The novel Candide, by Voltaire, expresses his values and ideas of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment belief, in which a perfect society should be controlled by reforming existing institutions, is made to appear ridiculous, while perhaps all that Voltaire wanted to do was to present the history of his century with the worst abominations. It was probably Voltaire's ability to challenge all authority that was his greatest contribution to Enlightenment values. He questioned his own parenthood and his morals to express his ideas to the world of Enlightenment through the novel Candide. In particular, the novel makes fun of those who think that human beings can endlessly improve themselves and their environment. Voltaire expresses his beliefs on optimism, philosophical speculation, and religion through the main character. Candide, The main character of the novel, is set adrift in a hostile world and unsuccessfully tries to hold on to his optimistic belief that this "is the best of all possible worlds" as his tutor, Pangloss, keeps insisting. He travels throughout Europe, South America, and the Middle East, and on the way, he encounters many terrible natural disasters. Candide is a good-hearted but hopelessly naive young man and his adventures around the world take him and his partners on a rollercoaster ride through Voltaire's beliefs of the Enlightenment. He learns in the end that the only solution is productive work that benefits those around you.
             There are two distinct developments in Enlightenment thought: the scientific revolution which resulted in new systems of understanding the physical world, and the reorganization of the human sciences that apply scientific thinking to what was normally not allowed when everything was seen with a critical eye. One of these ideas expressed in the novel is Optimism, both Pangloss and his student Candide maintain the idea that "everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." To...