In the opening paragraph, the paper states, "Candide provides us with anti-Semitism."" I don't feel that this statement is justified enough in the paper solely based upon Voltaire's Candide alone.
Like the paper states, there are only three brief references to Jewish characters throughout the entire book and I find it hard to equate Candide to that of an anti-Semitic solely because of those short passages. However, I do realize that the paper refers to several writers who backed up the author's notion that Voltaire was anti-Semitic but in reading through their quotes they refer not to references from Candide that make them think this but to Voltaire and his beliefs on Jews in general, probably from his other works and not just Candide. .
For instance, on page six, Arieh Stav refers to Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary in saying that there were several pages in that work that attacked Jews. I feel that this paragraph could have been omitted because it doesn't relate to the anti-Semitism of Candide. Also, the paper mentions Voltaire's biographer, Peter Gay, writing a section devoted to Voltaire's anti-Semitism but in his quote there are no references linking his statement to Voltaire's Candide. Again, I think this section does not rightfully justify the title of the paper.
I find it difficult to believe that Voltaire was latently picking on Jews only in Candide. Voltaire was a satirist as the paper states and his primary purpose in writing Candide was to demolish the theory of optimism, and for this purpose exaggeration served him best. The carnage of the Bulgar-Abar conflict, the tempest and earthquake, the apparent death of Cunegonde and the actual death of her parents, the experiences during the Inquisition "these and all other salient events are described in exaggerated terms. In Candide, Voltaire is picking on everyone and everything and not just the Jews themselves.
