Use Of Dialog In Bougainville's Voyage

Dialog in Diderot Ben Okri once said, "The fact of story telling hints at a fundamental human unease, hints at human perfection, where there is no perfection there is no story to tell." In the 1770's to write about ant- government or church ideas was a sure way to end up in prison or the guillotine. Despite these deterrents Diderot published his supplement to Bougainville’s Voyage. Through the use of dialog Diderot was able to construct a work that criticized both the new world and old world. The supplement begins with a conversation between characters A and B. These two characters are engaged in a hated discussion over their feelings of Bougainville's Voyage. The first sight of criticism comes when A and B are discussing how small island societies

A begins this dialog by saying, "perhaps they thin themselves by eating each other." This is then followed by B saying, "Perhaps they such babies under the feet of a priestess while still in their mothers wombs" (183). These are seen as both irony and ignorance. Diderot is having A and B say this to be comical but, at the same time the characters are symbolizing the rest of European society and they view these savages as doing these things because they do not understand. The next form of criticism comes as B says, "The life of a savage is simple and our society s are such complicated machines" (186). Diderot is portraying the common European idea that anyone who does not live in Europe lives a simple lifestyle. Europeans believed that they were the superior beings. They believed that, in comparison to human life, they were towards the end; wise, and full of tricks to better themselves. However, by saying that, "our societies are