Candide

Though he''s the illegitimate nephew of a German baron, Candide grows up in a castle under the tutelage of the scholar Pangloss. Pangloss is so enraptured by the Enlightenment—an era of prosperity and intellectual growth—that he proclaims the world to be "the best of all possible worlds." As an adult, Candide tries to cling to this optimistic philosophy despite experiencing a series of horrible mi...