Youthful Life

This paper gives an in-depth discussion on the youthful life portrayed in (François-Marie Arouet) Voltaire’s Candide, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions and Marcel Proust’s Swann's Way. Though written at different times in history, these are so insightful texts that give a lot of information on the challenging life of the youths.

To begin with, Voltaire explores the turbulent life of the young Marcel who is the protagonist and narrator of this book. Even if he so hopeful in life, it seems that he is destined for failure. At the beginning, he is not contented with the kind of up bringing he is give. He is suffers from nervous ailments and does not receive the expected night kisses from his loving mum. Later, his gets disappointed in life when he can not succeed as an artist and loses his lover. Besides, Charles Swann also becomes an equally demoralized fellow who only resorts to women. This lands him into an inconvenient marriage with the ageing Odette who later dumps him.

On the other hand, Jean-Jacques in his memoir gives a critical analysis of the first 53 years of his life. Just like other people, he lives an ordinary life full of problems. For instance, his mother died when he just nine days old. However, this did not deter him from succeeding and becoming one of the greatest philosophers ever known. It is important to note that he achieved this due to his persistence. If he were like other youths, he would have given up in life especially had messed up as a thief and a serial killer for his illegitimate children.

Lastly, Marcel uses his philosophical kills to satirically and humorously write about the ambitious Candide. Despite optimistic influences he receives from his mentors, Candit becomes disillusioned as a result of the numerous obstacles he faces in life. Instead, he turns into promiscuity and establishes a romantic affair with Cunegonde. Unfortunately, this also fails leaving him a more distressed man who then opts to elope with Old Woman to the New World.

In conclusion, I would like to agree with the fact that these authors have given a true representation of the life of the youths. In deed, this is the most challenging stage in the development of human beings. However, everyone should borrow a leaf from people like Jean-Jacques who beat all the odds and made imminent contributions in the society.