Satire In Voltaire's Candide

Voltaire was a writer who wanted traditions reshaped. He wanted people to have rational thought and accept process. In Voltaire’s novel, Candide, He wrote the protagonist in the satire to be an optimistic character who believes that all evil will be balanced by the good. Candide, the protagonist came to the final conclusion that “we must cultivate our garden” Voltaire, Candide, (NY: Penguin: 1961.),96. This statement can be interpreted in many different ways but the one that sticks out would be to take care of yourself and the world will go on. From the very beginning of the novel Candide starts as an optimistic young innocent fellow who gets pushed around by all the characters in the satire. When he wants to “cultivate his garden” he means to take care of yourself above all others. The garden is a symbol for yourself and the life you’re living. Candide starts feeling less optimistic when he was flogged and when he thought he saw his mentor, Pangloss hung, when the friar Franciscan steals Cundégónde’s pistoles, and then when Pangloss doesn’t want Candide to marry Cundégónde. Even through all these negative situations he remained optimistic. When Candide lived in the castle of the baron Thunder-ten-tronckh in Westphalia he was taught that this world is the “best of all possible worlds”(Voltaire, 2). In a modern

Nevertheless Candide tries to remain positive about this mishap and state that, “‘That Franciscan, according to these principles, should certainly have left us enough to complete our trip”(Voltaire, 22). When Cundégónde sadly remarks that the Franciscan didn’t even leave a single maravedi, Candide begins to realize that Pangloss’s teachings aren't’ so accurate. He cannot remain positive about this loss because nothing good is happening to them. They are simply without money to complete their trip. The evil out balanced the good in this