What does Voltaire mean by "cultivate your garden
As a satirical novella that comments on the numerous problems with philosophy and theology, "Candide" by Voltaire serves to expound and perhaps even teach a lesson to those that would place too much faith in these doctrines. Disasters of all kinds befall the protagonist Candide, as well as almost every other character involved, in order to highlight the problems that lie in extricating oneself from responsibility of one's actions-leaving it to God, to fate or to nature when the responsibility inordinately lies within one's self. As our world is most certainly not "the best of all possible worlds" (16, 86), Voltaire suggests that humankind should occupy themselves in daily activities rather than ruminate on such things that man cannot truly understand; hence the ending sentence, "we must cultivate our garden" (115, 170-171).None could have been more preoccupied with philosophy than Candide's tutor Pangloss, a standing sentinel of the virtues of optimism. Even in the most wretched of situations, as a beggar riddled with the effects of syphilis, he states that "It was something indispensable in the best of worlds, a necessary ingredient; for, if Columbus in an island of America had not caught this disease . . . we should not have c
This shows his use of optimism to now help him cope with misfortune and carry on with his life rather than a means to explain and justify a current situation and say that it was wholly necessary. It seems that whatever the characters in "Candide" do, it only causes grief for themselves. He has everything he needs within himself and is self-reliant by keeping himself occupied. In this way, Martin goes directly against Pangloss because he goes by what he sees rather than ignoring it and continuing to hold on to a philosophy that has been proven wrong countless times. Without hope it would probably not have been possible for Candide to continue wading through tragedy after tragedy. Is recalls the point where Martin said "it is always good to hope," (96, 177) which is also a kind of optimism. Labor is Voltaire's answer to a life pitted with misfortune, because with the distraction of work, evil can be kept at bay as one is able to concentrate on the immediate good at hand. Though Voltaire does not reveal the secret of happiness in an overt way, he does suggest the steps that can be taken to be content. After such tremendous suffering, by this point, Candide might in fact have lost all hope. Though it takes experience, Candide finally realizes that optimism does not solve all problems and he despairs and calls it "the mania of maintaining that everything is well when we are wretched" (63, 53-54). For merely "innocently" (3, 71) kissing Cunegonde's hand, Candide was dealt the ultimate punishment of being removed from not only the "most agreeable of all possible castles" (3, 79) but also from his love, Cunegonde. By this point, Pangloss' unrealistic philosophy for living one's life can be cast aside in favor of more realistic means to attain the contentment and happiness that Candide had been searching for. Through Candide and Pangloss, I think that Voltaire is showing that good and evil exist on an equal plane, and that either can affect a person regardless of their being virtuous or not. The futility of maintaining a philosophy of optimism always lay within Pangloss from the onset who, still deluded and a slave to optimism, says in chapter seventeen that "it would be unbecoming for [him] to recant, since Leibnitz could not be in the wrong and pre-established harmony is the finest thing imaginable like the plenum and subtle matter" (107, 85-88). His love for the beautiful Cunegonde is apparent from the first chapter but his intentions are thwarted by her father, the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh of Westphalia when he "expelled Candide from the castle by kicking him in the backside frequently and hard" (3, 75-76).
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