When we discuss taboo subjects, we often are disgusted by it because it’s unnatural and shouldn’t exist; “taboo has a lot of hidden meanings. We’re going to leave that up to your imagination.” Many of the taboos that we come to know about are good for society but people still think of them as bad. There are many books written on the subject of taboo, which means that it’s something we don’t want to talk about. There are taboo subjects that we refrain from discussing or even learning about because it’s something we’ve been taught or known all along. On the other hand, we also have many comedies that make fun of taboo subjects because it gets people to think of about them and then reconsider their opinion of whether the subject is normal or not. …show more content…
As it is illustrated in the books: Candide by Voltaire and American-Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Both of the authors make fun of taboo subjects to get people’s attention and bring a different set of ideas to them. In “Candide,” Voltaire makes fun of several taboos. One of the prominent taboo he makes fun of is the history of syphilis; before he makes fun of that taboo, Voltaire makes fun of Candide’s birth in the form of sex, religion, and sexual exploitation. In the beginning of “Candide,” Voltaire starts with explaining how Candide came about. Voltaire states, “the older servants of the house suspected him to be the son of the Baron’s sister by a kindly and honest gentleman of the neighbourhood…” (3). Voltaire isn’t bothered by the idea to include the fact that Candide mother is a whore and slept with a stranger because she wanted to. He makes fun of Candide’s birth in a way to say that he’s an illegitimate child that was born out of wedlock. One of the biggest taboo he makes fun of is religion. Voltaire deeply criticized many religions except Hinduism, which he was in favor of but he criticized Christianity the most. When telling Cunegonde’s story, Voltaire states, “the Grand Inquisitor noticed me one day …show more content…
He makes fun of the Chinese heritage, the stereotypes of being Chinese, culture, and sense of separation. Firstly, the book starts with the story of Monkey, who wants to be like humans so forces his subjects to wear shoes. In the beginning of the story, we see that Monkey arrives to meet the Dragon King of the Western Sea, “yes, yes, I apologize profusely sir, but I cannot let you in” (Wang 13). The guard won’t let Monkey in to see the Dragon King since he doesn’t have shoes, this pisses Monkey off because even though he is a monkey, he can do everything like a human but is rejected. As soon as he got back to the mountain, he sat in his chair and decided to make his subject behave like humans. After Monkey’s story, we are introduced to Jin, a kid who moves from San Francisco. When he goes to the herbal shop with his mother, he talks with the old lady and she asks him what he wants to be when he grows up, he replies and then she says to him in Chinese “it’s easy to become anything you wish…so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul” (Wang 29). This makes fun of sense of separation because we see that he is growing up with both cultures: Chinese and American. We often don’t discuss cultures because many kids get made fun of for theirs or they are too Americanized to assimilate into theirs. When he first enters elementary school, “when the class finally figured out that
The author, Voltaire, wrote in the Enlightenment period, a literary movement characterized by the rising concern of philosophy, science, and politics. Voltaire’s writing was influenced by the Enlightenment movement to create awareness of global issues. This is evident in the repeated tragedies Candide stumbles upon. Social issues, corrupt authority figures, and war are real world topics that Voltaire chooses to address in Candide. The satirical nature of Candide allows for an in-depth discussion between the characters regarding the problems they face and the problems of the people they meet, creating a perspective that the audience is forced to look through. It is also a coming of age story, not just for Candide, but for the rising awareness in global issues. Voltaire’s inclusion of the issues of his time reflect the severity of those issues. Satire is used as a reaction to a society’s hypocrisy. Candide as a satirical piece reflects what people have neglected to pay attention to. Coming into a new era of awareness and responsibility leads Candide to reflect on the live he lived in Westphalia and the people he encountered across
The transition from childhood to adulthood can be challenging. There are many things to learn and let go. Sometime teenagers can dramatize certain events to make themselves seem defenseless. Amy Tan, Chinese-American author, makes her Chinese Christmas seem insufferable. In Tan’s passage “Fish Cheeks”, Tan uses diction and details to exemplify the indignity caused by her Chinese culture.
Throughout Voltaire’s Candide, the implications of religious symbols and figures are used to satirize the philosophy of paternal optimism by highlighting hypocrisy in the Church. The role of the Church in historical context offers significant insight into the analysis of the text. Candide was written in 1759, a period where people started questioning the authority of the Church to explore reason as a means for acquiring knowledge. With this in mind, Candide’s religious implications are relevant with consideration to the time period. By stressing the theme of institutional hypocrisy and separation between the Church and religious values, Voltaire invalidates the Church’s role as a supreme authority and thus addresses man’s need for an altered
Although this book uses offensive words, it is such an important part of this time period. Some adults may not want their kids reading these stories in school because they can repeat the words and use them offensively. People could also feel that this book isn’t appropriate because it was written so long ago and uses old-fashioned phrases that don't teach students proper English. People will always have their own opinions.
Thus, the major theme of Candide is one of the world not being the best of all possibilities, full of actions definitely not determined by reason or order, but by chance and coincidence. To prove his point, Voltaire uses pointed satire directed at various organizations and groups prevalent in his time period. In particular, Voltaire takes aim at organized religion, in particular Catholicism, as well as aristocratic arrogance and war. All of Voltaire’s comments are precisely chosen to convey his point that those in power were completely corrupt in all their thoughts and actions. Throughout the entire book, Voltaire portrays religious men, such as monks and priests, as hypocrites who do not live up to the religious standards that they set upon others.
Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes
Voltaire’s Candide is a satirical novel that addresses common issues in society through a series of outrageous events. Voltaire, the author, wrote about Candide who is extremely naïve and views the world from an optimistic point of view despite the constant troubles him and the people around him encounter. Voltaire points out specific struggles of society including views on philosophy, religion, social power, love, etc. He uses the outrageous events to awaken laughter in the audience but also spark thought on the issues we face in life every day. For example, Candide is stuck on the philosophical standpoint that everything in life happens for a reason and for the overall good. In chapter 16 of the novel, Candide assumes two naked women were being attacked by monkeys, so he proceeds to kill them in hope of saving the women. However, Candide was not aware that the monkeys were actually the girls’ lovers. “Master,” replied the knowing valet, “you have
In his novel Candide, Voltaire often criticized religious beliefs of the times. His criticism of religion surfaces throughout the entire story. The kindness of the Anabaptist that Candide met showed the silliness of religious prejudices. The old woman's story of her father, Pope Urban X, and the life of wealth she lived as a child shows the corruption of the Catholic clergy. Finally, the conversation Candide and Cacambo had with the old man in Eldorado shows the benefits of a simple religion, a contrast of the European religions of the time.
Throughout the whole book most of the religious people have many things to hide or they either have done things that go against what religion is taught to be. "Oh, my dear Candide, you remember Paquette… in her arms I tasted the delights of paradise, which produced in me those hell torments with which you see me devoured; she was infected with them…who had received it from a Jesuit.” It seems that Pangloss got an STD from Paquette who got it from a religious Jesuit who supposedly took a vow of celibacy to remain holy as well. Voltaire’s view of this here with this satire is that the actions that these men did were dishonorable and these practices were pretty common in their time. This sexual satire occurs many more times with Cunegonde for example and her moment as a slave. “ My Jew, intimidated, concluded a bargain, by which the house and myself ...
Before getting into the comparison and contrasting here is a little background information on Candide. Candide is a very interesting character throughout the story and Voltaire uses him to represent his own ideas. In the beginning of the story Candide is a good-hearted boy but he is very naïve. Candide believes in the philosophy of his teacher Pangloss, that all is for the best in this "best of all possible worlds". (Voltaire, pg. 4) Candide bases his whole life off of this philosophy and even thought his life has been nothing but struggles, Candide never strays from this idea. Every time Candide is going through hard times and something good would happened he would refer back to this philosophy and believe it more and more every time something good happened. Candide is also very attracted to Cunegonde. Cunegonde is the Baron’s daughter and is very beautiful. Candide has always wanted to marry her but it has not happened because he is way below her rank. Candide eventually gets thrown out of his town for sneaking around with Cunegonde. This doesn’...
