A Color-Coded Adventure

In Candide, Voltaire employs a color code to differentiate people’s different intentions towards other people. Evidence has proven that the color ‘black’ identifies those fanatics who wish terrible harm on a select group. We find people throughout chapters 3 and 5 who are given a black accessory. The “little man in black” (35), an inquisition officer at the end of the 5^th chapter, has dark intentions. He is a religious fanatic, as is the preacher of chapter 3, who indoctrinates charity, but ruthlessly refuses it to Candide for being an unfaithful. This “gentleman in the black gown and his wife” (27) are too religious zealots.

There is one person who Voltaire smudges with a hint of blackness in chapter 3. Dr. Pangloss, although completely benevolent, contains a trace of close mindedness. It is also possible that the color black does not symbolize maliciousness at all, but rather pure intolerance to anything foreign, for, in his way, Dr. Pangloss too is a fanatic. As opposed to the others, this radicalism is philosophical, as opposed to the religious extremism of the others. Also, Dr. Pangloss’s darkness is represented by his “teeth were black” (28), and we get the impression that he wishes to better himself by gaining tolerance when Voltaire said that “at every bout which he spat out a tooth” (28). It is also possible that Dr. Pangloss’s newly discovered evil is foreshadowing his future actions. It may be that while he is good now, Voltaire is warning us of his forthcoming transformation.

The color blue signifies the partial altruism of people like who helped Candide in his time of need. Good-hearted people like those who helped Candide find some food, like, the “two men in blue noticed him” (22) are the epitome of a degree of kindness which demands something in return. This is a service that is not truthful, but rather costly and conditional. I will be attentive to other mentions of colors in this novel, particularly blue, so that I can clearly define attributes it gives to characters.