Crime and Punishment (of Candide)

I’ve avoided this entry because I have no idea how to fill 250 words with my answer to the question of whether or not Candide’s punishments fit his crimes. They very obviously and intentionally do not. Voltaire specifically makes Candide suffer comically disproportional consequences for his minor wrongdoings. He went for a walk and was therefore a deserter of the Bulgarian army and deserved the execution he narrowly escaped from by pardon! My original plan was to play along with Voltaire’s comedic theme by justifying everything that happened in the story, but I found myself uninspired, and I still doubted that would fill the word requirement. Did Candide’s punishments fit his crimes? Of course not.