I can say Martin is my favorite character in Candide probably because I would say I'm mostly a pessimist like he is. Now, I don't go looking for the bad in things, but I think it's impossible to always try to look on the bright side of a situation because sometimes the circumstances are just shitty (excuse my language). The other day in class I said that pessimism is just as bad as optimism--and this is true. Constantly searching for good news is just as tiring as looking at the negative side of things. I'm not arguing that people should be pessimistic rather than optimistic, but I'm going to give my explanation of why I think being pessimistic is just a more realistic route. NOT TRYING TO OFFEND YOU OPTIMISTS OUT THERE.
If something good happens to a pessimist, he/she is like "Woah, that was great!" He/She wasn't expecting anything to happen, but because it did it was a bonus. And if something bad happens, he/she is like "Oh okay, well I had a feeling this was going to happen." With an optimist, if something great happens he/she is like "Awesome! Knew it was gonna work out like this!" Or if something not so great occurs, he/she is like "Noooooooo how could this happennnn:((("
What I'm about to say is probably going to lose some people in this discussion but try to bear with me (I even confused myself trying to put all of this into words)... The definition of pessimism is "a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen." Though I identify as a pessimist and I do sometimes lose confidence in the world around me, I think too much negative thinking is annoying and I'm not promoting that. My pessimism comes out when I'm thinking realistically. Would this make me a pessimistic realist? (Is that even a thing?) For a real life example, I'm applying to specific universities I know for a fact I'm not gonna get in based on the fact that they don't accept students with test scores below a certain number. I'm just being real! I can't be positive about it and pretend that I'm going to get in because when I don't I would be sad. I definitely think positive thinking is a key to finding success, but you can be a pessimist and still do well in life, too.
I feel like pessimists get a bad rep--people think they're insidious or depressed. Maybe some of them are haha I don't know (no worries, I'm not), but to be honest they're just being rational. It is impossible to just ignore the bad news in the world and pretend like everything is perfect. Being an optimist might help one sleep better at night, but the truth is that there is bad in the world and it can't go unrecognized.
We were all annoyed with Candide (the optimist), but I don't recall anyone saying they didn't like Martin (the pessimist)! 🐸☕️
I'm expecting some heated rebuttals in the comment section...
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6 comments:
It would certainly be harmful to be completely optimistic. Like in that old saying, "hope for the best and plan for the worst," there is no need to pretend that everything is how it should be and that everything will work out in your best interest. But in order to enjoy life, I feel it is necessary to have hope.
The key, then, is to actually take action to prepare for what might happen. Extreme optimism and pessimism both numb the individual and plant the idea that human action is futile. Our lives are ultimately in our own hands and problems are unavoidable, so we should act and make good things happen instead of whining or accepting everything as the best possible outcome.
As to whether the glass is half full or half empty, my take is that you have half a cup of water/whatever liquid, and there is no need to waste time wondering whether life is good based on that. It is up to you to go out and gain more things to fill that cup with if you cared about your liquid level.
First of all, "Noooooooo how could this happennnn:(((" made me chuckle. Second, as the greatest wordsmith of our generation Lil Wayne said in his ballad entitled "6 foot 7 foot" circa 2011, "glass half empty, half full I'll spill ya." LIl Wayne, like myself (and @Jack from what he has said above,) does not have time for nonsense such as pondering if life is mostly good or mostly bad. Like Jack and Abbey both said, too much of anything is a bad thing. Being overzealous about positivity or negativity will result in you being consumed with those thoughts. I like to take life as it comes to me, although I do usually attempt to see the good in poeple/a situation. If you deliberately go out of your way to see the bad, like a true pessimist, you will never grow as an individual or help better the situation. Good works require positivity, but they also have the need for true rationality, or everything would be put into perspective of La-la-land.
Optimism ftw
Voltaire was definitely commenting on human folly on either be too optimistic and too pessimistic. At the end of the novella we learned that the main reason to live is to survive. Being too pessimistic and optimistic is not a good trait for survival, because like Candide shows us he gets beat up a lot and robed and decived. Martin the pessimistic character doesn't live a much better life because he goes along with Candide and has the same miseries. In the end when the two have learned from each other they end their days surviving.
I agree that my most relatable character in the play is definitely Martin, he was also one of the few characters in the story that actually made me laugh. I also can be very pessimistic / realist, and perhaps it is a little dark of me to find Martin's lack of faith in humanity to be humorous. I enjoyed Martin's arguments about how the world has gone to hell and his doubts in god. One of my favorite parts in the story is when Martin and Candide are on the boat together after Martin finishes explaining his view on the world around him and Candide's red sheep floats back to him and he's like "see martin, god does punish evil doers" and Martin was like "yeah well then i guess the devil was the one who killed all the thousands of others" and it just sort of proved his point that the good was losing and evil was taking over, and Candide's optimism was shot down. 10/10 IGN Would relate to again.
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