A’sana Hicks Mrs. Minchella English 11 January 18, 2017 In the novel Of Mice and Men, the author John Steinbeck makes it clear that George and Lennie face obstacles as they travel from ranch to ranch to make a living. The setting of the novel took place in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Lennie and George worked at a ranch that was located in Salinas Valley, California. George’s action was correct at the end of the novel.
Harry S. Truman’s idea to drop the atomic bomb during World War II was a bad idea, it caused around 210,000 people to die and many of parts of their land and buildings were destroyed or ruined, it also had the scientists who made the bomb, ask the president to not use the weapon they had created and caused many after radiation effects. The after-effect of Harry S. Tuman’s plan to drop the atomic bomb was a bad idea because it caused the death of 210,000 people in only two bombs. There were multiple bombs during the war, and overall they killed way more people than the two bombs did overall. But statistically, the number of people who died during the bombings was far more than the number of people who would die during 5–6 bombings.
The novel Candide, written by Voltaire, portrays the adventures and experiences of the main character named Candide. Being a very honest man, a character like Candide can be easily swayed and convinced to do and believe anything. From carelessness to greed, the reader can clearly understand that Voltaire ridicules many decisions and situations that occur in the novel. One of many themes Voltaire mocks in the novel would be how greed can result from wealth. What Voltaire is ultimately conveying to the reader is that money cannot buy happiness.
Voltaire’s Candide is a far-fetched humorous tale satirizing the theory of optimism as promoted by Rousseau and other philosophers of the Enlightenment age. The tale follows the adventures of Candide throughout the world where he witnesses disaster and evil. Throughout his adventures, the young man followed his tutor’s teachings believing that all is for the best (Voltaire, 1991). Voltaire uses the character Candide to counter optimism that he considered as an absurd ideology. Throughout the book, Voltaire attacks the philosophical optimism and all the systems that falsely justify the presence of disasters and evil in the world (Wootton 2000).
Voltaire’s Candide takes us through the life and development of Candide, the protagonist. Throughout his adventures, he witnesses many travesties and sufferings. Like many Enlightenment philosophers, Pangloss, Candide’s tutor, is an optimist; this philosophy was adopted by many to help mask the horrors of the eightieth century. Pangloss teaches Candide that everything happens for a reason. Voltaire uses satire, irony and extreme exaggerations to poke fun at many aspects; such as optimism, religion, corruption, and social structures within Europe.
Voltaire is well known for his suggestive satirical work, especially his masterpiece Candide. Candide is a timeless piece still relevant today, that was written to warn the public about the consequences of radical optimism (Online-Literature 1). The main character, Candide, is a naïve and trusting young man who is banished from his home. Despite his life being filled with a series of bizarre disasters, Candide holds fast to his optimism – which serves as an example to readers. Voltaire emphasizes the dangers of radical optimism by incorporating tone, themes and utilizing satire in Candide.
The fall of optimism Throughout the tale of Candide, Voltaire attacks many of the popular movements in his contemporary philosophy some of the most obviously targeted by these criticisms are organized religion, and the themes of philosophical speculation as well as optimism and disillusion. With the Voltaire seeks to disillude his readers, to take away the nobility and the selflessness they associated with people of power wither that power be intellectual, religious or given by rank. Candide shows the huge division between the way the world actually is and the way it is many philosophers and religious leaders explain. “the teachings of religious groups and philosophers that were popular during Voltaire's life are made to looks laughable
Moreover, situations these forces create, and how they are beyond and within the control of Candide. Leading to Candide’s final beliefs, and how they illustrate the follies of optimistic determinism. At the beginning of Voltaire epic Candide is a naive scholar. He strongly adheres to the beliefs laid out for him by his mentor Pangloss.
The novella Of Mice and Men contains a number of different themes throughout the literary work. Throughout the chapters, the reader learns the themes of friendship, dreams, loneliness, among others, the three of which will be analyzed in this essay. Of Mice and Men is a novella written by John Steinbeck that takes place during the 1930s in Soledad, California. In the story, two men named George and Lennie search for opportunities during the Great Depression. The experiences that they go through can be concluded as a theme of one or multiple.
One key facet of living in the world today is the ability for people to have free will over their own lives. In Voltaire’s story “Candide,” it is clear to observe that although Candide is free to form his own decisions, he allows himself to be strongly determined by his surroundings as well as everyone who he encounters. This story proposes that Candide is trying to find a balance between submitting completely to the speculations and actions of others while also taking control of his life through blind faith. Throughout the story, Candide encounters frequent hardships along his voyage to prosperity. These obstacles include, but are not limited to becoming a bulwark, being beaten and forced to watch his beloved Pangloss having been hanged, leaving such an amazing place as Eldorado, being lied to and tricked out of diamonds by the abb`e, killing Cunegonde’s two lovers, almost being boiled alive for killing the monkey lovers, and being persuaded to be promiscuous on Cunegonde.
In any written piece, tone plays a major role and Voltaire uses this tool to portray his opinion towards those who are radically optimistic,and to the idea of optimism by creating a dual attitude system. Through this system, he proves his point by making the reader to see from his point of view. Through the names of his main characters; Candide and Pangloss, Voltaire mocks the audience as well as anyone who is radically optimistic. Pangloss’s name is greek for “all tongue” while Candide means “naive and childlike honesty.” With these definitions in mind, readers can infer that Pangloss’s teaching really had no actual meaning and that ignorant Candide was mislead by his teacher’s philosophy.
After all the experiences that Candide endured to be with his love, he examines three philosophical schools; optimism with the philosopher Pangloss, Pessimism with Martin, and with reality in turkey. He realizes that not all things are optimistic where everything is good and prosperous. And not from pessimism, where everything is gloomy and miserable. He stays in the middle where lies the reality that matches the real world. ( Voltaire, 1761, p.94)
In Candide by Voltaire, Candide was always blind sided by the world beyond the castle and the harsh, but true events that occurred outside of the bubble he was living in. Ideas from a well trusted role model of Candide, Pangloss, told him to live life thinking that everything happens for a reason. Some people do live with this mind set, but for all bad situations is there really something good that always comes out of it? Today’s society is a world where sometimes it is not safe because of terrorists, where women are objectified, and people have a screen to hide behind where endless bullying occurs. If Candide were to take place in a modern setting, he would be able to see much more clear how everything does not happen for a reason.
When he is forced to leave this life behind him, one follows Candide’s slow, painful disillusionment as he experiences and witnesses the great injustices and hardships of the world. This text is a satire in which Voltaire satirises Leibniz’s Optimism “not only by the illogical travesty of it which Pangloss parrots throughout the story, but also by juxtaposing it with various atrocities and disasters which the story provides…” (Pearson xx). Voltaire rejects this system of thought, as Enlightenment ideologies try to use “logic and reason [to] somehow explain away the chaotic wretchedness of existence by grandly ignoring the facts” (Pearson xxi). It is in these lines that one can discern the disillusionment that Voltaire was feeling with the world after the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake (Pearson xix).
Voltaire’s Candide is a story of a young man’s adventure and how his experiences change his philosophy on life. Although Candide’s adventures begin with a rather positive confidence that he lives in “the best of all possible worlds” his attitude is quickly transformed when he realizes the world is in fact full of evil. In
