that was all it took?

I find it interesting that after all the misfortune and terrible hardship that happens throughout the story that everyone ends up finding happiness and contentment in doing something as simple as working hard to maintain a garden. However it does make some degree of sense for all of the characters to have reached this point. We have evidence in our own society that money does not necessarily bring happiness. In Candide, it is not only money that causes everyone to loath where they are in life, but also their preconceived notions of happiness that they still hold on to. It's only after they let go of these ideas and commit to doing something, albeit something that many of them would have considered menial and unimportant before, that truly makes them happy do they let go of these ideas and accept life as what it is.

I find this interesting because it is something that we see happening more and more in today's society. We hear about people who truly have it all, money, fame, influence, people who have been all over the world and have seen things that normal people will only ever see in a national geographic. Yet, many of these people are simply not happy with where they are in life. However, we also hear about people who simply live where they are and are content with it. This is the point I believe Candide reached when they all finally settled down, to simply live where they are, and not worry about where they were going.