How does Voltaire portray El Dorado (Ch. 17-18)? How does it differ from 18th C. Europe, and what are the religious beliefs of the people? Why does Candide decide to leave?
And
In Candide you can see what Daniel Gordon has described as “Voltaire’s double identity”: an engaged Enlightened opponent of injustice and intolerance, but also a skeptic about the limits of reason or theory in confronting the problems of human life. Discuss these positive and negative aspects of Voltaire’s message in the story.
