In the very beginning of the book Candide, Candide gets kicked off of the grounds where Cunegonde and her family lives. He was kicked off of the grounds because he was seen kissing Cunegonde from behind the curtains and I believe other minor sexual explorations may have occurred.
In today’s standards, I believe that the harsh measurements that the family of Cunegonde went to in order to punish Candide would be very much so over the top. Nowadays kids only get a talking to. They get away with a very small tap on the hand in some cases. It seems that this leads to many of the issues that society has today with behavior issues among children and teens which did not seem as present in the old days. In this case, in today’s society, more than just a tap on the hand is required, although it is not so serious as to kick someone off of your grounds. I believe that a stern talking to, for BOTH of the participants, would be in order letting them understand that kissing is aloud and all, but the sexual behaviors should be saved until they are older and married.
In the standards of those days, I believe they went about the issue just as any household, or important household, would have. In those day and ages, some minor things were taken to be very important and in many cases, one could have lost their life over such an issue or been banished from some Kingdom.
All in all, I feel that the punishments that Candide received did NOT suit his crime. But, in the end, he was pretty lucky for being kicked off of their grounds seeing as he would have more than likely been killed in the attacks on their family.
I really think that children should be give more than a tap on the hand. In order for them to understand what sometheing truly is for the more mature people to explain why.
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