The English Enlightenment seemed to be one of the early intellectual movements that dominated the era. Many people began to distrust God and believe that rationality came from within and not from following God's will. Science was important at that time; say that reason is the way to understand the world. Humans are considered rational people, so their ways are the only way to observe and understand the unknown. “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift and François-Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire, “Candide” both recount extreme situations and provide human reasoning to solve problems. Ultimately revealing that although there are differences between social classes, everyone faces the same problems and if they are not resolved, happiness will disappear. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Jonathan Swift expands on the problems of growing poverty in Ireland. He made a proposal saying: "That at one year old, children be offered for sale to people of quality and fortune, through the intermediary of the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck abundantly in the last month, in order to to make them plump. » , and fat for good. The rest of the children who are not needed for food, people can keep for themselves. The poor will then have money to spend on their basic necessities and the rich will now have food. He moves away from what it would feel like to eat little children and finds the rationality behind it because enlightenment is all about reason and not emotion. By eating fat, little children will introduce a new source of food to the starving and boost the economy. It seems like a win-win situation, but it was vulgar and in poor taste. People thought he was crazy, because who would come up with something so horrible? Swift made sure to use something so outrageous that people would listen to it. Reason without emotion was ridiculous. From a reasoning standpoint, the proposition made sense, but no one wanted to hurt children to save the country. Swift brought society to his side to ridicule this movement and draw attention to the problem of poverty. This proposal brought the company together to degrade Swift but also allowed them to see the real problems they were all facing. Voltaire expresses a better vision of the Enlightenment in his structured episodic novel, it tells the story of a young man, Candide, and his journey. . Candide experiences many setbacks but moves forward steadily. Candide experiences many trials during his journey, including death, battles, and earthquakes. Voltaire is trying to show that no matter what happens in the world, the world they currently live in is the best of both possible worlds. Candide goes through so many trials that all of society has gone through at least once, but no matter what you go through, be strong and overcome adversity. Voltaire expressed optimism throughout the novel, looking for the best in situations. Candide finally arrives in a beautiful garden and remembers something Pangloss would say to him: "All events are coming together in the best of all possible worlds... you wouldn't be sitting here eating preserved lemons and pistachios." All events in life happen for a reason, you cannot move on to happiness and better, unless you have experienced bad. This.