Saturday, October 4, 2014

The Garden State: New Jersey

Car ride to Beloit, Wisconsin:

Me: I just finished Candide.
Aunt Lainie: Oh isn't that the one about the garden?
Me: Yeah, that idea was just mentioned in the final pages.
Aunt Lainie: I read that years ago, but I still live by that line.
Me: What is it that you live by?
Aunt Lainie: The idea that we each need to take care of our own little spot. Instead of getting involved in big battles, do your work, and cultivate your garden.
Me: Interesting. That is different than I what I thought it to mean.  I was interpreting it as the idea that in order to feel fulfilled we must help provide growth for something.  When we work to nourish development, we take a more active role in our lives instead of just waiting to judge the outcomes as good or bad.
Aunt Lainie: Uh oh, have I just twisted it to fit my life for all these years?
Me: No. I think what you're saying comes from the old man who explains to Candide, Pangloss, and Martin that he stays uninvolved with political affairs of his city and is happy just to sell his fruits there (p. 92).
Aunt Lainie: Ok. So the overlap in our interpretations is the necessity of work.
Me: Right. In both, it is work that can save us from "the three great evils: boredom, vice, and necessity" (p.92).  Instead of being fulfilled by things we think we need, we can instead look to find this fulfillment in staying busy and committing to some work.  Just as gardens vary in what is grown, how it is organized, etc., we can each personalize the garden that we wish to sustain.  Maybe in Candide's final words "That is well said, but we must cultivate our garden," he is telling Pangloss that instead of hoping for things to turn out for the best, we have to take action to affect the result.
Aunt Lainie: Cool. Let's go to Arby's.




4 comments:

  1. I completely agree that people feel fulfilled when they work collectively toward something. Just as a garden needs many workers, the world needs many people with unique viewpoints and different backgrounds to keep it turning.

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  2. I like how you made this post in a dialogue style. It really captures how two people can have different views on an idea. You and your aunt have different thoughts on the meaning of the garden just as Martin and Pangloss have distinct philosophies about the world. I also like how you point out that Candide now supports a more cause and effect relationship in life rather than a best of all worlds ideal. This shows how he no longer blindly accept Pangloss's philosophy.

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  3. That was super cute! You and your aunt had 2 completely different ideas on what the garden comment meant but they both work really nicely. I had never even thought of your Aunt's interpretation before I read this. I feel like there's definitely an air of self-sufficiency in the line. Anyways, nice post and I really want Arby's now. Those curly fires...

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  4. Aunt Laine should be at Career Day…she can speak the truth to the youth. Arby's hmmm…haven't been there in quite some time. Maybe over twenty years.

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