Page 147 - 名媛直播 - Knighted 2019

valet, 鈥渉e had been choirboy, sacristan, sailor, monk, merchant, soldier, and lackey,鈥� leading one
to believe that with such worldly experience it would be impossible for him to exhibit even the
slightest inkling of na茂vet茅, but this is not the case (Voltaire 375). Ervin Beck writes, 鈥淐acambo
is a kind of neoclassical golden mean between the extremes of Pangloss and Martin,鈥� which I
believe correctly identifies Cacambo, as he is not completely na茂ve to believe the world is all
good, but also not too worldly to believe that everything has a negative outcome (203).

Cacambo, first mentioned during Candide鈥檚 escape from Buenos Aires, seems to share
the same na茂ve optimism as his master Candide and Professor Pangloss. Cacambo, speaking of
Cunegonde states, 鈥淪he鈥檒l become what she can鈥� and that 鈥渨omen can always find something to
do with themselves; God sees to it,鈥� naively reassuring his master Candide that Miss Cunegonde
will be fine, but not having any idea of the suffering she has already endured (203). Throughout
the rest of the story Cacambo continues to na茂vely serve his master-turned-friend with an
unfaltering loyalty. It is not until the closing chapter that I believe Cacambo has had a profound
revelation: he had na茂vely served his master-turned-friend to an end that did not necessarily serve
the best end. Voltaire writes that 鈥淐acambo who worked in the garden and went into
Constantinople to sell vegetables, was worn out with toil, and cursed his fate鈥� thus reconciling
his na茂vely loyal service with worldliness in a world that was not the best of all possible worlds
(Voltaire 411).

Like the old woman and Cacambo before him, Martin too has had many worldly
experiences that has helped to shape him. His role in this story seems to be to counter the
teachings of Professor Pangloss. As Ervin Beck writes, 鈥淢artin embodies the pessimistic notion
that ultimate reality defies a rational accounting and can be known only through a manichaestic
mythology鈥� (204). Martin鈥檚 problem lies in his interpretation of the experience: it appears that

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