Suriname
Suriname is a country on the north-east coast of South America, a Dutch colony until 1975. In Voltaire’s Candide it is where Candide meets the maimed slave and renounces optimism.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candide | Voltaire | turning point | The maimed slave shows Candide the price of sugar; he renounces optimism, is robbed by Vanderdendur and chooses Martin |
Sub-places
Candide — Voltaire (1759)
Source: Candide · Original · Readwise highlight
I see a town which I take to be Surinam, belonging
- Role: turning point
- In the book: Leaving El Dorado, Candide and Cacambo reach the Dutch town and meet a slave missing a leg and a hand, who says ‘This is the price at which you eat sugar in Europe’. Candide renounces Pangloss’s optimism. He sends Cacambo to ransom Cunegonde, is cheated of ship and sheep by the merchant Vanderdendur, is fined by a judge, and picks the scholar Martin as his companion to Bordeaux.
- Why it matters: One of the book’s most direct attacks, on slavery, and the moment Candide first rejects optimism. It also costs him most of El Dorado’s treasure.
- Real vs. fictional: The text calls the town ‘Surinam’; the colony’s town was Paramaribo, but the book never names it.