|
Candide demonstrates just how out of hand things can get, and I found myself laughing at how extreme his situation became repeatedly. The more he followed his passions, the more suffering he experienced. Humans are like this, and at the end we are wondering if any of it was worth it... but we also see that Candide felt at every step of the way that he had to do what he was doing.
Like I said, it is no wonder that he was happy tending to his garden at the end. If we could be happy tending our gardens, life would be simple and we wouldn't experience as much pain. Humans follow their passions, and to the extremes. This isn't to say that I find Candide to be a hero like I find Sisyphus to be - this is to say that I find Candide to represent the tragedy of the human will to engage in the practice of projecting an image of ourselves into the future containing all of our desires. All is for the best, because reason doesn't typically win and there is no way to prevent people from persuing their passions (whether you think they are noble or atrocious). To all of us, we attempt to follow what is good - good for us. Self-interest defines good (as well as people's mental health).
Candide sees the irony in the statement "In this best of all possible worlds, all must be for the best." He sees that there are possible ways to prevent people from experiencing pain, and yet people end up putting themselves in painful circumstances. People are hopeless in this way, so there is no better world. People cannot be convinced that tending their garden is the best choice until after they have reason to believe that suffering for their goals isn't worth it.
__________________
Innominate.
|