Bravo!

What a terrible ending. What could I expect? The weak plot couldn’t have finished with a strong conclusion. The worst part of such a terrible ending is that it leaves the concept of the best of all possible worlds sort of unanswered. The question seams to be redirected with the revival of all the characters. I am not sure if the absurdity of resurrection is to expose that a world where dead loved ones come to life or resurrection itself. The fact that the book seams to end similarly to how it started is strange. The mirroring however doesn’t include happiness, all the characters are miserable at the conclusion. “Cacambo, whose job was to work in the garden and sell vegetables in Constantinople, was quite worn out with toil, and cursed his lot.” Pg 139

There are however some great concepts in Candide’s ending. Happiness for example is looked into. The whole ending that characters hoped for and it isn’t a happy one. All the main characters find themselves unsatisfied. Aside from the characters the Turk and the six kings of Europe are a comparison between being rich and poor in terms of happiness. “‘That old fellow,’ said he, turning to Pangloss and Martin, ‘seemed to me to have done much better for himself than those six kings had the honor of supping with.’” (Pg 143) Although the kings were unhappy because they were betrayed, I would think Voltaire is playing with the concept of happiness. The kings had everything but so much power brought problems and that is why the Turk (the old fellow) was so happy. He was living at peace.

“‘You are quite right,’ said Pangloss. ‘When man was placed in the Garden of Eden, he was put there “to dress it and to keep it”, to work in fact; which proves that man was not born to an easy life.’”

The final concept of cultivating your garden is quite simple. In a way it answers the theme of the book. Things must run their course and you must work with what you were given, your garden.