Voltaire
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In the novel Candide, Voltaire takes readers on a journey that examines many real life issues, including slavery. Voltaire had controversial views on slavery. He questioned its importance and thought of slaves as humans rather than property. These views were expressed through role reversal, society's value of slaves, and Candide's encounter with an African slave in the novel.
In this novel the author puts established Europeans, such as Barons and Princesses, in the position of slavery. In Europe, people of prestige, such as these, would never be put into slavery; in fact it's an obscure concept. Therefore, it may seem to readers that Voltaire is almost poking fun at the idea of slavery all together.
Readers during Voltaire's time believed that the idea of established Europeans becoming slaves was preposterous, offending readers of prestige, as well as inlaying an amount of humor in the novel. Today's readers however, realize that Europeans at this time were taking Africans from their homes and enslaving them, no matter what their status in African society. A reader could say that Voltaire, through his novel, turned the situation around using role reversal, putting Europeans in the African's positions...