Candide or Optism, Voltaire
War can be one of the most devastating occurrences on earth. It is war that destroys the lives of many people, families, and countries. What's done to one person can ruin the lives of many others. This is expressed in the book Candide or Optimism. In this book Candide is torn from his love, Cunegonde, and looks for her for the rest of his life. He believed that she was killed in a war. Voltaire expresses many of his thoughts in this book through Candide. He does not believe in war and he outlines some of the effects of it in this book. War's many sounds can be very frightening and loud. "Trumpets, fifes, hautboys, drums, cannons, formed a harmony such as has never been heard even in hell" (Voltaire 7). I think that Voltaire is trying to express the sounds of war and how horrifying they are. He makes a connection here between war and hell, which shows he believes war is a horrible thing. I feel he is right; war can be a disaster in many cases and hearing one would be horrible. Voltaire also expresses his feelings through Candide in many instances. "Candide, who trembled like a philosopher, hid himself as well as he could during this heroic butchery" (7). I think that Voltaire is sho
The many effects of war are horrible. "Here, old men dazed with blows watched the dying agonies of their murdered wives who clutched their children to their bleeding breasts; there, disembowelled girls who had been made to satisfy the natural appetites of heroes gasped their last sighs; others, half-burned, begged to be put to death"(7). Voltaire wants to show how every war is horrible. He expresses the pain the people feel from the loss of loved ones. It's hard to think of what war is exactly like; the only way would be to experience it, and nobody wants to do that. He wants to show the destruction it causes also, how villages can be burnt to ashes. I think that he's right to show all this destruction and what it is able to do to families. There's no other way to really show what it is like unless you put all the negative effects of war into it, because that is what it is. "Candide fled to another village as fast as he could; it belonged to the Bulgarians, and Abarian heroes had treated it in the same way. Candide, stumbling over quivering limbs or across ruins, at last escaped from the theatre of war, carrying a little food in his knapsack, and never forgetting Mademoiselle Cunegonde"(7-8). I think he's showing how all Candide wants to do is get away from the scene and he trips over bodies, showing how it's hard to get away from the effects of war. I think he's right; you're never always going to see the destruction that has occurred when you walk away from the scene of a war. "She was disembowelled by Bulgarian soldiers, after having been raped to the limit of possibility; they broke the Baron's head when he
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Approximate Word count = 1102
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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