Life Between the Lines

When we read through humorous stories like Candide , we might have a chuckle or two at minor jabs towards ideas, people, and the like, but there's often a few things that might go unnoticed such as the careful euphemism describing rather close interpersonal connections between one Dr. Pangloss and one chambermaid. This is not a phenomenon exclusive to this passage either; chances are that we've missed a couple hundred punchlines (at the very least) in our lives, but we'll never realize that we've missed them. It's kept me up at night a few times, and I think this passage from Candide helps to demonstrate a few reasons why we might not realize why something is funny. 1. We don't understand the social or historical context. Especially while reading older books like Candide , I've found myself confused at times by the social hierarchies and the cultural references thrown around throughout the book. While I've certainly tried my best to do enough Googling to...

 “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise”  - Thomas Gray On July 24, 2019, an asteroid  roughly the size of a football field came so close to Earth that the distance between the asteroid and Earth was roughly one-fifth the distance between our planet and the Moon. Despite its size, we were unprepared, and scientists didn’t discover this asteroid until the very day it passed by Earth. Had it been bigger and had it actually struck Earth, what could we have done? If there’s an hour until civilization is wiped out, would it be better not to know? Some Earthlings (myself included) would hopelessly continue to seek the Truth even if no further action was possible, whereas others would plug their ears in blissful ignorance (although in today’s age, "asteroid" would be trending on Twitter within minutes). Oedipus, the overly curious king from Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex , is insistent on learning the Truth, filled with such stubbornness that he eventually takes the ...