Cao and Voltaire were wonderful authors in the eighteenth century. They would use the main character of their stories to represent each of their cultures. Cao Xueqin, wrote from the lifestyle of China; while Voltaire, wrote from the lifestyle of Europe. The authors express their protagonists through character development in order to represent their own culture. Bao-yu, is a protagonist who happens to have two different developments. In the beginning of Story of the Stone, Bao-yu is a stone. He’s a magical stone that can transform into anything he wants. This gives him beautiful qualities. As the stone, Bao-yu feels shame and resentment because he was the only stone that was not used in repairing the sky. He was given a second chance and is born again on earth. His development on earth is different than that of when he was in heaven. Being born with a jade in his mouth, which is a very unusual thing to happen, shows his family that he is special. The jade in his mouth gives the meaning of his name, precious jade (56). The rest of the story takes place when is a young boy in his early teens. As a human, he is very sociable with his…show more content… China and Europe were very different countries during the eighteenth century. Europe was on the brink of a revolutionary war. Voltaire wrote his protagonist, Candide, as a man dealing with how things are corrupt with the government, religion, ideas of war, and society. Candide questions a lot about how these things are corrupt and how there needs to be a change. He did not understand why there was war when people died without knowing why (189). He did not understand why people would sacrifice others for a ritual that did not even work (194). Voltaire wrote the country El Dorado as how he wanted society to be. The genre of this story is a satire, and a philosophical novel. Voltaire wrote this story as a means to being light to how damaged Europe has