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believe this bitterness exists with hatred towards Professor Pangloss as he now co-exists with

him on Candide’s farm (Voltaire 413). Likewise, Candide’s bitter attitude and lack of desire to

marry Cunegonde (Voltaire 411–12) does not mean that he hates Cunegonde, but that he simply

did not fully understand love, as his views were skewed at that age when they first exchanged

affection.

Naïveté and worldliness both play a significant role in this story. Candide was not a

stupid man, but simply a man that was misled from youth by Professor Pangloss. Upon his

journey he meets several others who too have their own moments of reconciliation; for Candide

it is not until the end of his odyssey and realizing the worldly experience he has gained that he

forfeits his naïve views of the world and love. Cunegonde was naïve enough to believe her

horrors were the worst anyone could face until her encounter with the old woman. The old

woman was forced to reconcile life as Martin stated it, “bound to live either in convulsions of

misery or in the lethargy of boredom” (Voltaire 412). Cacambo naïvely served his master-turned-

friend until the bitter end when he realizes where his naïve loyalty has lead him. Martin, with his

naïvely pessimistic views that there is little or no good in this world, finally realizes that the only

true happiness is living without speculation.

Ultimately reconciliation between naïveté and worldliness was found through analysis of

each of the characters, as well as their interactions with one another, but for our titular character

Candide, I believe reconciliation has been the hardest. As Candide suffered through the trials and

tribulations along his odyssey to retrieve Miss Cunegonde, Candide comes to the realization that

the world he has learned about was tainted by the teachings of a man seeking reconciliation in

his own life. Supposing Candide’s naïveté had been replaced with a truthful observation of the

world that awaited him, then it is quite possible the story presented to us may be one of great

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