El Dorado, Kansas Essays

  • The Hero's Journey By Joseph Campbell

    984 Words  | 4 Pages

    When you hear the term “Hero”, you often imagine a person with a cape flying across town, a person with superpowers fighting unusual looking monsters to help keep your community safe. As a child or even at an older age, you’re asked about one person that you admire. You may look up to that particular person because of the journey they have decided to take. You follow in their footsteps, because they’ve showed you who they were, who they wanted to become, and who they became. I never considered myself

  • Examples Of Satire In Candide

    497 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unapologetic humorous satire is the main goal in Voltaire's novella “Candide”. Positive concepts such as love, religion, and optimism are cast in a negative and comedic fashion under his pen. The one area in life that is ridiculed mercilessly is optimism. This is a continuous theme throughout the story. Candide, the title character and main protagonist, is a wide-eyed lad that has become indoctrinated in an over-zealous philosophy of optimism. All credit is due to the “brilliant”, aptly named,

  • Optimism As An Ideal In Voltaire's Candide

    418 Words  | 2 Pages

    Optimism as an Ideal Voltaire presents the character of the protagonist Candide: “The Optimist." Received the principles of optimism from his teacher, Dr. Pngloss, who lives constantly under optimism, based on theoretical philosophical argument rather than realistic evidence or experiment. However, In the disordered world of the novel. Pangloss and his student Candide maintain that “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds”

  • Voltaire's Candide: Literary Analysis

    581 Words  | 3 Pages

    The selections are from Voltaire’s Candide which is about Dr. Pangloss and his pupil Candide which appears to support each other. One would speak their mind while the other would approve of had been said. The surprise to the reading would be that the two Portuguese were burned for not eating bacon, and Candide was flogged while Pangloss was hanged. It was assumed that the Portuguese were Jews. According to Sayre (2015), the men were burnt because they would not eat bacon, (p 840 – 841). The reader

  • Symbolism In The Kugelmass Episode

    1529 Words  | 7 Pages

    Mary Carrell Composition II Dr. Davis 4 February 2018 Literary Elements Many people often enjoy reading something that brings a smile to their face. Authors use different literary elements to help this happen. Humor, being a main cause for one to enjoy a reading, is heavily associated with irony. Irony happens when the author uses words, actions, or even events to show something conflicting to what he or she means literally. These elements are demonstrated in the short story, “The Kugelmass Episode”

  • Comparing Pascal's 'Thoughts And Candide'

    1602 Words  | 7 Pages

    Throughout Pascal 's "Thoughts" and Voltaire 's Candide they communicate their pessimistic views of reality, but their views of the human condition contrast in various ways. Voltaire uses the protagonist of his story to represent hope and as a result of this character 's determination, he is able to survive the struggles of life. In addition, Voltaire writes of a character that continues to persist past unfavorable circumstances in hopes of life getting better. Lastly, Voltaire expresses that when

  • The Corruption Of Family Names In Voltaire's Candide

    1305 Words  | 6 Pages

    companions and acquaintances are brutally killed and a few turn out to not be as dead as expected. In the end, Candide and company do not end up with an ideal happy ending that was expected. Cunégonde becomes unattractive and the money gathered in El Dorado is used up or stolen,

  • Voltaire's Use Of Optimism In Candide

    1119 Words  | 5 Pages

    The novella Candide (translates into optimism) is a work of Voltaire used to express his thoughts on optimism, injustice, and philosophy. Candide is introduced as a naïve and simple-minded optimistic boy, which then evolves into a practical and tough young man in the conclusion. Candide’s motivation of his love for Cunegonde takes him on a journey of self-improvement, filled with injustice and a change in philosophy. Will Candide’s journey give him another perspective on his philosophy or will he

  • Literary Analysis On Don Quixote

    741 Words  | 3 Pages

    Briano 1 Julian Briano Mrs.Watson English 101 29 September 2017 Don Quixote: SIFTT Literary Analysis Don Quixote is a Chivalry-based book written and published by Spanish Author, Miguel Cervantes. The book was introduced in two parts that were published in 1605 and 1615. Miguel Cervantes was born in 1547 into a poor family and joined the army at 21. He fought until 15785 where he was captured and sold to Moors where he was imprisoned. He attempted escape multiple times until his eventual ransom

  • The Moral Tales In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

    1010 Words  | 5 Pages

    What would a satisfying tale be without consisting of a moral lesson and some entertainment? As one can notice in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, there are many tales told that consist of both values. In this book various different pilgrims are on their way to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas á Becket. As they travel they are told to tell four tales, two on the way there and two on the way back. The pilgrim that presents the tale with the best moral education and the greatest

  • The Dynamic Character In Voltaire's Satirical Piece 'Candide'

