Women of the River

Voltaire

Over the course of his travels Candide has learned that it is not money or materialistic things that make people happy. It's being with the people you love and care about. Candide had finally learned to think for himself.

Education can be acquired by various methods, but experience has most frequently been the most successful. Higher stature or class in society does not necessarily mean greater common sense or better practical knowledge. Often it is those that live tougher lives and have many experiences that are worldly and wise. This philosophy is repeatedly stated throughout Candide. All those people that demonstrate intelligence and clarity of mind are those people that have had the greatest amount of life experiences.

The idea that there is no evil in the world, and that everything that happens could have happened no other way, is a pessimistic philosophy. This means that man has no free will. His choices are made by the hand of fate, and even when he thinks he is making a choice, it is really part of another master plan. Having a philosophy in a world where decision matters little is like having a placebo during the Black Plague.

People must be in control of their destiny. Realizing, of course, that no one is really in control of every aspect of their life, you at least control your own knowledge and wisdom.

At the end of the tale . . . the reader can tell that Candide has in fact learned greatly from his odyssey. It is now Candide who philosophizes to Pangloss, saying that all may be for the best now, but only because hard work is now a part of daily life (as the best of all worlds will not come naturally, but only to those who strive towards a better life).

I liked Candide. I've read it before. We read it in high school for a world literature class. I didn't like it as much then, I guess I was younger and had to overanalyze it for class.

From Candide, I learned that even the French can be funny.

It seems to me that one...