Pres.+of+44-51

=Pages 44-51, the Eldorado people and culture= =Comparing with Gulliver's Travels=

1st comparison: Man's desire for material things (materialism)
In __Candide__ //Voltaire attacks man's obsession over 'jewels' and 'gold'. 'Jewels' and 'gold', which we often forget, are merely stones. When the children at the school dropped the gold and diamonds on the ground, Cacambo and Candide brought it back to the tutor. The Eldoradeans did not understand and couldn't comprehend why Cacambo and Candide treasured these// //"pebbles and sand, which we[Europeans] refer to as 'gold' or 'gems'"(pg. 48) Voltaire seems to be criticizing how men take simple natural things and make a big fuss over it. The King of Eldorado says, "I cannot begin to understand the passion you Europeans have for our yellow mud; but take all you want, and much good may it do you." It is a silly picture Voltaire paints. As they carried out their 'treasures' out of Eldorado, I laughed. Just imagine foreigners loading cartfuls of dust and leaving! The Eldoradeans would surely think these Europeans were crazy. Voltaire really shows how we are attached to objects that don't mean much.We desire and prize objects that are actually worthless.//

In __Gulliver's Travels__ //Swift also attacks **humans' desire for material objects**. From Gulliver's Travels, "...in some fields of his country [Houyhnhnms' country], there are certain shining stones of several colors, whereof the Yahoos are violently fond; and when part of these stones are fixed in the earth, as it sometimes happeneth, they will dig with their claws for whole days to get them out, and carry them away, and hide them by heaps in their kennels..." (pg. 2149, part 4 chapter 7) This passage is very similar to Voltaire's passage of man's fondness for mere stones. These stones are only precious in the eyes of humans--to everyone else, they are mere stones. "My master said he could never discover the reason of this unnatural appetite, or how these stones could be of any use to a Yahoo" (pg. 2149, part 4 chap.7) In actuality, gold, jewels, are worthless. Both writers ridicule man's interest in diamonds and gold.//

2nd comparison: Church and disputes
//Voltaire says the Eldoradeans do not have priests and everyone participates in thanking God. On pg. 47, the Eldoradean elder says, "we are all priests. The King and the heads of each family sing solemn hymns of thanksgiving everymorning..." Cacambo responds, "What! You have no monks instructing and disputing, and governing and intriguing and having everyone burned alive who is not in their opinion?" (pg. 47) Voltaire wants the Church to eliminate monks, and let all the people worship God and participate in his praise. I think when he said 'everyone burned alive', he was referring to the Inquisition. He criticizes how the Church's formality, the Inquisition, and the corrupt church.//

//Swift also attacks **the church** and its many disputes. As Voltaire mentioned, the monks would always dispute. In Gulliver's Travels, two countries are at war over small things like whether to break the egg at the big end or the small end. "the books of the Big-Endians have been long forbidden." (pg. 2039, part 1 chap. 5)// //They go to war over small religious disputes.// //Swift is attacking the petty disputes of the Church, while Voltaire focused more on satirizing the corruption. However, both are related to the Church's unhealthy habits.//