Page 147 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

valet, “he had been choirboy, sacristan, sailor, monk, merchant, soldier, and lackey,” leading one
to believe that with such worldly experience it would be impossible for him to exhibit even the
slightest inkling of naïveté, but this is not the case (Voltaire 375). Ervin Beck writes, “Cacambo
is a kind of neoclassical golden mean between the extremes of Pangloss and Martin,” which I
believe correctly identifies Cacambo, as he is not completely naïve 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’s escape from Buenos Aires, seems to share
the same naïve optimism as his master Candide and Professor Pangloss. Cacambo, speaking of
Cunegonde states, “She’ll become what she can” and that “women can always find something to
do with themselves; God sees to it,” 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 naïvely 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 naïvely served his master-turned-friend to an end that did not necessarily serve
the best end. Voltaire writes that “Cacambo who worked in the garden and went into
Constantinople to sell vegetables, was worn out with toil, and cursed his fate” thus reconciling
his naïvely 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, “Martin embodies the pessimistic notion
that ultimate reality defies a rational accounting and can be known only through a manichaestic
mythology” (204). Martin’s problem lies in his interpretation of the experience: it appears that

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