HS117 - Candide by Voltaire Essay - Guevara 1 Ashley...

Guevara 1
Ashley Guevara
Professor Harel
HS 117
December 20, 2012
In the book “Candide” by Voltaire we see the main character Candide being influenced
by a philosopher by the name of Pangloss. Pangloss’ philosophy has to do with this being “the
best of all possible worlds” so our Candide goes throughout the story trying to view everything
in a optimistic way as does Pangloss in an absurd manor (Voltaire, . I believe that the book
Candide was a satire of mainstream society back in the days of the enlightenment when people
believed just about any philosophy and how philosophers like Pangloss would do anything to
maintain their philosophy relevant. The book candied reminded me of “The praise of folly” by
Erasmus in a way because Voltaire uses irony and satire just like Erasmus did to mock very
important members in society.
Pangloss is an example of the stubbornness that was seen by philosophers during the
enlightenment. In the book “Candide” we see many examples of how he can try and make every
bad situation into something of optimism in order to justify his philosophy. For example at the
end of Candide, Candide asks Pangloss’ why even after everything that happened to him why he