Q 01/05

Which legendary land does Candide stumble upon, a hidden kingdom with no prisons, lawsuits or monks?

A) Atlantis

B) El Dorado

C) Cockaigne

D) Avalon

Answer · why

B) El Dorado

El Dorado is the one happy society in the book, where children use gold and jewels as playthings. Candide still leaves after a month because he misses...

Q 02/05

Which city is flattened by an earthquake just as Candide and Pangloss reach shore after a shipwreck?

A) Naples

B) Cádiz

C) Messina

D) Lisbon

Answer · why

D) Lisbon

Lisbon really was destroyed in 1755 by an earthquake, a tsunami and fires. The disaster convinced Voltaire that a world this cruel could not be the be...

Q 03/05

In Candide, which item does Pangloss say noses were made to carry, proving everything has a purpose?

A) Spectacles

B) Moustaches

C) Face masks

D) Snuff boxes

Answer · why

A) Spectacles

Spectacles, says Pangloss, are the reason noses exist, just as legs were plainly designed for stockings. Voltaire uses the backwards logic to mock thi...

Q 04/05

Long before Candide, Voltaire was twice locked up in which Paris fortress for offending the mighty?

A) The Conciergerie

B) The Bastille

C) The Temple

D) Vincennes

Answer · why

B) The Bastille

The Bastille held him for eleven months over a satirical verse about the Regent, and again in 1726 after he challenged a nobleman to a duel. He took t...

Q 05/05

In Candide, a maimed slave says his lost hand and leg are the price of which luxury Europe enjoys?

A) Coffee

B) Tobacco

C) Sugar

D) Indigo

Answer · why

C) Sugar

Sugar cost him a hand to the cane mill and a leg for trying to run away. The sight makes Candide cry out that he must at last give up his tutor's chee...