being over due to the death of Lady Cunegonde.  At least he didn't kill himself, but I mean seriously?! Romeo and Juliet were married. They were husbad and wife! What were Candide and Cunegonde? They had kissed and that's about it. Since there are so many references to Romeo and Juliet, I am starting to wonder if this novel is going to be a funny version of Romeo and Juliet but with different  events.