Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Rape- War Crime
As we have recently discussed in class, rape is a huge aspect of Candide thus far. I can't believe that rape is such a common element during the war. Cunegonde and the Old Woman both have experienced rape. I think it is horrible that woman are used to hurt men of a certain country. I think that this is a clear example of how women are thought of as property.
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I also believe rape holds a significant role in Candide. Voltaire satirizes the subject of rape but also points to many of the sad truths of rape. Both Cunegonde and the Old Woman graphically describe their rape yet in the end, act almost as if this is normal in war circumstances. I feel like Voltaire is demonstrating the atrocities of war and how, in war, extremes become normalities.
The amount of rape in Candide shocks me as well. I think it's interesting that rape was a crime intended to upset the men, and not women(because they were seen as "lower" than men and were types of property). The recurrence of rape throughout Candide also reminded me of the rape and war crimes in Tin Drum.
Rape is referenced when Cunegonde mentioned that she could "resist the Jew better than the soldier." I find it ridiculous that the women in society felt that it was their responsibility to stop rape. It shouldn't have been happening in the first place. In Candide's society, rape was viewed as the victim's fault, not that of the perpetrator. Therefore, if a woman was raped, she was considered weak since she was unable to prevent it from happening.
The ideas of rape and genocide are nearly inseparable. Aside from physical domination by killing off a race, sexual domination hurts just as bad. Which only leads to genetic domination.
Like I've mentioned before, a prime historical example of rape as a war crime is the Armenian genocide. True Armenian blood is the purest white blood there is; Armenia rests in the middle of the Caucus mountains. That's why a true-blooded Armenian has light skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. But I don't. And that's probably because I have a lot of dominant Turkish blood from rapes during the Armenian genocide.
I also had not expected this amount of rape in Candide, but it is surely there for a reason. Voltaire writes about this subject through the dialogue of his characters, who seem to accept it as regular warfare. Clearly he is satirizing this unfortunate reality, and I believe that his purpose is to expose one of the many atrocities of the time.
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