help with candide?

Question

"we must cultivate our garden" what does this mean

Answer 1

'Cultivate' is to take out and put in what is chosen for 'garden'. 'Garden' in this context (I assume as guess) is metaphor for totality of conscious life, its external (outside-self)and internal (inside-self).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide

Note: For the Bernstein operetta based on the book, please see Candide (operetta).
Candide, ou l'Optimisme, (English: Candide, or Optimism) (1759) is a picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire never openly admitted to having written the controversial Candide. The work is signed with a pseudonym: "Monsieur le docteur Ralph," literally "Mr. Dr. Ralph."

Sardonic in outlook, it follows the naïve protagonist Candide from his first exposure to the precept that "all is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds," and on through a series of adventures that dramatically disprove that precept even as the protagonist clings to it.

The novel satirizes naïve interpretations of the philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz and is a showcase of the horrors of the 18th century world. In Candide, Leibniz is represented by the philosopher Pangloss, the tutor of the title character. Despite a series of misfortunes and misadventures, Pangloss continually asserts that tout est au mieux ("everything is for the best") and that he lives in le meilleur des mondes possibles ("the best of all possible worlds").

Answer 2

What do you think it means? I have not looked at the book in years, but it sounds like he is talking about getting on with a task, whatever it is. To cultivate means to encourage to grow, and as for garden, he may be referring to one's county, society or other surroundings. You had better peruse the book a lot more closely for the theme before turning in your paper....in other words, read it!

Answer 3

Your 'garden' is your life. So you must cultivate your life if you are to fully experience it.