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Voltaire's Candide is a novel which contains conceptual ideas and at the same time is also exaggerated. Voltaire offers sad themes disguised by jokes and witticism, and the story itself presents a distinctive outlook on life. The crucial contrast in the story deals with irrational ideas as taught to Candide about being optimistic, versus reality as viewed by the rest of the world. The main theme which is presented throughout the novel is optimism. Out …

…it, like when the people he cared for were harmed. Candide became more independent and learned to form his own opinions. He would look at the world and say exactly what he saw, and in every situation where Pangloss is absent, Candide would refer to Pangloss' spirit: "What would Pangloss think?" Over time Candide realized that "Pangloss cruelly deceived [him] when he told [him] that all is for the best in this world " (Voltaire p.43).