Candide One Pager Kristina Daily
There are many aspects of Voltaire’s satire that still apply to modern times, which truly
displays how much humanity has progressed throughout the years- not a lot. One of the most
prominent examples of this is religion, due to how many underlying hypocrisies there are in
every religion that exists. Once Candide’s naivety leads him to not agree with a minister who is
preaching about the Pope being the Antichrist, the orator calls Candide a “villain” and a
“wretch”, and threatens that if Candide comes near him again “[Candide] will suffer for it” (27).
The book is satirizing religion by having a minister advocate for a concept so absurd for a
religious figure to be preaching about and having the minister be extremely intolerant of other
people’s opinions. There are numerous instances of this mindset occurring in modern times as
well, such as with the societal pressures from non-Muslim religions to not wear hijabs outside in
America. It was not until a few years ago that marriage equality for those who are not in a
heterosexual relationship was legalized, and one of the major arguments against homosexual
marriage was because it went against Christian values. If Voltaire were to be here in the present
and witness these blatant acts against free choice, he would be appalled by how continuously
influential religion proves to be.
War is also a prominent topic in the news, and is a topic that Voltaire satirizes multiple
times throughout Candide. Voltaire describes the battle between the Abar and the Bulgars as a
display of “beauty” and “brilliance” that “hell itself could not rival” (25). Sarcasm is coated over
Voltaire’s flattering comparison of war to picturesque beauty. His disdain for war, as he was
heavily influenced by the Seven Years War, carries over to the current wars that are leading to
the deaths of thousands a day. It is near impossible to find an American who is not aware of the
atrocities that are occurring in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, which in Afghanistan alone has led
to the deaths of near 2 million people. Voltaire would find that the atrocities that continue without
any signs of reprieve are despicable, and would satirize it fiercely.
There is political injustice found in every country as well. Pangloss goes off on a tangent
about how “high estate...is always dangerous” and lists a lengthy statement about every political
assassination of their kings, but Candide simply acknowledges this information and then
chooses to ignore it (143). Voltaire uses Candide’s dismissive reply to Pangloss to represent
one of the most common reactions to hearing about the political injustice in the world: to ignore
it. There are many people, in both Candide and modern times, who are aware of the oppression
transpiring around the world but choose to brush it off. In North Korea and Russia, there is
constant oppression of the people from their tyrannical dictators, leaving the citizens of these
countries helpless. Those in more fortunate countries do nothing about this cruel behavior. This
uncaring attitude is precisely what Voltaire is satirizing, as it leads society nowhere and creates
societal rifts that Voltaire finds idiotic.
Conclusively, analyzing current trends in society, Voltaire would find no issue in finding
numerous topics to satirize, such as continued religious, war, and political injustices still
occurring today. There are improvements to society in terms of equality and justice in numerous
places in the world; however, discrimination is still a prevailing issue. Voltaire’s relevance in his
satirization of these topics shows how ahead of his time Voltaire was, and how man struggles to
better himself even with these hypocrisies being thrown at him.
