"I grew up more handsome still, and the reverend father Croust … took a fancy to me"

"You know, my dear Candide, what a good-looking I was; well I grew up mor handsome still, and the reverend father Croust, the father superior of the house, took a fancy to me. He made me a novice; and shortly after, I was sent to Rome because the Father General of the Society needed some young German Jesuit recruits." (Candide by Voltaire. Pg 66). C'mon hahahaha, this is just hilarious. It's a nonstop chain of "insults" against the church. It is widely known that Jesuits (like the Catholic church) have always condemned homosexuality (and pedophiles even more), so the irony could not be bigger, when the reverend is sexually attracted to the Colonel as a small boy. And I cannot help but connect, that statement of the reverend's sexuality, with the fact that he got sent to Rome. Why did the Father General of the Society need young German Jesuit recruits? Was it for the same reason the reverend father took interest in the colonel in the first place?

There's something that I've been wanting to mention since Cunégonde's story, but I always get immersed in writing about other things. Anyway, now that I remember, I can't help but think it's very ironic how the main characters are the only ones who survive in their tragic stories. In Candide's story, every single person dies except him; in Cunégonde's story, everyone dies (although her brother survived until Candide kills him) except her; and in the old lady's story everyone dies except her.

I just caught on to another criticism that Voltaire has been going on since the beginning of the book: a criticism on aristocracy and the marked difference of social classes. "An excellent dinner was served on gold plates, and while the Paraguayans ate their maze on wooden dishes in the open field in the full blaze of the sun, his reverence the Colonel retired to the shade of his arbour." (Candide by Voltaire. Pg 63). Even before this quote (right before) Voltaire mocks the Colonel's arbour with an absurd description of how it was. This theme actually appeared in the first part of the book, when Candide is kicked out of the mansion because he was kissing Cunégonde, and she was of a higher class than him. This criticism isn't as funny as that one of the church, but I do like it very much, plus, this quote specifically criticizes how the Europeans treated the native people: as of they were scum. And I agree very much with Voltaire right there, even today I feel anger towards the way the Europeans treated the natives and plundered their treasures.