    279 Words  | 2 Pages

    The protagonist of Voltaire’s satirical piece, Candide, is notorious for his naivety and innocence seen throughout the course of his travels. As he experiences both, the good and the evil, he undergoes changes as a dynamic character. Candide’s gullibility in the beginning of the story is evident when he is coerced into the Bulgarian army and faces a tough decision: whether to be striked thirty-six times by the regiment or to be killed with poisonous lead. His initial response is that “human will

  • The Corruption Of Tragedy In Voltaire's Candide

    1210 Words  | 5 Pages

    conflicting perspectives on how to interpret human nature and the world around us. Candide’s boredom with the life around him becomes a constant factor throughout the text and appears prominently when Candide resides in the castle, when he arrives at El Dorado, and when he decides to settle on the farm. Voltaire uses these situations to depict boredom’s detrimental effects and to suggest that boredom leads to all tragedy. The text begins by describing Candide’s residence at a castle in Westphalia. Candide

  • Kateb Yacine's Intelligence Powder Analysis

    1638 Words  | 7 Pages

    Kateb Yacine’s Intelligence Powder is a play that looks at post-colonial Algeria and how France affected it as their oppressor. In July 1962 Algeria achieved independence after a bitter war lasting over seven years. Some 300,000 Algerians died to win their nation's freedom. The war was fought brutally on both sides, but the need for a violent independence struggle was deeply rooted in the violence French imperialism had imposed on Algeria for over a century (Birchall, n.d.). The hero of Intelligence

  • Unadmirable Things In The Odyssey

    836 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are 2 people embracing each other. You can tell that they love each other. There are tears of joy that are rolling down their cheeks as they hug. It is a reunion of sorts with onlookers crying as well. Odysseus is finally reunited with his loving Penelope. However, does he truly deserve such a happy ending after all that he has done. Throughout both part 1 and 2 of The Odyssey Odysseus has done a number of unadmirable things that show that he does not deserve such a happy ending. In part

  • Summary Of Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition

    1812 Words  | 8 Pages

    In Hannah Arendt’s book, The Human Condition, she discusses what it means for man to be truly free. She coins the term “vita activa” to mean the active life of man. She divides the “vita activa” into three foundational human activities: labor, work, and action (7). In this essay, I will be focusing specifically on Arendt’s idea of action and freedom and how it relates to Isaiah Berlin’s Two Concepts of Freedom. Arendt’s account of freedom as action does not really correspond with Berlin’s idea

  • Degeneration In H. G. Wells's The Time Machine

    1501 Words  | 7 Pages

    Ray Lankester’s Degeneration: A Chapter in Darwinism (1880) puts forward the theory of evolutionary degeneration, a theory which H.G. Wells expanded on in his own novel, The Time Machine (1895). Wells’ presentation of mankind’s degeneration, the Eloi, reveals the cultural anxiety of how mankind, having prospered beyond the drive of necessity, could adapt into a more vulnerable state. Many critics have focused on Wells’ overt allegorical warning to humanity not to degenerate into the Eloi, however

  • Motifs In Voltaire's Candide

    838 Words  | 4 Pages

    novel. One of the main motifs is the garden. This motif was mentioned multiple times throughout the book. The first time is when Candide was kicked out of castle because of his relationship with Cunégonde. After being kicked out, Candide ends up in El Dorado in south America which has beautiful landscape but he doesn’t stay there for a long time and leaves to find his love. Finally, Candide and all the important characters he found throughout the book end up on a farm where they live for the rest of

  • Voltaire's Use Of Utopia In Candide

    780 Words  | 4 Pages

    revealed to Candide that the picturesque village is in fact a sprawling kingdom named El Dorado. In this kingdom children play with precious jewels and emeralds because of the little materialistic value they bear in this society. This deflation of currency also eliminates the need for prisons within the city and allows for every person to focus on developing their intellectual understanding of the sciences. In El Dorado, not only are the shackles of poverty set free, but the persecution between citizens

  • Candide Enlightenment Analysis

    890 Words  | 4 Pages

    Voltaire’s Candide: Essay Assignment Voltaire’s Candide represents the ideas of the Enlightenment in many ways. It embodies the main ideas of the Enlightenment; progress, optimism, and reason in more than one instance. Pangloss and Candide’s views embody optimism and Martin, reason. Candide by Voltaire, is an excellent representation of Enlightenment ideas. Voltaire’s character Pangloss is the epitome of optimism in the book Candide. Throughout the story, even in extremely harsh times, Pangloss

  • Theme Of Optimism In Candide

    667 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Folly of Chosen Foolishness When pondering life it is common to find that optimism is at the root of every natural disaster, war, misfortune, and tragedy. No matter the circumstance, there are often multiple individuals left blindly hoping for the better. Voltaire’s novel, Candide, is a representation of Voltaire’s stance on this unrelenting optimism. The protagonist, Candide, and various characters are left facing various complications that offer an insight into their outlook on life. Voltaire