How Does Candide Influence His Travel

Traveling has been one of the main ways for people to explore the world and learn about other cultures. It has been a way for scholars to learn more about humanity in order to create theories trying to explain its complicated nature. In Voltaire’s novel Candide he describes the travels of the character Candide throughout Europe and South America. On his journey Candide reconnects with old friends and also makes new ones that influence his travels. Throughout the novel Candide and his friends experience oppression from the state and the rich. When he finally obtains the capital in order to save all his friends and move out of the city he realizes that being rich and idle is not a fulfilling lifestyle. Thus at the end of the novel Candide states that “we must cultivate our garden.” Cultivating one's garden in this novel means that individuals must use their energy and time for useful tasks which also restrains them from speculating over the unknown. …show more content…
He does not believe that the world is ultimately good and believes that man is governed by good and evil. He using the obstacles Candide and other characters in the novel face to show that this optimistic view of the world does not make sense when people constantly suffer at the hands of others. This also correlates with the fact that Voltaire believes that humans use toleration as a guide to interact with others. This is apparent in the novel because Candide helps many people on his journey merely because he is sympathetic to their circumstances. Voltaire believes that philosophical optimism is based on emotion and trusting the unknown instead of using actual facts. In the novel Pangloss and Candide believe that everything happens for a reason and do not question these reasons. Voltaire rejects this and believes in free will because he believes men use reason to make their