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Comparing Candide And Frederick Douglass's Autobiographical Narrative

1360 Words6 Pages

Both Voltaire’s satiric novel Candide and Frederick Douglass’s autobiographical Narrative chronicle the lives and struggles of two young men. Each young man experiences injustices in the course of his development. Candide faces his struggles by seeking material gain. Douglass faces his by discovering and applying his inner strength to find reliable sources to aid him in his journey. The result of Candide’s journey through life is unsatisfactory and unfulfilling while Douglass achieves self-actualization and continues to help others by fighting to right injustices. In his quest to become a free man Douglass is self-reliant, resourceful and focused while Candide in his quest to marry his love Cunegonde is naïve, greedy, and selfish. The …show more content…

Candide technically has a “slave” or “servant” that helps save Candide’s life. Another being the genre the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass is nonfiction while Voltaire’s Candide is a work of fiction. The other being the style in which Douglass believes he is hopeless, while Candide is optimistic.
In Chapter eighteen Candide and his servant Cacambo find Eldorado by luck after their canoe crashes against some rocks they walk until they find this wealthy community where children are playing with emeralds, rubies, and diamonds like they are toys leaving them places haphazardly, inns are also operated for free by the government there; Candide and Cacambo are able to eat a feast for a king. After a while Candide realizes he can’t stay here any longer, because Cunegonde isn’t there with him. Before he leaves he brings along with him “two great sheep, saddled to serve as steeds, thirty with presents containing those of rarities of Eldorado; fifty with gold, jewels, and diamonds.” (Voltaire,

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A marriage between a noble and a commoner would be a violation of a Great Chain of Being. The Baron attempts to maintain the social hierarchy of the Great Chain of Being by forbidding the marriage of Candide and Cunegonde. Human suffering breeds existentialism, which causes people to question their place in the world. People with miserable lives often ask themselves why they were cursed with such a burden, but they do nothing to end their suffering. After the old woman shares her tragic story with Cunegonde, she berates herself for still wanting to live, in spite of everything she has been through: “This ridiculous foible is perhaps one of our most fatal characteristics; for is there anything more absurd than to wish to

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