In my opinion, I believe, Candide, for the first half of his journey, dealt with the misfortunes of discovering that men are not equal, and that Pangloss’s philosophical belief, “Everything happens for the best” is not always true, but rather “everything happens for a reason”. If not for the help given to him by Cacambo, with his ability to keep composure during their hardships, and the generosity from the king of Eldorado, Candide would have never survived his journey. Even after Candide found areas of the world that fallow, beliefs and philosophical values, much like Pangloss’s, he still refused not to give up looking for Cunegonde. It wasn’t until Candide met Martin, that he realized the both Pangloss, and Martins philosophies were in some ways correct. What was confusing to me was how everyone who seemed to have experienced a horrible death, apparently were still alive. In addition, Candide, after all he went through, didn’t even want to marry Cunegonde, so his blind optimism wasn’t even worth it, unless it’s true that everything done happen for a reason.
I feel that in the end, Candide believed that life isn’t about speculating every aspect of how the world’s goods and evils balance our lives. Different things happen for different reasons, and sometimes there not much, us humans can do about it. As humans we have to find a medium ground, were we can spend the majority of time working hard and being proud of it, and enjoying the time that we have here, because life is short, regardless of how long one lives for.
