"The prodigious superiority of its materials over the sand and pebbles which we call gold and precious stones was clearly manifest."

“The door was mere silver, and the rooms were paneled with nothing better than gold; but the workmanship was in such good taste as to vie with the richest paneling. It is true that the hall was incrusted only with rubies and emeralds, but everything was so well designed as to compensate for this extreme simplicity.”

            For the inhabitants of Eldorado this was a very simple understated household. As one of the countrymen said when referring to the rubies and emeralds, “[those are] the pebbles and dirt found in our soil.” To them this kind of ornament wasn’t only common, but also insignificant. Yet, for Candide and Cacambo it was lavish and extravagant. When they first came across these precious stones they, “had the curiosity to pick some up, and found that they were gold nuggets, emeralds, and rubies, the least of which would have been the grandest ornament in the Mogul throne.” In short, they both thought the riches were “fit for kings”.

            In our society we would agree with Candide and Cacambo. The emeralds, rubies, gold, and silver were magnificent materials to come upon. However, the reason is that we have been brought up believing so. The value of these riches weren’t assigned by nature, instead they were appointed by society. If we had been educated in Eldorado, we would side with them in thinking that the gemstones were common everyday objects with no value. Yet, since we have been raised in a different environment, we end up coinciding with the views of Candide and his servant.

            One of the inhabitants also says, “We have been sheltered from the greed of European nations, who have a quite irrational lust for the pebbles and dirt found in our soil, and would kill every man of us to get hold of them.” This, unfortunately, is very true. They would most definitely commence a brutal blood bath against each other in order to gain control of the riches, which in Eldorado were trivial to say the least. The most ironic thing of it all, is that they created the value of these items and therefore also the desire for them. Truth is, society has always given everything it’s meaning, and we have blindly accepted and followed these set standards.