Voltaire's Candide: The Importance Of Optimism

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Just a hundred more yards before reaching the end of the tunnel. Light is radiating brighter as each step follows the other. Approaching the end, the only thing seen is another room leading to an endless maze with infinite obstacles. Hoping for the best outcome is a desire the majority of people crave, but the inevitable failure continues to diminish expectations. The optimism many desire often shadows the reality most fail to realize. Voltaire reveals the role of philosophical optimism through Candide and the journey the protagonist follows in search for his beloved. While it is valid to consider the optimism in situations, it is detrimental to neglect the reality of such outcomes because creates an illusion and diminishes actuality. While …show more content…

She sets a two scenarios that dumbfound Candide and questions which would be worse. The bluntness Voltaire provides for Candide gives him this idea that Pangloss’s philosophy of optimism is false. Through the pain and suffering, the majority of the characters have undergone, optimism continues to fade. The expectation people set for themselves should not merit their outcomes. “Martin especially concluded that man was born to live either in a state of distracting inquietude or of lethargic disgust” (85). The reality is that optimism is a façade and illusion people create for themselves to avoid the true pain and suffering they undergo every moment in their lives. Voltaire focuses on realizing the integrity within and diminishing the mirage created to forget …show more content…

What some may realize is that there is not just one end of the tunnel, but rather many. Voltaire focuses on the rationality and reality that optimism only limits people from improvement. By uses Candide as an example of ignorance, Voltaire amplifies the reality of life. There is no one true definition of success but rather different kinds at different instances. Continuing to follow optimism lead to an even larger maze that sets people for failure and discouragement. Through distinguishing the obstacles at hand, the reality most

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