Voltaire's most classic work, Candide, is a satirical attack on almost everything that was prevalent in society during the author's lifetime. The whole novel can be considered as a dark story where each character compares life stories to see whose life is worse. Just when the novel can no longer become morbid or depressing, it does so to a much greater extent. Although Candide is generally considered a universal denunciation, it is optimism that Voltaire attacks to the greatest extent. However, there are numerous other satirical themes in the novel that are worth discussing. These other areas of derision include aristocratic snobbery, religious bigotry, militarism, and human nature. There is a good reason why Voltaire was so fed up with optimism, or more specifically Leibnizian optimism. During the decade in which Candide was originally composed, this type of what Voltaire considered ridiculous optimism was in full swing. This branch of optimism is named after Gottfried Leibniz, one of the logical leaders of the time who emerged from Descartes. This optimism states that evil exists in the world, but that reason could explain evil. He believed there were certain truths that not even God could alter, such as two plus two equals four. Because it has to be this way, there were limitations when God created the universe, so he was working with an already imperfect system. Leibniz goes on to say that, this being the case, a perfect world is impossible, but the Earth is the best of all possible worlds. Now, while Voltaire heard from his contemporaries that all was well, a number of drastic things were happening in Europe and in his life. There was a tremendous earthquake that killed 100,000 people in...middle of paper...deal elsewhere. He is not satisfied with being happy; he wants more. However, the main point that 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 Candido finally understands that to be happy it is necessary to do something he is satisfied with, and so he finds happiness. This is important for the overall satire, because it is Voltaire's synthesis of all the criticism, of everything that is wrong with society. This book is just an all out attack on society and uses humor to illustrate its points. Indeed, it is finally an irony and finally a seriousness that Candide's satirical journey comes to an end. “Let's grow our Garden”. Five short words, Voltaire's final summary of the great comedy that is Candide.