Fight Of The More Unfortunate Misfortune

Sometimes, comparing current circumstances to more unfortunate ones helps promote optimism. An example of this technique to cope with reality is mentality of the hobo prisoner of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. The forty year-old hobo was in Pilgrim’s boxcar when he claimed that he, “”been hungrier than this”, the hobo told Billy. “I been in worse places than this. This ain’t so bad”” (68).

In the same way that this hobo endeavors to convince himself of the “positive” circumstances, so do Cunégonde and her maid, Abigail, struggle to pursue happiness. Ensuing Candide’s banishment from the Baron’s estate, Voltaire illustrates the woman’s despair and desolation. Her loss of hope is clear during the conversations between Candide and his lover, Cunégonde.

The maid gets tired of listening to the complaints, and so, to lessen the desperation, she alleges that she has been through much more than her employer. In comparison, Cunégonde’s terrible past is shriveled once Abigail’s life is evoked. She successfully communicates her opinion when she uproariously complains about “’The way you both complain!’ exclaimed the old woman. ‘You haven’t had misfortunes like mine to bear, I assure you’” (48). There is irony in the thought of having to recount worse experiences to endure unfortunate ones. Must we be optimistic only by extreme comparisons?

The great irony occurs in the next line, for this fight for hopefulness becomes just that: a fight. When “Cunégonde started to titter with laughter, for it was amusing of the good woman to pretend to be more unfortunate than she” (48), she was not fighting for the worse past, but for the better perspective of the present. It is ironical that in a time of crisis, these people must fight for the worse past in order to be satisfied with the present. If Cunégonde’s past is proven “better” than her maids, then her present will not seem as terrible as she believes it to be, and all her complaints will appear childish. Although she would be granted a degree of gratefulness (for her past is not as bad as her maid’s), she would be silenced. They are fighting for the “better” misfortunate past. This irony is sickening.