The Garden State

Reading the title "The Garden State", I instantly thought of the garden of Eden. But when it comes to the ending of the book,  Candide, the comparisons begin to build. In Candide, the characters made their ways through terrible situations and were constantly separated by those situations. Somehow, they were able to find themselves back to each other, although some seemed as though they did not learn from what they went through. But everyone is completely changed, Candide questions Pangloss and his philosophy, Pangloss does not really seem to truly believe his own philosophy, Cunegond is "ugly", and the other characters are different as well. When it comes to "The Garden State", for the characters of Candide, they saw the value in simplicity and hard work. They have to work hard to maintain this "garden" of theirs. After all that the characters has experienced, I believe their stuggles were neccessary for them to truly realize and appreciate what it really means for something to be the best of all possible worlds. Whereas for the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were completely ignorant of any outside influences while living in "The Garden State", and they did not have to work hard while living there. Yet I believe that they were happy. "The Garden State" overall, is the place (state of mind, a period/time in our lives, or a literal place) in which we experience happiness and contentment. Whether someone has started life in tht specific place or found it after living through terrible things although misery and sorrow still exists outside of someones personal garden state. But I do wonder if sorrow, pain, suffering, and all that is "bad" existed outside of the garden of Eden, and the only way for Adam and Eve to see this was by eating from the tree of knowledge. If not, then how was the snake able to exist, enter the garden, and deceive Eve?