The wonderful world of ‘Candide’

  To this day, millions of people around the world continue to maintain the idea that everything is for the best and everything happens for a reason.
  However, what kind of merit does this saying actually hold?
  The wonderfully satirical “Candide” by Voltaire terrifically responds to this question. Loaded with dark humor and gruesome scenes, this novel takes the reader on a trip with Candide in search of his beloved Cunégonde.
  Raised in the “most magnificent of all castles” under the notion that everything is for the best, what other idea does Candide stand to live by? After seeing his family’s castle destroyed by war, his love raped and killed by soldiers, his mentor hung and his newfound riches stolen, it is hard to believe that Candide could maintain his faith.
  Surprisingly, everything ends up for the best when Candide is reunited with his love and discovers his mentor living. 
  Candide announces that although all is for the best, “we must cultivate our garden.”
  In saying so, Candide relays the idea that we shape our life by how we choose to live. It is no coincidence that the very name Candide means “optimistic.”