Voltaire’s Candide can be understood in several ways by its audience. At a first glance it would appear to be simply a story blessed with outrageous creativity, but if you look deeper in to the novel, a more complicated and meaningful message is buried within. Voltaire uses the adventures of Candide as a representation of what he personally feels is wrong within in society. Written in the 18th century (1759), known commonly as the age of enlightenment, Voltaire forces his audience to consider the shift from tradition to freedom within society. He achieves this by exploring the reality of human suffering due to traditions which he mocks throughout Candide. In particular he focused on exploiting the corruption he felt was strongly and wrongfully present within three main aspects of society these being religion, politics and morals. Each chapter represents different ways in which Voltaire believes corruption exists providing the audience with the reality of society’s problems due to its fixation on tradition. As a philosopher of the Enlightenment, Voltaire advocated for freedom of religion, freedom of expression and the separation between church and state. Voltaire successfully presents these ideas within Candide by highlighting why they are a significant problem in 18th century Europe.
... Conclusion, all of the previously discussed topics were put together by Voltaire in an ingenious way to ridicule the philosophy that everything is exactly as it should be and that everything bad happens for the greater good. All the tragedies Candide underwent were introduced in the novella with the purpose of disproving this notion. The book Candide made me think a lot about everything that is wrong with humankind. Voltaire was very successful and Candide's story accomplished his goal because It is hard to imagine that someone would still believe this philosophy after reading this very ingenious, funny, and entertaining novella.
All women are too sensitive! All Mexicans are illegal immigrants! If you’re from the South, then you are ignorant! Most people have heard at least one of these stereotypes pertaining to a certain group. Some people believe them whilst others do not. American Born Chinese illustrates three stories depicting the custom of stereotypes surrounding society: “The Monkey King”, the story of Monkey King’s thirst for infinite power, and his quest for atonement; “Jin Wang”, the story an awkward boy who tries to “fit in” the community around from but constantly fails; and “Danny”, the story about a high schooler who feels uncomfortable by his stereotypically negative Chinese cousin Chin-Kee. In this day-and-age, stereotypes are what bring people together, and stereotypes are what set people apart. To be ignorant of stereotypes would be a disastrous event as one would consequentially be ignorant to the prejudices engulfing them daily. Even though this causes problems throughout different communities, the way some individuals choose to address stereotypes is through laughter. From start to finish the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang purposefully satirizes Asian stereotypes in hopes that the reader opens up to the fact that stereotypes are indeed existent in today’s society.
Women didn't have that many choices in order for them to gain power in life. They could become the mistress of a powerful and rich man or marry into a good family. Because of that, women were treated in a disrespectful way that led to rape, which Voltaire tries to emphasize the importance of their role. He uses this idea to grab people's attention so they would be well aware of how serious rape is. If Voltaire was capitalizing and reinforcing sexism, then those who were raped wouldn’t be telling each other their stories on how they were raped. However, to emphasize this point, Voltaire needs to make it funny or offend people for attention. Voltaire uses their story to highlight how serious rape was, by telling us that among women it became a common topic to talk about. If Voltaire hadn’t talked about rape as if it wasn’t a problem then, many would be thinking that he’s trying to reinforce sexism. In Candide, Voltaire is critiquing and satirizing
Understanding the Chinese culture was confusing for Kingston. “Chinese-Americans, when you try to understand what things in you are Chinese , how do you separate what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing with stories, from what is Chinese? What is Chinese tradition and what is the movies?” (Kingston 223). Kingston questions her tradition and she doesn’t seem very sure what it is. She questions whether what her mother did by...