Martin feels very out of place in this story to me. He’s a philosopher like Pangloss but he’s VERY different from him. The most obvious difference is that while Pangloss is optimistic Martin is the exact opposite, he is pessimistic. While Pangloss sees the world as butterflies and lilies, Martin sees the world as an unforgiving place. Martin is also much more intelligent and more logical than Pangloss which makes his philosophy much more believable than his optimistic counter-part, and to me, more reliable. We confirmed today in class that this is satire, even the characters. It makes me wonder then, what is Martin suppose to represent? Knowledge? Pessimism? And how would it affect Candide as the continues?
Speaking of Candide, as I read, I noticed that he was going through a sort of change. During the beginning of the entire piece it seems like he was willing to follow Pangloss ideas, but after the inclusion of Martin, Candide began to be a little bit more knowledgeable and began to show disbelief in Pangloss philosophy, although his belief came rushing back whenever anything good happened to him. At the end of the novel I felt there were was a lesson that Candide learned, follow the pessimist! But seriously, for 30 chapters, Candide goes on a long and absurd journey to reunite with the one he loves while maintaining an optimistic despite knowing himself the dangers he got himself into. His reward? Cunegonde, of course, who has lost her beauty and now Candide doesn’t want to marry her. Hey, maybe Martin was right, maybe the world is unforgiving to those who is blindly optimistic.