When I finished reading Candide, or Optimism, I believed that Martin was the character in this story that made the most sense with his philosophy and thinking, at least based on the story’s pace and events that occurred during Candide’s journey to find Cunegonde. Martin, quite the opposite of Pangloss, believes that life is full of misery and hopeless and that everything that happens was for the worst. However, I believed that his thinking was true because all of the events that happened to Pangloss, Cunegonde, Martin, Candide and the other characters were things that happened for the worst, contrary to Pangloss’ philosophy that all things in the world are for the best.
In the ending, when all of the characters were reunited and lived in a different place, I found it to be pretty ironic when it came to Pangloss’ optimism. Although no one died, everyone came together with the worst possible outcome. It turns out that Martin was the one who was correct. Everything turned out bad for Candide, especially, since his love for Cunegonde turned out to be different from what he wanted. She became ugly and his heart didn’t want them to be married. Even though he lost everything and his last hope would reside in Cunegonde, it turned out that even she wasn’t the best possible outcome for him.
