Lovely review, Harry. Candide is one of the regular successes in the college first year classroom, precisely because Voltaire is not cynical. The students get his point about the absurdity of optimism quickly and easily, and they're engaged; but they then don't quite know what to do with the pragmatism that follows. Or with the comic lack of consequences: sure, Pangloss gets syphilis but he's still there with the community debating Martin in the end; sure, Cunégonde is violated, stabbed, and grows ugly, but she survives and becomes a decent cook. When deaths are revealed to have been near-death experiences, how can we not be just a little pleased with the unexpected good fortune?

There's something about the nature of Voltaire's satire that always works with students, I've found. They think about what it means to "cultivate your garden," and it matters.

Take care, my friend.