Candide's Punshment. Do they fit the crime?

In Candide, poor Candide suffers from punishments that hurts him physically and emotionally. His first "crime" was nothing more than a kiss to his love Cunegonde. One might say a person that cannot trace his bloodline should not have affection and a relationship with royalty, but Candide and Cunegonde had mutual feelings towards one another. Yet, Candide was punished for the kiss and was kicked out of Westphilia. In this instance the punishment does not fit the crime.

However, Candide later becomes a murderer, killing the Grand Inquisitor and Don Issachar. Although he killed Don Issachar due to self defense, he later killed the Grand Inquisitor just to prevent future problems. Later on, it was discovered and he was forced to flee without Cunegonde. Not being with her yet again was another punishment that was served to Candide. Although this time I believe the punishment was fitting of the crime.

Candide and Pangloss were also punished for supposedly causing the storm that killed most of the people in one of the towns. Pangloss was hanged, and Candide had to partake in an auto-de-fe. This punishment did not fit the "crime".

Through Candide, Candide faces many road bumps, he constantly loses the woman he loves, and he also is punished for many things. I think Candide's punishment for certain crimes were fit, and to some were not. It all just depends which of the many alleged crimes we are focusing on.

The Modern Gadfly

Back in the old days, Socrates was known to be someone that questioned everything about anything and he would constantly disrupt the status quo. He would question, ethics, religion, and nature. Now in the present, we take advantage of knowledge gained from these gadflies and we don't ask questions ourselves. So who may represent a modern gadfly? My best example would be to use myself.

I am the modern gadfly, if you think of Jonathan Eng, most of the time you would think of me as an annoying guy questioning any aspect of life.

Having born in a Chinese family, I have been raised in a way that is different from a traditional American family. I was never exposed to religion, as opposed to most who are every Sunday, and the way I viewed the world is completely different from a lot of my peers. I remember Sophomore year I followed some of my friends to an after school church sponsored program, where half the time was spent playing games, while the other half of the time was spent learning about Christianity. During the half spent learning I was exposed to an entirely different idea of how the world was created. Learning about how God said "let there be light" was entirely different from what I've always known as the big bang creating our planet. Since I was never exposed to this belief, I started to ask and question,  "how could this happen if....." or "then how could that be true if...". I was a Gadfly during those times, because I would question everything I was learning because I was not accustomed to it. I believe I stirred up things in which I questioned someone else's opinion, annoying them in the process.

A social gadfly such as Socrates and myself, is someone who questions life, while annoying others in the process by poking holes through their beliefs. I believe that questioning everything is beneficial in life because no one person in life is ever 100% right about everything, and questioning everything and every point of view is the best way for a person to learn and develop their own beliefs of the world.

The Unexamined life is not worth living?

When Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, I couldn't agree more. I do believe that a person should take the time out of the day to examine themselves and to know themselves better, because the better we know ourselves the better we become. If I constantly live a life that is dull and just let all the motions move, can you even call that life? In order to live a full life I believe that one must constantly learn from themselves.

I apologize for always talking about baseball, but for example baseball: In a typical day I analyze everything that goes on in the game of baseball. It may be my swing, the pitcher, or maybe even the weather. In order to learn from prior life experiences, in this case past baseball games, I must examine the past experience I've had. Examining and learning from past experience is the only way humans can become better in life. If I was to play the game of baseball without examining all the aspects, I would not be successful at all because I would not learn from my failures. This can easily be tied back into life, if a person does not take time to examine themselves and learn from prior experiences, what really is their life then? There wouldn't be a light at the end of the tunnel for them to strive for.

Although Socrates says its "not worth living" these words sound very harsh. But remember, Socrates' quote was in Latin or Greek and that quote could have been translated in a harsher manner, therefore if you believe that the quote is harsh please examine yourself.

Me

Hello, my name is Jonathan Eng. Welcome to my blog. Today is September 4th, 2014 and it is also the day I have gained the rights to buy lottery tickets and other things 18 year olds can buy. I am excited to be 18, yet I'm saddened to think about all the crazy things I missed out on as a "child". This year I will be a senior at Whitney M. Young High School and I am excited to say that I will be attending New York University for the next 4 years to play baseball as well as educate myself in their Business School. Baseball is a huge factor in my life, most of my time away from school is spent playing and practicing the game. Besides baseball I do enjoy other things such as, hanging out with my friends, watching TV, or yelling at my neighbor when he takes my parking spot. My life is pretty simple and I try not to create and complications, I just like to enjoy myself and have fun. There are still many goals that I have set for myself in high school that I do hope to achieve before the year ends. These goals include, winning a city championship, going to the Dinner of Champions, finishing high school strong and with distinction, win re-election for Class Secretary, and to make the best out of senior year. Although many of these goals might be left unfulfilled, I just hope that I can leave Whitney Young with no regrets,