Don Quixote Rough Draft

Danielle Corbo

World Literature 1

Don Quixote Paper

 

            As we continue to grow as a society we are faced with the question of whether it is easier for us to find our own identity and risk not fitting in with the rest of the crowd, or if conformity is just the easier route to go for said reason. A big part as to whether an individual will choose to blossom into their own self-found identity or decide to conform to the crowd comes from their personal environment and social circle. The literary work “Don Quixote”, which is written during the Renaissance period by Miguel de Cervantes tackles the idea of forming one’s own identity and refusing to fall in line to the masses by conforming to what they think the norm is. The novel takes two volumes to get through the story of Don Quixote’s journey and was written from 1605- 1615.

            We can see many different themes throughout “Don Quixote”, those being ones of chivalry, as well as an older man trying to create his own fate and follow what he believe should be his identity as a knight who tries to right the wrongs of the commoners he is surrounded by. The main character Don Quixote, also known as Alonso Quixano, has become overly interested in reading books of knights tales, which include chivalry, and romance. Don Quixote however was not born to knighthood, and felt it was what his calling should be as a grown man, so he decided to take it upon himself to reinvent himself and train to become a knight by what he knew literature’s standards were. Antonio Molina makesa point that many of literatures great heroes were simply born to the title, “The hero is meant to accomplish a foretold identity: Achilles was already himself in the cradle, and Ulysses could not help being smart and cunning. The same can be said about some beloved characters in popular fiction.” (Molina, ) Don Quixote can be considered one of the first known self-made heroes within popular fiction. The plot, and themes throughout Quixote’s journeys tend to magnify the subject at hand as to whether it is more beneficial to create your own destiny and forge a path of your own self-identity or whether conformity is the key to living a successful and happy life. The way that I interpreted “Don Quixote”, was that Don himself was determined to create his own self- identity but there was also an air of conformity throughout as well.

            The first rumblings of Don Quixote came about when the main character who was formally known as Alonso Quixano, decided to change his name and identity to Don Quixote. Many of the people who surrounded him at the time said he did this as a result of going mad from no communication with the outside, and being left to read endless amount of books that told him tales of knights and their adventures and doings. “Having thus lost his understanding, he unluckily stumbled upon the oddest fancy that ever entered into a madman's brain; for now he thought it convenient and necessary, as well for the increase of his own honor, as the service of the public, to turn knight-errant.” (1.1.1.8) With Don Quixote taking on his new identity, he set his sights to travel through the different cities and take it upon himself to perform the knightly duties he believed to be true of the occupation. Most of the onlookers believed that because Don Quixote spent so much time involved in his books prior to his transformation that he simply went mad, and his brains were rotted out into the mush that held the idea in his head that he was a knight. The only person who seemed to have full confidence in the transformation of Don Quixote, was Sancho Panca, who in his own right was a simple-minded man, but his faithful, and blind following of Don led to him becoming Don’s appointed squire. “All the rest of the company gave great attention to this discourse; and even the very goatherds and shepherds were now fully convinced that Don Quixote's brains were turned topsy-turvy. But Sancho Panca believed every word that dropped from his master's mouth to be truth, as having known him from his cradle to be a man of sincerity.” (Cervantes, 1) This sudden change with in Quixote’s life can very easily be related to the public by the idea of changing career paths throughout your lifetime, as it is said that the average adult changes careers 3-7 times throughout their life. (McKay, )  This is very much relatable to Don Quixote as he was a man bored with the life and career he had, and decided to take it upon himself to switch into a new “occupation” so to speak.

 

Works Cited

McKay, Dawn Rosenberg. “How Often Do People Change Careers?” The Balance Careers, The Balance, 28 Jan. 2019, www.thebalancecareers.com/how-often-do-people-change-careers-3969407.

 

Muñoz Molina, Antonio. The Hudson Review, hudsonreview.com/2015/10/don-quixote-or-the-art-of-becoming/#.XNNqxuSouM8.

 

Williamson, Edwin, and John J. Allen. The Modern Language Review, Jan. 1981, web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=dc338711-97dd-4029-951c-e3946e869371%40sdc-v-sessmgr01.

Cook, James Wyatt. “Don Quixote.” Encyclopedia of Renaissance Literature, Second Edition, Facts On File, 2014. Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=17443&itemid=WE54&articleId=37520.