8, 9, 10 & 11

Voltaire's Candide seems to be a whirl wind of misfortunes. Every character in his book goes through the most horrid things, only to enter into more calamity.
Cunegonde's parents are killed, she is raped by a Bulgar, and a Bulgar captain, then sold to a Jew who then shared her with a Grand Inquisitor. Poor Cunegonde, after suffering so much, now has to flee from the grand house she had been staying with Candide and an old woman who was her maid. So, she gathers together the jewls that were doted upon her, and together, they ride towards Cadize.
Then in the next chapter, we find them in yet another adversity. All of Cunegonde's jewls and moidores have been stolen, and now they are completely broke, trying to get to Cadize. They then have the idea to sell one of the horses, and the old woman will ride behind Cunegonde. However, she mentions that it will be very difficult "I can hardly keep my seat with only one buttock" (47). Nevertheless, they sell the horse, and they persevere towards Cadinze.


Cunegonde and Candide then start to complain about all of the troubles and mishaps that have been swung their way. This leads the old woman to tell her story:





She tells them about how she once very beautiful, and rich. Then, how she was captured by pirates, raped, and then brought to the forsaken Morocco, which was "swimming in blood" (51) when they arrived. There, she witnessed her mother's death, along with the deaths of her handmaidens and all of the other captors and captives. She then told them that she crawled to an orange tree, and collapsed with grief underneath its shady branches, only to be awakened by a "man of fair complexion" (53).
Was the author trying to be funny when he wrote this book? Giving all of these people the hardest lives, in order to poke fun at people who say that their lives are so terrible? I can not imagine going through the hardships these characters are being put through. Thank goodness this is not a real story!