Research Paper on:
UNIVERSAL CLAIMS ON THE HUMAN CONDITION IN LITERATURE

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
evolved, a quick perusal of the basic concerns and issues does not vary from one eon to the next. As long as mankind has breath and emotion, the universal truths  will be the same. Three authors each speak to this human condition in their works. Alexander Pope in his Essay on Man (Epistle One), Voltaires Candide, and Jonathan Swifts Modest  Proposal each make a specific observation on this most curious of themes: the human condition. Voltaires work, Candide dwells on several universal messages as regard the human condition. One has  to particularly note the fact that on a number of occasions one thinks that his traveling companions are dead, when in fact, they are not. They manage to escape miraculously  or to have managed to survive any number of terrible circumstances. What one can take from this is that Voltaire has determined that each of the characters, Cunegonde, Pangloss  and the Baron are representative of some facet of the human condition. For example, Cunegonde is highly representative of vanity and the inconstancy of human love, whereas Pangloss is so  cheerful and optimistic that he cannot discern reality from fantasy. The Baron worships his own worst instincts as regards money. Taken as a whole, since these characters continue to resurrect  themselves, Voltaires message is clear: these human flaws of vanity, fickleness, greed, and misplaced optimism will never die and will forever be a part of every humans experience at some  point or another. Johnathan Swift, better known for his other works, such as Gullivers Travels, has as his main protagonist a narrator who is a politician. Swifts background  includes having been a member of the Clergy and highly conservative. Given this, then, many of this universal truths were those espoused by the church and maintained by the political