Comparing Candide 'And A Modest Proposal'

Human beings have exhibited signs of irrationality as well as animalistic behavior. Why this deportment occurs is a question that continues to be unanswered. Voltaire’s Candide & Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” both explore the nature of human beings along with how a majority of them tend to think irrationally. The purpose of these two works of literature is to identify human nature in a negative light. Swift states what the problem with the intrinsic nature of human beings is. It is simply that they show an indifference to the suffering of others. We also get a sense that cannibalism is present in Swift’s proposal, and it is not something that is normally practiced. In Candide, Voltaire shows how humans are cruel to one another. The novel may

Candide travels to this island with his servant, Cacambo and immediately notices that the scenery is quite different as compared to Westphalia. For instance, he describes the land as being well developed, the roads were crowded with people and also sees how well behaved the children are. He even mentions that the people there are brought up to despise gold or emerald once he sees that the village schoolmaster had “Smiled and dropped them back on the ground” (44). Now, normally if someone were to drop jewelry, gold, or emerald for that matter, they will most likely lunge or try to harm you for it. Candide and Cacambo are given basically a tour of the city, and what they hear surprises them when they ask about the law courts, the court of appeal and whether or not there were any prisons. The response they had gotten form the grand officer was surprising when he says, “There were none, nobody ever went to court and that there were no prisons” (48). Candide believed that this was the ideal place to live, but due to his pride he wanted to make it on his own and he too refused gold that was offered to