How Does Voltaire Use Satire In Micromegas

Voltaire was well known as a French writer who was involved in a variety of fields, including philosophy, drama, and novel writing. He is especially well-known for his critical writings on re-ligion and his liberal political philosophy. The story begins with the introduction of a "young man" from a planet named Sirius named Micromegas. In “Micromegas”, Voltaire criticizes the excesses of his own era and human behavior in general by using two common methods of satire: Paradox and Exaggeration. Voltaire tends to use Paradox and Exaggeration in the story “Micromegas” to have readers engage in his writing.

Micromegas seems to be described as a place that is enormous, and approximately 120,000 feet tall. In every imaginable way possible, Sirians

exceed humans in a way where they live a lot longer and have more senses and intellectual abilities. Later in the story, Micromegas was forced to leave his home planet because he was kicked out by the local mufti also known as the local religious authorities in the society. Throughout Micromegas, one of the main stiremeth-ods I have noticed out of Irony, Exaggeration, Paradox, Anti-Climax, and Violence or Invective; Exaggeration and Paradox were often used throughout the story. Paradox was often use as a sat-ire to describe a statement or situation that may be true but seems impossible or difficult to un-derstand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics.
For example: “Some clever mathematicians can easily do the math.

We Earthmen have an average stature hardly more than five feet, equal to one pace”. This quote was mainly describing the abilities of certain mathematicians seem to understand math slightly better than average mathematicians. The reason why it is a paradox example is because it makes the reader wonder why some mathematicians could easily do math when all mathematicians should easily do math if their math abilities are strong. The other Paradox quote I found in Micromegas is “Moreover, do you suppose it is more difficult to produce arguments than offspring? Both appear to me equally mysterious operations”. Mainly this quote is describing how an argument is a lot more difficult to produce than an offspring. This represents a paradox because it represents a scenario where the statement might of been proven true but impossible to understand because it contains two oppo-site facts or

characteristics.
Another satire element I have seen the most throughout the Micromegas was Exaggera-tion.

Exaggeration is a term for a figure of speech. It means the description of something and making it more than it really is. For example: “Therefore, Mr. Micromegas's world must in turn have a circumference 24,000 times greater than our little Earth. Nothing is simpler.”This quote is exaggerated on how the earths circumference. "Oh, cruel one!" she exclaimed, "after having re-sisted you for 1,500 years, and when I was at last beginning to surrender, and having passed scarcely a hundred years in your arms, to leave me thus, and start on a long journey with a giant of another world! Go, you have no taste for anything but novelty, you have never felt true love. Were you a real Saturnian, you would be constant. Whither away so fast? What would you have? Our five moons are less fickle than you, our ring less changeable. So much for the past! I will never love again.” This quote is exaggerated on a long term world journey and a love

relationship.
Throughout Micromegas, one of the main satire methods I have noticed out of Irony, Ex-aggeration, Paradox, Anti-Climax, and Violence or Invective; Exaggeration and Paradox were often used throughout the story. The reason why I have noticed Exaggeration and Paradox the most throughout the story is because of the scenarios where the statement may be proven true but impos-sible to understand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics. Exaggeration because there were a lot of parts in Micromegas where things were often being described as something and making it more than it really appears to be. For these reasons, this is why I have concluded my thoughts on choosing these two satire elements from Micromegas.