What do you make of the “speed” of the text? Why does the narrator fail to linger over any ...

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What	do	you	make	of	the	“speed”	of	the	text?	Why	does	the	narrator	fail	to	linger	over	any	 of	the	gruesome	details?	For	instance,	if	you	take	a	look	at	Candide’s	experiences	during	the	 Lisbon	earthquake	(Chapter	Five)	we’ll	see	typical,	central	patterns	of	Voltaire’s	work.	 Again,	why	is	every	thing	moving	along	so	fast?	What are	the	effects	generated	by	this	 speed?	Perhaps	the	failure	to	linger	over	any	of	the	gruesome	details	helps	to	suggest	that	 they	are	not	too	serious	after	all.	Of	course,	the	lack	of	apparent	seriousness	also	depends	 on	their	emphatic	fictionality	(the	fact	that	this	is	fiction	is	emphasized).	Because	the	 narrator	himself	seems	unconcerned,	seems	to	think	that	these	things	don’t	matter	much,	 we	are	reminded	that	they	belong	to	the	realm	of	imagination.	If	they	had	really	happen,	 they	would	horrify	both	the	narrator	and	us.	The	larger	question	here	is	not	merely	the	 “speed”	of	the	text	itself.	This	could	just	be	a	jumping	point.	If	we	dwell	on	– and	work	on	 understanding	– these	effects	we	enlarge	our	understanding	of	the	workings	of	satire.	For	 instance,	satire usually	depends	on	exaggeration	and	unmistakable	distancing	from	the	 actual	to	enforce	its	comments.

Somudranil · Accepted Answer

Last Name:	5
Title: Voltaire’s Candide
Contents
Discussion	3
Works Cited	5
Discussion
As the ship happens to sail towards to Lisbon on which Candide is boarded it is reiterated very clearly in chapter 5 as the sky becomes very gloomy. Much of the event is implicative of the fact that the sabotaging of the city took place, which works at the subtext of the novel (WILLIAMS). However, if looked closely from the time when Candide steps down on the land and observes the distorted reality. It takes us back to the historical massacre in Geneva where Voltaire was posted where the death toll went up to 100000. These happen to be excessive and the flow of the novel thereby is explicative of the fast tempo in which it flows. Since Voltaire had witnessed the magnitude pertaining to the catastrophe that has been considered one of the deadliest earthquake in the history of humankind.

What do you make of the “speed” of the text? Why does the narrator fail to linger over any of the gruesome details? For instance, if you take a look at Candide’s experiences during the...

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