Candide is well known for his criticism of Voltaire's optimism. The title character, along with his companions, endures many hardships throughout the novel and philosophizes about the nature and necessity of good in the world. Whether there is really any good in the world is a debate between the characters, particularly between the very despondent Martin and Candide, who carries with him the optimistic words of Dr. Pangloss, a believer in the good nature of the world. As the characters argue about why man must carry such burdens, Voltaire shows us that it is the facing of evil that makes us human. Discussing Cunegonda Martino says to Candido: "I wish" that one day she could make you happy. But I highly doubt he will. "You're a little harsh," Candido said. “It's because I lived,” Martin said. To live is to experience good and evil. For our characters in Candide, their experiences are largely negative. As the novel progresses, we see through Candide's eyes that everyone is suffering, as the old woman notes: "Just for fun, why not have each passenger tell the story of his life, and if there is only one of them whoever has not often cursed the day he was born and has not often told himself that he was the unluckiest man in the world, then he can first throw me headlong into the sea." As Candide continues his journey through the novel in search of Cunegonde, the old woman's words find confirmation in the stories of the wounded slave outside Suriname, of the crowd of suitors in the city, of Martin, the learned man in France, of Paquette, Brother Biroflee and the you are king. The old woman's words to Candide directly show the connection between suffering and how it is unique in life. "This ridiculous weakness for life is perhaps one of our most fatal tendencies. Can there be anything more foolish than to insist on carrying a burden that one would continually like to throw to the ground? More foolish than to feel disgusted with one's existence and yet cling to Is it perhaps more foolish, in short, than holding the serpent that devours us to the point of gnawing at our hearts? To endure and hold on to that suffering is to hold on to what makes us human they lived.