How Voltaire utilizes Candide, Pangloss,and Martin to...

Blind optimism has concealed the eyes of human beings from the defects of the world since the age of Enlightenment. Defying the archaic thinking of society, Voltaire searched for practical and useful knowledge to explain the world he lived in. Voltaire mocked philosophers, such as Leibniz ,who believed in the â€Å"best of all possible worlds† ,and presupposed that all things happen for a reason rather than convincing himself that good and bad are one and the same( 12). The term blind optimism refers to naievty, or having a tendency to expect the best of all possible outcomes and never accepting conclusions in a negative way. In the novel Candide, Voltaire strikes his major characters with atrocious events to challenge the unquestionable†¦show more content†¦The syphilis disease causes Pangloss to lose an eye ,and an ear. Pangloss then tries to justify his loss by stating that without him capturing syphilis, people would not â€Å"have had chocolate†(21) to th is day.Pangloss trying to conceal a serious sexually transmitted disease by presenting the argument that people got chocolate from the new world, shows the absurdity of the logic that is going through Pangloss’s brain. Pangloss is shown to talk without thinking, thus he interprets syphilis as acceptable, because the world received a luxury item in return. Pangloss evokes laughable pity to the reader ,because it is absurd of Pangloss to generate all horrible events happening in his world as favorable affairs; such as him being â€Å"hanged, dissected, [and]whipped†(123). At the end of the novella, Pangloss admits his philosophy of blind optimism can’t explain the â€Å"dreadful suffering† he has faced, and confesses he â€Å"didn’t believe it at all†. Therefore, Voltaire exemplifies through Pangloss’ many disasters that the belief of blind optimism is not only unrealistic, but it is ,as in Pangloss’ case, an attempt to protect blissful ignorance by closing one eye to the rough side of things and as seen affects not only Pangloss , but also Candide by making him just as ignorant, and naive to the world. Although Voltaire makes blind optimism seem ridiculous, by juxtaposing Pangloss’s optimism to Martin’s blind pessimism, Voltaire doesnt castigate