"The Golden Ass" and optimism

I find the similarity between Voltaire¡¯s Candide and Apuleius¡¯s Golden Ass rather striking. They both have prerequisites of being raptly attentive for their more subtle attractions which have been shrouded by some rather splendid humor. However, what I would like to comment on is their common theme of inevitability, and whether fate hands us the better deal in the end.

Candide is a rather blameless optimist who is wrested through the grinding mill of fate to reach his destiny as a fruit farmer, a life idyllic in its ways, but paltry in comparison to what might have been. But every misfortune that befalls Candide was utterly unavoidable, and thus ...