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Overcoming Adversity While some readers of Voltaire’s Candide may hold that the correct answer to the question of whether or not Candide learns anything throughout the course of his journey is no, I am going to have to disagree with them. After reading the book from beginning to end, I found several instances that prove that Candide matures from a naïve young man into a man who is able to think on his own without the influence of others. As Candide progresses in life, his eyes open and he becomes exposed to bad without good coming out of it. This allows him to become more independent and learn to form his own opinions. For a long time throughout Candide’s life, he believes strongly in optimism. This is not because he is forced to but because he is raised in that manner. Candide grows up as a naïve and vulnerable child in his own secluded paradise where the only things he is exposed to is the brighter side of life and the idea that everything in the w