Violence In Voltaire's 'Candide'

Many people argue that humans are naturally evil, that they murder simply to get ahead. I disagree; most humans are not violent without a specific reason, whether it is a belief-misguided or not, a rough past, or a need. Everyone has a history, and often, our histories and past choices shape who we become. Of course, our natural personality traits also help us find ourselves, but they shape us by in a different way. Those traits help determine how we react to our beliefs, pasts, and needs. An example of this is an abused dog; it is not the dog’s fault that it was abused. But, the dog reacts to this abuse in two different ways. The dog is either very scared of everything and everyone, or the dog is vicious and attempts to destroy anybody who attempts to help it. While humans are clearly not …show more content…
The worst part of all of this is that often groups commit the most atrocious sins. Jones is careful to point out that “men are not just more likely to kill other people than women are, they are also more likely to do so in groups.” In Candide, all of the terrible events that have taken place have been by men in groups. Maybe it is because there is in numbers; maybe it is because men are more physically able to commit these acts, but Adrian Raine and Lori LaCasse discovered that women have more grey matter in their orbitofrontal cortex, which helps control emotions. This is not excuse for men to be more violent, but it does offer an explanation to some of the events in Candide. I disagree with Voltaire and Jones; I do not believe that people are naturally evil, or at least most people are not. I believe that people are weak, that they succumb to peer pressure, greed, and false promises. They do these horrible acts for the hope of acceptance or for bare necessity. All it takes is one bad apple to ruin the entire tree since the rest rot in its