A Utopian Society Can Exist

Utopia. Eldorado. Here, in Candide, these two words are interchangeable. Eldorado is a place unimaginable to a person like Candide. It has no organized religion, religious persecutions, religious hierarchies, etc. They believe in one God, follow one religion, and do not know about religious strife. This further proves Voltaire’s opinion on how religion only causes conflicts for the world (read previous blog). On top of that, there is an equal dispersion of wealth in that there is no poverty. Everyone is treated equally, jewels do not mean anything, and people do not get imprisoned. What is its meaning? Eldorado is a personification of Voltaire’s view of an “ideal society”. Its perfect traits further highlight the corruption of the real world.

The word “utopia” means an ideal community that consists of perfect characteristics but is unreal or unreachable. Just like that, Eldorado is also unreal – so unreal that Candide and Cacambo want to leave. Their original human nature of greed and selfishness disenables them from being able to live in Eldorado happily.

“If we stay here, we shall be no different from anybody else; but if we go back to the old world with a mere twelve sheep laden with Eldorado stones, we shall be richer than all the kings of Europe put together” (Page 82). This passage represents the philosophical meaning of a utopian society. A utopian society like Eldorado can exist, but is unreal due to us, humans. We are too greedy, too selfish, and too concerned about the physical materials of the world. We cannot accept to be the same as everyone else; we want to be better. That gluttony is what destroys the whole idealness because it causes social hierarchies, religious conflicts, etc.

I feel like this “Eldorado episode” is extremely philosophical and profound; it is so relatable to our world. We, humans, always want or expect something more out of our world. We want something better and we try so hard to change the world to make it one step closer to a perfect world. However, the only thing that is preventing this to happen is the ill characteristics of human nature. Perhaps, we need to change first in order to do better.