War has existed for a very long time and its results never vary. Death destruction beyond the reasons we give it to be. Voltaire tries to show the horrors of war and he probably tries to show his position towards it. Here, we see the moments of war that Candide had to go through after being captured by the Bulgars: "Finally, the bayonet provided "sufficient reason" for the death of several thousand more" (25). This part just showed how bloody wars were. Using bayonets to kill all those who had survived the initial wave of bullets must have been a horrible thing to witness in those old wars. The "sufficient reason" was probably the means to kill people without a reason. To mi this simply shows that there is no reason behind all that death surrounding war, at least I believe that was what Voltaire wanted to show us with that phrase.
Continuing the massacre that occurred in that war scene we see Candide's reaction which was this: "Candide trembled like a philosopher, and hid himself as best he could during this heroic butchery" (25). Since Voltaire was a philosopher I believe this is a reflection of his reaction towards war. He trembled before and tried to hide from it yet he still experienced it and brings it as the absurd even that it is. He talked about it as a "heroic butchery" which is likely a satirical phrase. There isn't anything heroic about killing another person it is just like a butcher cutting meat. This was very shocking because in a way killing a person with your own hands must be more shocking than shooting another person. Almost, as if we were trying to make war more bearable.
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