Voltaire's Candide bears the mark of a piece written in the period of reform. It is full of satire and pokes fun at whatever issues get tangled up in its plot. The topics addressed range from the political to the religious, and each receives its share of criticism. In many ways, it is what one should expect from an Enlightenment-era work: a critique of the old ways. In an era of changing political, religious and scientific beliefs, the literature produced should often be intended to reflect this flow of attitudes. Candide easily achieves this by criticizing class boundaries, religion, slavery, and most importantly, the military. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Through Candide, Voltaire is able to criticize numerous topics. The premise of the story is based on Candide being kicked out of the baron's house for ignoring class rules and falling in love with Miss Cunégonde (Gordon 43). This incident sets the story in motion and makes it quite obvious that Voltaire did not believe in the legitimacy of such class boundaries. Religion is another topic that is attacked by Voltaire, although perhaps in a slightly less brutal way. We find a utopia in which religion is delegated to the people and, consequently, there are no priests or other clergy (79); Voltaire, it seems, eschewed the idea that ecclesiastics were connections to God. The issue of slavery is also mentioned when Candide comes across a slave who has lost a hand and a leg (82). Although the slave seems to think that it is normal behavior for a master to treat a slave in this way, Candide recoils in horror, just as Voltaire himself probably would have done (83). Furthermore, the army is attacked numerous times by Voltaire as useless or twisted. Voltaire first criticizes the military by having Candide recruited solely on the basis of his height. Seeing him, a soldier observes, “Comrade… there is a well-built boy, and he is of the right height too” (Gordon 43). Candide is invited to dinner and invited to toast the health of the King of the Bulgarians (44). Once this is done, the men declare "Enough...now you are the pillar, the supporter, the defender, the hero of the Bulgarians: your fortune is made and your glory assured" (44). By having Candide recruited after such a humble action and choosing on such a useless basis, Voltaire criticizes the aims of the military. Since height is generally not a factor that can inspire or discourage a successful military career, Voltaire seems to be saying that the army is mostly concerned with petty and superficial matters. Furthermore, by only asking that Candide toast their king, the military accepts him without knowing his true intentions. They could care less whether he truly intends to be loyal to king or country. By portraying recruiters in this light, Voltaire makes the military seem more interested in numbers and appearances than in real causes. Voltaire continues his attack on the military by describing a battle between the Bulgarians and the Abars. It begins by focusing on contradictory notions; the battle is initially described as "splendid... lively... [and] brilliant", but contains mention of how the "cannons cut down about six thousand men on each side; then the musketeers were removed from the best of all worlds around nine o'clock ten thousand..." (Gordon 45). Voltaire inspires readers to consider how the deaths of thousands of men can be both splendid and brilliant and, in doing so, to conclude that the army must be a terrible thing indeed. For mass death to be associated with such glorious superlatives there must be somethingcrooked, and that thing is the army. After the battle, “each king [does] celebrate the victory with a Te Deum” (46). Obviously the battle is useless if each side celebrates victory despite such heavy losses. Later in the story, Voltaire criticizes the Pope's army in the story of the old woman. She recounts being attacked by pirates and how "[t]heir soldiers defended themselves like true soldiers of the Pope: they all knelt down, threw their weapons aside and begged the pirates for absolution [at the point of death]" (Gordon 61 ). Here Voltaire describes the soldiers as cowardly or, at the very least, useless. When danger is evident, they abandon their weapons instead of fighting for those they are supposed to protect. It is also possible that Voltaire is criticizing the Pope in addition to the military. The soldiers seem to exemplify an attitude that puts religion before practicality. In such a situation, it would be practical to at least keep a weapon nearby instead of throwing it aside. Voltaire also objects to current military practices in Candide's visit to England. Arriving in Portsmouth, Candide observes “a large crowd of people covered the shore, looking intently at a rather stout man who was kneeling, blindfolded, on the deck of a man-of-war” (Gordon 98). Soon, "four soldiers stationed before this man [fire] peacefully three bullets each into his brain; and the whole crowd [leaves] extremely satisfied" (98). Candide learns that the man was an admiral who "did not kill enough people" and "engaged in battle with a French admiral and was later judged to have kept too far from the enemy" (99). Candide argues that it makes no difference because "the French admiral was as far from the English admiral as the latter was from the former" (99). He then receives the response that "it's nice to kill an admiral every now and then" (99). In this episode, Voltaire describes military justice as misguided and unjust. The comment that "it's good to kill an admiral now and then" betrays Voltaire's feelings on the matter above all: there is no reasoning behind it other than to say it's "good", which is no reason at all . Candide refuses to set foot on the territory of a country that would do such a thing, which makes it quite clear how strong Voltaire's feelings were on the subject. Voltaire's criticisms were not without foundation, nor was he alone in his resistance. Candide was published in 1759, at the height of the Seven Years' War (Hunt 634). It was this war that "prompted the French crown to introduce far-reaching reforms that provoked violent resistance and helped pave the way for the French Revolution of 1789" (634). During this period, hostilities between England and France were observed everywhere, including North America, the West Indies, India, and Central Europe (636). The use of military force was so widespread that it “permeated every aspect of rural society, merging army and agrarian organization” (638). Since the Enlightenment was largely an urban phenomenon, it followed that the military, which was tied to rural areas, would appear unenlightened. One of Voltaire's criticisms was aimed at the Prussian army. Notice in Candide how easy it was to join the Bulgarian army. Between the years 1740 and 1789, “the Prussian army…almost tripled in size” (Hunt 634). It stands to reason that for such a major expansion to occur, the Army would have to relax its standards. Furthermore, Candide's recruitment, given his height, seems also aimed at the Prussian army. In a footnote we read that “Frederick the Great was proud of the height of his soldiers” (Gordon 44). Here Voltaire directly criticizes the Prussian army and its pride for such an insignificant matter as, 2003.