Francois-Marie Arouet, more commonly known by his pen-name "Volataire-, was born in Paris on November 21, 1694. His formal education took place at Jesuit College Luis-le-Grand, where he studied Latin and Greek literature and Drama. His father wanted him to pursue a degree in law, but Voltaire chose to devote his life to writing. Before writing Candide, Voltaire went through a lot in his life that probably inspired his seemingly radical views on life, and the rejection of "Optimism-, the philosophy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, which sates that the universe is rational. Voltaire found it impossible to justify the actions of the universe after witnessing the great earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 that killed tens of thousands of people, as well as the devastating Seven Years War that followed in 1756. Having experienced the wrath of a chaotic world, Voltaire logically concluded that the universe runs unregulated, and presents his philosophy satirically through Candide.
Candide was born in Westphalia, a province in western Germany, in the great castle of Thunder-ten-tronckh. Candide's family tree is a bit hazy. Old servants of his say he was the son of the baron's sister to a man of the neighborhood, but they never married because the gentlemen was not sufficiently noble according to his genealogy. Candide, along with Cunegonde and her brother were raised under the tutelage of the family oracle, Pangloss, who taught the "metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology- (12). Pangloss guided the children through there youth and beyond into adulthood, always stressing the idea that there is no effect without a cause, and "for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end- (12). Everything is the best it could possibly be. .
Now that the philosophy soon to be satirized has been presented, Candide goes through a chronological series of horrible events that ultimately have him, and his traveling side-kicks, searching for his love Miss Cunegonde.
