Humor? Or Critique?

My father has always been a very sarcastic person. I have become used to hearing that type of humor, yet I never imagined my father’s ironic jokes would ever be useful.  But as I started reading Candide, I thanked him in my head. I was able to perceive all the sarcasm and irony that were camouflaged among the text.  

The first thing I thought when I got to chapter 2, was that the book reminds me of Charles Chaplin. I saw one of his films, “The Great dictator”. It used satire to target Hitler and Nazism.  Even dough he was being funny, I could tell his jokes were more of a critique.  As I saw this film, I was constantly aware of looking at the message within the humor. That is how I feel as I read Candide. I always need to be aware to perceive the actual purpose of their jokes. For example: “Those who have never seen two well-trained armies drawn up for battle, can have no idea of the beauty and brilliance of the display.”(Pg. 25) Here Voltaire is applying sarcasm. We all know that war is not beautiful and definitely not brilliant. His sarcastic joke is actually a critique to war and how people perceive it.

Throughout the book, the term “sufficient reason” has been used multiple times.

“Finally, the bayonet provided ‘sufficient reason’ for the death of several thousand more.” (Pg. 25)

Characters use it to justify certain actions that may be inadequate.  I’m sure it is used in an ironic way, I’m just not really sure of its meaning. That is one of my main questions right now. It reminds me of the “so it goes” in Slaughterhouse Five. I really hope that by the end of the book I will understand the true meaning of “sufficient reason”.