Evoking The World’s Critiques Through Metafiction

Basically, there was this man writing a blog about metafiction the evening of October 4th, 2009. As he sat in his milieu, ideas about optimism, love, the stories of the Old Woman and Lady Cunegonde, the notable satiric elements employed by Voltaire, etc. Feeling attracted towards these two stories and their liaison with metafictional technique, he started writing: “Basically, there was this man writing a blog about metafiction the evening of October 4th, 2009.” He thought that metafiction was present in Candide through the inclusion of Lady Cunegonde’s and the Old Woman’s stories. Stories within the story. On the other hand, I though it should be better to write about the importance of optimism in the story. This virtue is present through the characters present, and how they keep this merit alive throughout the harsh events this nouvelle presents. But he kept writing about metafiction, and his desire to develop it was present as he concluded this first paragraph and moved into the second.

As the story of Lady Cunegonde starts, the narrator shifts from being a third person omniscient to the lady herself. We could surmise that the narrator evokes the figure of Voltaire himself, who uses the story to serve as a satire. We can find examples of satire throughout the text, but my focus right now is metafiction not satire, unfortunately. He kept writing about the stories within the story, but now satire seemed to interrupt his aspiration of this entry. To continue, I must tell you that he found a crucial quotation that helped him concentrate on this topic of metafiction: “I am afraid Pangloss cruelly deceived me when he told me that all is for the best in this world” (43). He told you before that about the change of narrator. Before, the successions of events were told in relevance of the third person narrator. But now, the narrator of this story within the story is Lady Cunegonde. By being her in first person, we as readers can dive through her emotions more directly and understand her point of view towards life. In effect, we see how she shares her deception towards Pangloss’ philosophy of the “best of all worlds”. After all the grievances she suffers, she questions that philosophy, just as Candide once did.

He kept writing about metafiction. I believe his ideas were regrouping finally after that shaky embryonic stage of this actual entry. What he wrote next was: Another narrator shift occurs when the Old Lady tells us her story. Similarly to that of Lady Cunegonde, being told in a first person perspective allows the reader to understand the different perspectives people have of this perfect word God created. Hence, by employing metafiction Voltaire not only self consciously addresses to the story itself, but also boosts his critique of the world with different points of view. In this case we already have four different perceptions: the narrator’s, Candide’s, Lady Cunegonde’s, and the Old Woman’s. They all have in common the same thing: their stories are satires of this “best of all possible worlds”. In terms of the Old Lady, we “haven’t had misfortunes like mine to bear, I assure you” (48). She is another victim of this perfect world. She is another critique of the puppeteer who moves us puppets trough the scenario. In the end we are all actors within a play, and our stories are within fate’s story. He finished writing. Quite satisfied with the result of his entry he concluded: “Oh what a misfortune to be without balls!”