Voltaire’s Candide Essays

Voltaire’s Candide Essays Voltaire’s Candide Essay Voltaire’s Candide Essay Essay Topic: Candide Voltaire opens chapter three of Candide with our hero amidst a battle between the Aberes and the Bulgarians. The imagery depicted by the author speaks of cannons, gunfire, death of soldiers accompanied by martial drum rolls and trumpets. The two armies are both rejoicing the â€Å"heroic debauchery† and singing a song of thanksgiving. The protagonist finds himself not wanting to do anything with the whole affair and decided to escape while everyone else was preoccupied, so that he could just resolve to try to figure out the â€Å"cause and effects.† After encountering several dead and dismembered bodies he was able to reach a near by Abarian village, and was able to see the carnage left behind by the Bulgarian army. The wittiness of Voltaire appears once more when he says that such massacre is in accordance with international law. As such it criticizes the political justifications of war during his time that warrants the destruction and death of people their community simply because it’s consequential to a legitimized warfare. He hastily tries to leave this bloody scene and moves forward to another village, one which belongs to the Bulgarians. Unfortunately, he sees the same sort of tragedy; now brought about by the Aberians. He flees to Holland, where he initially felt optimistic in learning that the said country was inhabited by wealthy Christians. He was disillusioned the moment started to ask people for charity. The locals denied helping him even threatening to place him in a correctional where he would learn how to earn a living. He then opted to approach a sort of catholic orator who asked him whether or not he believed that the pope was an antichrist. Candide answered honestly that he had no idea who the pope was but nonetheless he only wants a piece of bread. The man curses Candide for this, while the wife who overheard the conversation dumped a pot full of feces over our hero. Candide was able to find momentary relief from his misfortunes when he meets an Anabaptist named James. The latter pitied our protagonist. James takes Candide home, feeds him, allows him to bathe, and gives him a Job. As a result Candide was able to redeem his beliefs of the teachings of his Master Pangloss. Everything works towards the greatest good, this world is the best of all possible worlds and all has sufficient reason for occurring. The era when Voltaire wrote his novella was marked with wars among states, the battles between the Bulgarians and Abares is said to be based on the seven years war occurring at the time he wrote the book.   We are able to see the anti-war sentiment the author had, as well find reason in his criticism against the laws that warrants an event that would result to nothing more but devastation on both sides of the field. We could see the irony of the two kings making their camp sing to the glory of god, and the terming of soldiers as heroes despite the fact that the latter are to certain extent murderers, rapists, and pillagers. It indeed reflects the world then governed supposedly by law and the divine, only to result to injustice and evil. The religion, Catholicism which at that time was becoming more and more powerful did not escape the satire pen of Voltaire. He pointed out the flaws of the said institutions and its believers. We could see the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be followers of the Catholic Church. This brings into question the validity of the said faithful in upholding the teachings of Jesus Christ regarding charity, love, and mercy. Historians may not be too pleased with the factuality of Voltaire’s account of the details regarding War. Voltaire was able to portray in Chapter three his sentiments and criticisms regarding the powers (war and religion) that existed during his time. It is the case that the story reveals the truth of the values upheld at the period the novel was written. References: Voltaire (1984). Candide. (Lowell Bair, Trans.). New York: Bantam Classics.

An Overview and History of the Compass

An Overview and History of the Compass The compass is an instrument used for navigation; it generally has a magnetic needle that points toward the earths magnetic North Pole. The magnetic compass has been in existence for nearly a thousand years and is the most common type of compass. The gyroscopic compass is far less common than a magnetic compass. The Magnetic Compass In order to adjust a magnetic compass to due or true north and toward the geographic North Pole, one must know the amount of magnetic declination or variation that exists in a specific region. There are online maps and calculators available that provide the difference in declination between true north and magnetic north for every point on the globe. By adjusting ones magnetic compass based on the local magnetic declination, it is possible to ensure that ones directions are accurate. The Gyroscopic Compass The History of the Compass Compasses were originally developed when lodestones, a mineral that has naturally magnetized iron ore, were suspended above a board with the ability to pivot and turn. It was discovered that the stones would always point in the same direction, and align themselves with the north/south axis of the earth. The Compass Rose The 32 points were originally drawn to indicate winds and were used by sailors in navigation. The 32 points represented the eight major winds, the eight half-winds, and the 16 quarter-winds. All 32 points, their degrees, and their names can be found online. On early compass roses, the eight major winds can be seen with a letter initial above the line marking its name, as we do with N (north), E (east), S (south), and W (west) today. Later compass roses, around the time of Portuguese exploration and Christopher Columbus, show a fleur-de-lys replacing the initial letter T (for tramontana, the name of the north wind) that marked north, and a cross replacing the initial letter L (for levante) that marked east, showing the direction of the Holy Land. We still commonly see the fleur-de-lys and cross symbols on compass roses today, if not just the simple letter initials for the cardinal directions. Every cartographer designs a compass rose a little differently, using different colors, graphics, and even symbols. Multiple colors are often used simply as a means of easily distinguishing the many points and lines on a compass rose. 360 Degrees Uses of the Compass Most people use a compass casually, for instance with hiking or camping. In those situations, basic compasses like the thumb compass or other orienteering compasses that are clear and can be read over a map are suitable. Many casual uses where travel is over a short distance require basic markings for cardinal directions and a basic level of understanding compasses. For more advanced navigation, where large distances are covered and a slight variation of degrees would offset your course, a deeper understanding of compass reading is required. Understanding declination, the angle between true north and magnetic north, the 360 degree markings on the compass face, and your course-of-direction arrow combined with individual compass instructions requires more advanced study. For simple, easy-to-understand, beginners instructions on how to read a compass, visit compassdude.com.