Seeing as Candide is a satirical novel, the writing style used by Voltaire is of great importance. The way he wrote the book gives this work just as much meaning as the content of the book itself. Knowledge of the time period is necessary in order to fully understand all of Voltaire’s jokes, many of which, I am sure, went straight over my head.
Voltaire’s subtle references give the book a more ironic tone, and make his criticism more notorious. However, these judgmental assessments are present in the form of his writing as well, making fun of cultures by giving some of his characters long names or describing the characters with long job titles which are meant to describe how “important” their roles are in the story, when he is actually criticizing society at the time for giving big names to people that don’t do or say anything productive.
The way he plays with the narrator’s point of view is also interesting, since most of the story is told in a third person viewpoint, but the reader often sees events through the eyes of Candide. Whether we are meant to sympathize or feel identified by him eludes me, but I do believe that he is meant as an impersonation of common men, and his actions and thoughts represent those which are had by most of society.
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