iance is starting the novel in Westphalia, the “the earthly paradise.” This paradise that is in “the best of all possible worlds” quickly turns into a scene of massive death and rape. Then when Candide is forced to run the drills in the army, he becomes a skilled warrior. The torture and pain that he went through is a satire of what Voltaire himself witnessed while with Frederick of Prussia.Perhaps the saddest thing of all that Voltaire makes fun of is humans ourselves. Humans are very selfish, very vane, and easily bored. Voltaire makes us very aware of this, perhaps best through the city of El Dorado. It is true that all the characters are not good role models, selfish, scheming, unscrupulous, violent, greedy, and other such unpleasant words, but it is not until the city of El Dorado that we see a great point about the human condition. Quite simply, humans want, and humans need, challenge. Without diversity and difficulty in each one of our lives, we are bored. This is further illustrated by Senator Seignor Pococurante, who has a seemingly ideal life, but is bored to death with all his possessions and is altogether unhappy. In the city of El Dorado, the city of dreams, the city so many have looked for, Candide refuses to stay. Why? To illustrate the vanity and desire be god like. In El Dorado, he is just like everyone else. However, taking with him El Dorado’s treasures, he becomes an ideal elsewhere. He is not content to be content; he wants more than that. However, the main point Voltaire makes at the end of this novel with the garden is that to be content is to be happy. All the characters in the book were searching for happiness and yet always found discontent. It is at the end that finally Candide understands to be happy it is necessary to do something he is content in, and thus finds happiness. This is important to the satire of the whole, because it is Voltaire’s summation ...
