Candide's Punishments, Do They Fit the Crime?

From the beginning of the book up until Chapter 19, we've seen a shift in Candide's behavior. The only reason I wouldn't call him bad is because I don't think he is aware of his behavior and how they way he is acting has shifted from being that blank slate in the beginning. When Candide and Cacambo reach Eldorado, they are suddenly living in a world that has almost everything they could want. The only thing Candide was missing was his love. I support his decision to leave Eldorado to go find Cunegonde but the way Voltaire described their plan of departure made them seem as if they were leaving because of greed. While I was reading about how Candide and his servant left Eldorado with tons of riches, I simply knew it couldn't end well. It was almost as if the greed had overtaken their critical thinking skills. It doesn't even make sense in my head to assume that all these sheep with riches and food would survive the treacherous journey from Eldorado.

By the time the two reach Surinam and encounter the negro, I was hoping that all that Candide has experienced would make him less naive. Just seeing how the negro was treated should have sent up a red flag before he even entered Surinam. At this point in the book Candide has turned into someone who thinks he can just throw money at all of his problems and without realizing it he is setting himself up as a target. When he encounters Mr. Vanderdender it is as if he has no regard for the value of money and in one sense it is beautiful that he loves Cunegonde enough for this but at the same time he's dealing with someone who he has seen isn't the nicest man and the instant I say that Vanderdender was the one that would take Candide to Buenos Ayres, I knew he would lose his riches.

I think Candide deserved to be stolen from and to be fined the way he was when he went to the judge. In my opinion he was spinning out of control and as much as I wanted him to learn his lesson, he didn't and continued to throw money at people to be his companion on his journal. The constant unsettling twist throughout the story is that while Candide is committing all these moral evils, he isn't aware of the way it looks from the outside and maybe the point that Voltaire is trying to make is that those who commit evils may not see them as evils, thus creating this imperfect world were everyone's views are different and you can punish the wrong do-ers and they still don't learn their lesson.

How do I know what I know?

One thing I know is how to do a clean double pirouette. Admittedly, they aren't always executed properly but in theory I know how to complete it.

In order to know this, first off someone had to explain it and teach me. There are always those people who tend to mock pirouettes jokingly and end up looking ridiculous (especially in a dancer's point of view) and at one point that was me. When you're being taught how to do even a single pirouette you don't start turning right away. There many different steps and aspects of the body that need to be taken into consideration before you can just fling your body in a circle.

It all starts with a teacher showing you how to go to posse (toe to the opposite knee). Then after that you practice balancing that posse on your toes. After that you practice preparations and finally, you can execute a single turn. Even though these sound like easy steps, there are so many things that could go wrong and I learned that the hard way. When teachers give me corrections about my turns, even at my level of dance I get exposed to new things and new aspects to help me execute properly.

While I was in North Carolina at UNCSA for a summer intensive this past summer, I learned a really good tip that I hadn't been very aware of when it comes to turning. I know to bring my foot to posse, turn out, plie, hold my center, and spot a specific place in the room, but I wasn't aware of my arms being opened too wide or my upper body tilting back. After a few ballet classes I began to get the hang of turning properly.

So although I may not execute a turn perfectly every single time, I have experienced doing them well on several occasions. I know how to do a clean double pirouette from experience.