Themes in Candide
The corrupting power of money is a primary theme that I believe has taken a central stage in the nine different concepts illustrated in the Candide story. When Candide got a fortune in Eldorado, it was like most of his challenges had been solved. The issues like the arrest and the injuries to the body were no longer threats as he could easily bribe his way out of most situations. The practice shows a concept of humanism which is a concern of humanity, uniquely using specific approaches to solve human problems, like the avoidance of arrest and body injuries. However, as a rich man, Candide is still unhappy. The lack of happiness has come from the experience of seeing his money go to the hands of the corrupt merchants and also some officials testing his optimism in a manner that inhibited flogging.
The experiences get associated with empiricism where the knowledge gets derived from the sense of experience. Also, the concept of pagan self-reliance is seen in the story where Candide has a full reliance on himself to solve problems. His optimism seems to hit the all-time low after he is cheated on by the Vanderdendur. The event made him choose Martin, a pessimist, to join him in his travels. In the travels, he became familiar with numerous cultures, an aspect that describes the cosmopolitan concept. He tolerated Martin in his travels because of the condition on the situation he was put to by the corrupt officials. Candide’s money ended up attracting fake friends. The money he had did not provide the freedom of solving the problems he wanted. Instead, it made him powerless creating at least as numerous problems at it solve.