Voltaire s Candide And Swift s Gulliver s Travels

From someone deciding to snooze their alarm an extra time in the morning to deciding if they should marry their significant other, every decision a person makes will create either a positive or negative effect on their life. This statement is evident in both Voltaire’s Candide and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Candide is a satire that was published in 1759 by the French author and philosopher, Franà §ois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire. Gulliver’s Travels is also a satire that was published in 1726 by Anglo-Irish author, Jonathan Swift. In these two stories; no matter how big or small a decision is, it will inevitably have an effect on the character’s quality of life, even if it is not completely apparent at the time. Voltaire’s Candide†¦show more content†¦To reiterate Pangloss’s beliefs that this world is the best of possible worlds he also claims that there is no effect without a cause. Pangloss uses simple examples in the beginning of the story to demonstrate what he means. He states: â€Å"that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessarily for the best end. Observe, that the nose has been formed to bear spectacles- thus we have spectacles. Legs are visibly designed for stockings- and we have stockings† (18). This statement is illogical and quite humorous, as one would think spectacles were made for the nose and stockings were made for legs, not vice versa. Anyway, this whole story is based on cause and effect. Every single decision Candide makes affects him in some type of way later in the story. Nevertheless, it is not obvious what the outcome of the majority of his decisions will be, as this story has many twi sts and random outcomes. It all starts at the castle of Thunder-ten-tronckh where young Candide lays a kiss on Cunà ©gonde. One might believe kissing your love would lead to good things to come, however, it is the complete opposite. The effect of this cause results in Candide being banished from the castle to defend himself alone. When Candide and Pangloss treat the earthquake victims, Pangloss attempts to comfort the victims by telling them the earthquake was forShow MoreRelated Satire2542 Words   |  11 Pagesâ€Å"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own† (Swift). Such beholders, as Jonathan Swift astutely emphasizes, are intended, through guidance of satiric narrative, to recognize social or political plights. In some satires, as in Swift’s own A Modest Proposal, the use of absurd, blatant exaggeration is intended to capture an indolent audience’s attention regarding the social state of the poor. Yet even in such a d irect satire, there exists another