Candide's punishments, do they fit the crime?

Throughout the story and what I have read so far, Candide's punishments definitely do not fit the crime. The reason is simply that in order to suffer punishment, there has to be a crime that is equal to that given punishment. Although Candide is guilty of being naive, the punishments he has faced do not match to it. At the beginning, Candide was trying to get closer to Cunegund. In result, he was exiled from his home and from everything he knew. This then led to other unjustified punishments that only seem to get worse. The banishment led to Candide being found by Bulgarians that beat him and put him in the cruel situation of having no choice but to see the remains of a war. Even though I do not think that the punishment Candide received in result of the "crimes" he committed were fair, I do believe that that is Voltaire's point. Upon reading this book, I know that Candide is a satire. By Voltaire having Candide to endure and receiving too harsh punishments for actions that do not seem to be crimes at all is a part of the satire. What is Voltaire making fun of exactly? I think he is making fun of those in power that do not analyze the wrong doings of their subjects properly, yet they still react and follow through with actions that change or even destroy the lives of people that are directly affected by those actions. By being "right" in all things, (for most rulers) their decisions go unquestioned. But although that with Candide it is obvious, for a much more difficult situation to judge, what really is a fit punishment?

The Modern Gadlfy

First, I would like to begin by asking, "What exactly is a gadfly??" So by simply googling this word, I found that a gadfly is “a person who upsets the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions”. In today’s society, it’s hard to identify any one person as the modern gadfly, but personally, I believe that the modern gadfly is teenagers. Teenagers who always seem to rebel one way or another, whom finds unique ways to stand out in our daily lives, teenagers whose personal choices overall goes against society norms of the previous generation. The perfect example for teenagers being modern gadflies is because-although this isn't necessarily a good thing- teenagers don't just give away their respect to those older than them simply because they are old. Instead of complying to that traditional form of manners, teenagers ask "Why should I respect someone just because of their age?" and the way that question is answered by the more "mature" population is that because they are wiser than teens and "children" need to learn to respect that level of knowledge, age, and experience. But me being a teenager (and a modern gadfly), I don't agree with this answer. I believe that some teenagers know more than our elders, most teenagers experience a lot of things just like the adults, and that age doesn't make you smarter than me. I know plenty of adults or older people that are more naïve than I am. There are adults that I just can't engage in an intellectual conversation with no matter the topic. There are also adults that just are people that don’t deserve my respect. Like the old saying goes "Treat others how you wish to be treated." So if I'm treated poorly by whomever, regardless of your age I will not tolerate it. My respect has to be earned and I really don't give it lightly since there are so few people that have shown me that they can be trusted with it. So although I sort of veered off of the topic of the modern gadfly, I believe that being a teenager in a more open minded society than before, that it’s easier to question things and the people we are surrounded by. It's easier to disagree with societal norms such as the "respect your elders" deal.

The Unexamined Life is not worth living??

I'm not sure whether or not if I completely agree or disagree. I think that living your life entirely is worth it regardless if you actually question and speculate at the many aspects of the many forms of life. But I also think that what also makes life so spectacular and invigorating is that we spend our whole lives wondering about why and how we are here. "Here" may not just be the world, or school or even a particular career (though that is also an important part of most people’s livelihood). I believe that "here" is something deeper and harder to really understand and/or explain. "Here" could be the path that we have chosen to walk or was forced into living through. Whether life has been relatively easy sailing or constant storms no matter where you may turn. What makes it easier to handle living life and continuing on that hard journey is thinking in more complex way and wondering more about oneself and our purpose of being alive. Although I think living life without questioning anything and just living and experiencing whatever may come is a type of life that many people may have, crave, or agree with, but having doubts and questioning the norms of society and also challenging it is what makes us have something to live for. So I guess I now agree that "The Unexamined Life is not worth living" and I think/feel it's mainly because through doubting, questioning, challenging, and -hopefully- changing what we mainly go along with in our daily lives, it defines our history and humans and it also defines our individuality. So through examining our lives I believe we then develop the opportunity to discover our meaning, our truths, our uniqueness, and our worth as living being.

Me

I'm a senior in high school. I am seventeen years old but i will be eighteen in October. I've been wanting to attend this school since the fifth grade, but I didn't know about the academic program until my freshman year. So thats that. I like anything Chinese. I started liking the culture since I was about six because both my mom and dad liked the culture. So by the time I got to high school I began to learn Chinese. This summer, I was selected for a scholarship to study abroad in China for six weeks. I lived with a host family and got to improve my speaking, comprehension and writing the language. I was also able to know more about modern China as well as the history and culture. Besides Chinese, writing poems, short stories, reading, dancing, listening to classical rock, and laughing are my favorite things to do. Halloween is my favorite holiday and autumn is my favorite season. My ideal weekend is staying in the house while its raining, reading non-stop, and drinking tea. I don't know how to ride a bike (i know, shocking), and I am too afraid to drive a car so  I will forever be a pedestrian. I have seven siblings (an older brother, three older sisters, a little sister and two little brothers) and I am basically the middle child. I have two nieces and three nephews. My plans for college is to double major in Comparative Literature and Chinese and to minor in Creative writing. I eventually want to become a college professor. Meanwhile, i want to study abroad in China as much as possible.  So yeah...