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Comparing Candide 'And' Gulliver's Travels

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The idea of utopia is nothing new to the dreams of humankind and a common topic in literature both fiction and nonfiction. In travel narratives especially, the idea of utopia is often used as characters travel the world they find utopias and the author uses them to critique their own world and also the idea of achieving perfection as a society. In both Voltaire’s “Candide” and “Gulliver’s Travels IV” by Jonathan Swift the characters find themselves in distant, unobtainable lands embodying the idea of utopia and explore its possibilities and the problems of the world they left behind. While they discover different places; both utopias share many things in common most likely because the authors share ideas about what is wrong in our world. But as etymology of the vary word suggests utopias don’t and can’t exist and both authors address their inherent flaws. Some things in utopias are easier for us to understand than others. Life among the Houyhnhnms and in the fabled …show more content…

In both of these utopias there are no lawyers, judges or courts and it sounds like a dream for anyone who has had a run in with the law. Truly a great place to be free of the despicable likes of lawyers. This lack of process points to a life where everyone does the right thing and no one does anything dishonest. The Houyhnhnms live the all powerful tenets of benevolence and friendship for all; except the Yahoos who while they are treated with benevolence, they are not afforded friendship as evident with their expelling of Gulliver for being too Yahoo-like. However, this society is not truly with lawyers as they make discussions through Greek-like discourse and debate of a leadership caste much as the original purpose of lawyers and judges. If they had a court system many would use it to appeal the decision to exile Gulliver or that of being placed in a caste, thus illustrating the flaw of not having such a

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