Reading Comprehension

1. How are the aristocrats in the New World different from the ones left behind in the Old World?
2. Why does Cunegond decide to dump Candide for Governor Don Fernando 
   d'Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza?  Do you agree with the old woman’s advice to Cunegonde? What about the ideal of love?
3. Why does Cacambo risk his life again and again to save Candide?
4. How do the Jesuits govern Cadiz? Is the New World paradise any different from the Old World?
5. Who does the Reverend Commandant turn out to be? How does he live? How do his peasants live?
6. How did Cunegonde’s brother survive the Bulgar hordes and become the leader of a Jesuit mission in South America?
7. Why does Candide kill his old friend?
8. How does Cacambo save Candide after that unfortunate affair with Cunegond’s brother?
9. What happens when Candide saves the girls by shooting the monkey men that had been chasing them?
10. What did the Biglugs plan to do to Candide and Cacambo?
11. What is the most basic law of nature? Can it be described as evil?
12. Why do the Biglugs decide to free Candide and Cacambo?
13. What is Voltaire’s vision of  “man in the state of nature”? How does it differ from Hobbess' and Locke's conceptions?
14. How did Candide and Cacambo find their way into El Dorado?
15. How is the economy managed in El Dorado?  
16. What is the one rule for the citizens of El Dorado?
17. How do they practice religion in El Dorado? Do they have priests?
18. What is the primary function of the government of El Dorado?
19. Why does Candide reject utopia? What do you make of this choice? Why does Cacambo want to leave too?
20. How do Candide and Cacambo leave El Dorado? What do they take with them?

Extra Credit: What is an equerry?