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Nicholas Petrovich

Nicholas Petrovich on Chapter 12:
March 14, 2010 at 5:21 pm

Sections 11 and 12 of this chapter create ambivalence on the idea of optimism. As Joseph said in this thread, our spirit can survive, proving life to be worth living. And as Jacqueline said in thread 12, the old woman proves optimism to be wrong, for everybody has been unhappy. What is Voltaire’s purpose of these conflicting feelings? Could this be a foreshadow to the end of the novel? They decide to live life without complete devotion to philosophy. Is this chapter saying that there are going to be different views on optimism, so why bother spending life deciding which is right? We should just live with whatever goods and bads come our way.

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