For the first time in the novel we are able to depict a world that suits Pangloss’ philosophy of Optimism. Eldorado achieves all the standards of what could be considered Voltaire’s utopia. In a place where there’s no religious persecution, were all men are equal, and poverty is nonexistent, human kind renders under absolute perfection and tranquility. Throughout history, civilizations have tried to achieve this. As an example we can see the United States of America, who has enhanced a nation of oppressed subjects to the most accurate system of democracy in the world. “From Lincoln through Wilson to Reagan and Bush, the lexicon of American-inspired redemption has been recurrent. American exceptionalism has involved a messianic streak, the belief in a country with a global calling to uplift” (America’s Limits, NYT). Humanity is under the constant pursuit of perfection. But in Voltaire’s ambit, perfection isn’t achieved, it’s nonexistent.
The shine of Eldorado’s perfection is contrasted by Voltaire’s deep pessimism about human nature. While Candide evokes optimism through this utopian society, Voltaire uses it to uses it to explain that perfection is impossible to achieve and that even Eldorado might not exist. In this society, riches would end the world’s poverty, and the people are afraid to interact with the outside world’s imperfection. They hence lose the sense of value: “I don’t understand your European taste for our yellow mud, but take all you want, and much good may it do you” (83). Gold, man’s taste of ambition is only mud for them. Therefore the society itself is a complete opposite of the world we live in. We look to achieve perfection. But perfection is quite ambiguous itself: the ultimate desire for those who lack of it, impossible for those who understand it, and mud for those who have it. Then, do we really want perfection. In the United States of America, when a president occupies the Oval Office they are automatically in “the pursuit of the perfect” (America’s Limits, NYT) in every aspect being. In the long run we are longing for mud, nothing else.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario