“I know also,” said Candide, “that we must cultivate our garden.”
“You are right,” said Pangloss, “for when man was first placed in the Garden of Eden, he was put there _ut operaretur eum_, that he might cultivate it; which shows that man was not born to be idle.”
“Let us work,” said Martin, “without disputing; it is the only way to render life tolerable.”
The whole little society entered into this laudable design, according to their different abilities. Their little plot of land produced plentiful crops. Cunegonde was, indeed, very ugly, but she became an excellent pastry cook; Paquette worked at embroidery; the old woman looked after the linen. They were all, not excepting Friar Giroflee, of some service or other; for he made a good joiner, and became a very honest man.
Pangloss sometimes said to Candide:
“There is a concatenation of events in this best of all possible worlds:
for if you had not been kicked out of a magnificent castle for love of Miss Cunegonde: if you had not been put into the Inquisition: if you had not walked over America: if you had not stabbed the Baron: if you had
not lost all your sheep from the fine country of El Dorado: you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts.”
“All that is very well,” answered Candide, “but let us cultivate our Garden.”
This excerpt is from the final chapter in Candide by Voltaire. All through the novel, Voltaire satirized the philosophy of Optimism and its advocates in favor of skepticism.
But the ending, as we read above, seems more reconciliatory and accommodating of all views with a final ambiguous advice of “let us cultivate our Garden”!
In an essay of 1300 words, discuss the following:
1. The techniques Voltaire used to shake the values of Optimism through the plot and characters.
2. How do you evaluate the ending? Why did Voltaire refrain from the direct style of criticism towards the end? Does this make the novella open ended leaving it to the readers to have their own interpretations?
*Don’t include the TMA question or marking grid in your essay to avoid similarity in the Turnitin program.
* Don’t refer to unscholarly electronic or written sources such as Wikipedia and Cliff notes.
Useful references:
1. Voltaire (2005 (1759) Candide or Optimism (trans. And ed. T.Cuffe, with an introduction by M. Wood), Harmondsworth, Penguin.
2. Pacheco, Anita and Johnson David (eds.) (2012) “Voltaire, Candide, or Optimism” in The Renaissance and the Long Eighteenth Century, London, Bloomsbury, pp. 171-195.
3. Cooper, A.A., Third Earl of Shaftesbury (2001 (1711) Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (ed. D.D. Uyl), 3vols, New York, Liberty Fund.
4. Braun, T.E.D and Radner, J.B. (eds.) (2005) The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755: Representations and Reactions, Oxford, Voltaire Foundation.
