Candide

In Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the flaws of Gottfried William von Leibniz's theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire's use of satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly accepting their fate. Leibniz, a German philosopher and mathematician of Voltaire's time, developed the idea that the …

…mainly using the satires of human behaviors and institutions to exhibit the implausibilities of Leibniz’s theory. He uses Pangloss, whose name translates to “windbag” as the main proponent of this philosophy. This shows how he doesn’t lend much credence to the philosophy. Candide, easily influenced, blindly believes whatever Pangloss tells him and takes almost the entire story to realize that the world is not as perfect as Pangloss makes it out to be.