Candide discussion questions

Question 3:

1. Within the context of the novel, Eldorado really is the “best of all possible worlds.” Overflowing with riches, ruled by an enlightened king, it is a land with no need of courts or prisons, where the inhabitants lack nothing and live in a state of continual gratitude. Why do Candide and Cacambo decide to leave such a paradise and return to a world riddled with greed, lust, ignorance, dishonesty, and cruelty, a world where violence both savage and civilized is the norm? What aspects of human nature is Voltaire satirizing when he writes that “our two happy wanderers resolved to be happy no longer and to seek His Majesty’s permission to depart” (p. 49)? 

When Candide and Cacambo leave El Dorado they leave behind the best they’ve had their entire journey. I believe at that time of the book they were ignorant to the troubles of the world. They left thinking they could survive on the riches and jewels without harm or evil occurring to them. This was an ignorant action because if there is evil elsewhere and this is the best of all possible worlds, then surely they had the possibility of being robbed of their possessions because robbing is an act of evil. They were too optimistic about their fortunes and success.

Question 12:

1. At the end of the novel, Martin says, “Let us set to work and stop proving things, for that is the only way to make life bearable” (p. 93), echoing the Turkish farmer who says, “our work keeps at bay the three great evils: boredom, vice, and necessity” (p. 92). Do you think Voltaire is endorsing this view? Why would doing physical work be preferable to the life of a philosopher? 

 At the end of the book they meet a farmer who cultivates a garden. They travelers are impressed by his life style. They decide to mimic the farmer’s lifestyle and cultivate their own garden. When doing this Martin, Pangloss, and Candide had a tendency to discuss philosophy which in turn always turned into an argument/ debate. Martin says, “Let us set to work and stop proving things, for that is the only way to make life bearable”, this is referring to the way philosophers think. They critically analyze everything and find new troubles and always want to find the answer of “why”. That is why the physical labor is useful for the philosophers because if they had not begun cultivating the garden then they would begin to question the new lifestyle everyone was now living, and being that Candide is very impressionable he would have followed them and would have agreed. If this were to happen the travelers would begin wandering again looking for happiness in a world that is the best of all possible worlds.