Satirical Tools

Candide has a very whimsical and lighthearted feeling to it. However, this feeling and mood is starkly different than the actual happenings in the novel. Candide is very dark and twisted when you look only at the events that occur throughout the story. I think that Voltaire uses a lighthearted approach to discuss terrible things as a satirical tool. It makes the writing almost more sarcastic and makes it clearer he is mocking something. Voltaire also uses exaggeration and incongruity throughout the novel. I believe that exaggeration is the most effective of the three. It is obvious that Candide should be dead and a few of the characters have already died and then found a way to come back to life. The exaggeration of everyone's life story makes it obvious to readers that this is a satirical piece. The exaggeration forces reader to re-examine the philosophy of optimism presented by Panglossian and Candide. It makes you question how reasonable it actually is