" Additionally, "girls who had been disemboweled after satisfying the natural needs of several heroes were breathing their last sighs; others, mortally burned, were shrieking for someone to hasten their death." Voltaire describes such brutish settings such as these with intense detail to convey what a true horror war and violence can be. He satirically calls the Bulgarian soldiers "heroes" in order to make the readers understand that there are no real heroes in war. Men, women, and children all die and suffer during times of war and these "heroes" are the ones responsible. Correspondingly, in chapter twenty-three Candide and Martin reach the coast of England and discover more violence and war occurring. They both witness a man shot in the head three times in front of an "extremely moody and morose" large crowd of people. When Candide queries to why the man was killed the reply is, "Because he didn't kill enough men." Such an absurd answer is exactly how the situation is brought to the readers" attention. The war between the English and French, long with all other wars in general were getting way out of hand. People were actually killing due to reasons like not enough violence. Therefore, Voltaire is exaggerating the messages of war and violence by punishing not enough killing with an execution. Not only can one witness these horrors in the novel Candide.
The 21st century brings about new events and people. However, the war and violence is the same as in 1755. Everyday the newspapers, television, and radio bring the public stories of violence and war between people for ethnic, religious and sometimes no reason at all. One of the most recent and shocking stories of the 21st century is the September 11th attack on New York's own World Trade Center (WTC). Afghanistan's Osama Bin Laden, leader of the Taliban, covertly operated the chaotic attack against America. Consequently, on the day of, he had suicide pilots fly passenger planes into the two WTC towers and one into the capitals own Pentagon building.
