DON Quixote - Analyzing the novel by using the elements of the story PDF

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Analyzing the novel by using the elements of the story...

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“DON QUIXOTE”- Miguel de Cervantes Five years as a soldier and five more years as a slave of pirates, Cervantes spent the majority of his life as a struggling poet and playwright. He published his creation, an epic satire of chivalry novels called “DON QUIXOTE.” Don Quixote is a Spanish novel and is also as modern as most experimental fiction. Cervantes wrote Don Quixote as an epic, illogical, and soulful tale of a noble hidalgo who spends his days and nights reading so many chivalric romances. Don Quixote was a creation of Miguel de Cervantes. He was a Spanish author who lived at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. Cervantes's creation was considered the first modern novel, which was published in two parts between 1605 and 1615. His creation is a story of a 16th-century Spanish hidalgo named Alonzo Quixano. There are lots of characters included in Don Quixote, but I will only share with you the three main characters of this novel. Alonzo Quixano, the protagonist of this story, lived in the Spanish village of La Mancha. He was a landowner who was richer than a peasant farmer but poorer than a nobleman. Quixano was a gentleman who loves to read his favorite stories of knights and chivalry in which he loses his sanity and decides to become a knighterrant under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha. Alonso Quixano declared himself to be Don Quixote and dressed in an old suit of armor made of scrap metal and riding a feeble called Rocinante. Don Quixote taught himself that he must dedicate his life to a lady. For him, all knights knew a lady, and then he remembered a story he had heard about a beautiful peasant girl in the village of El Toboso. Having lost his grip on reality, he decided to think that a lady was a lonely princess. Don Quixote invented her name Dulcinea. For him, “All of the sweetest ladies, the name was Dulcinea." He named the lady Dulcinea El Toboso, a farm girl that Don Quixote fixates on and to whom he is devoted romantically. A few minutes later, he went on an adventure just like the knights he read about in his books. On his journey, Don Quixote came across a farmer working in a field. He saw his neighbor named Sancho Panza who was a peasant farmer, greedy but kind, faithful but cowardly. Don Quixote tried to recruits a simple farmer as his servant and convinced him by offering it a deal. “I will reward you an island if you serve me honestly and faithfully, " said Don Quixote. Sancho agreed to serve Don Quixote, and they set out on a journey together. In the first part of the story, Don Quixote likes to pretend that he is playing out a knightly tale rather than seeing the world as it is. As we have noticed from the beginning of the novel, we can simply figure out the most common themes that Don Quixote has. In my perspective, it features reality and fantasy, truth and justice, life and literature, as well as idealism, comedy, and romantic love, which are often depicted in the novel. From this novel, we can also notice that the author uses any symbols that most of us can make new meaning on it. Inns are often symbolic in Don Quixote. Inn represents a person’s ability that reflects society as a whole. There's the innkeeper, who acts as governor, his workers who represent the peasants, and his clients who are treated like royalty for the most part. One indicator that a person's standing in Don Quixote is the animal he uses for transportation. In our society, people often criticize that horses are for the middle and upper classes, while donkeys are for the lower classes. Don Quixote rides his horse Rocinante, while Sancho Panza rides a donkey. With this, it can reflect in today’s society that people who do not ride by car are extremely poor and the people who ride by car are extremely rich. In my perspective, this novel succeeded in imitating life situations that can fall into reality. First, as I applied mimetic theory, most people of today’s society are regarded as crazy because of reading books as to what happened to Alonso Quixano. Some people applied what they have read from the book because it controls their mentality and actions. However, Don Quixote inspires us to live our life to the fullest. The impossible dream was the biggest representation of Don Quixote's character and what he lives for. His dream was to go against the odds to achieve a goal that what everyone says is impossible. These can be related in today's society as to what Don Quixote against the prisoners. The citizens of this

society have to go against the government and people of power to gain happiness and peacefulness. Also, Sancho portrays the common man and reality. Most people of today's society would encourage the actions of a man like Sancho. It symbolizes loyalty as he stays by Quixote's side on his quest for knighthood. Second, I will apply the Historical criticism where it depicts a period in Spanish history which are the various sides of the Spanish spirit and the Spanish temper. The character of this novel represents a period in Spanish history, as well as the Spanish people's sense of fading glory in the face of inevitability. Don Quixote is also the most literary representation of the Counter-Reformation. The Reformation swept through Europe at the pace of new ideas and transforming the religious environment of country after country. Spain was a proud Catholic country that resisted any reforms. Standing alone against the wave of reform sweeping Europe seemed insane, but Quixote's nobility and resolve to fight for his convictions, no matter what the rest of the world thought, represents the power of the Spanish will at the time. Cervantes was a devout and faithful believer, a defender of the Church, and Don Quixote, the battered knight of the Counter-Reformation, maybe the greatest fictional Catholic hero. Third, I will apply the Feminist criticism where Cervantes highlighted the imperfect women throughout the novel. For most of the novel, it comes up with men talking about what a good woman should do. In Don Quixote, the issue of women empowerment comes out clearly in several scenes. Don Quixote’s invention of Dulcinea shows how much he adores her and the high esteem he possibly accords to women. It appears that men invent the value of women which stated that women’s value is a man’s greatest invention. However, it is ironic how men judge the value of women from their origin and appearance. We expected the value of women judged the same way of men as it is irrespective of their family status as well as their beauty. Lastly, as I employ the reader-response theory, I want to give my opinion about this novel. As I analyzed this novel, Don Quixote tells us that there is another option for us. We do what we do because it gives us a sense of self-identity. Identity-based behaviors can protect us from the discouragement of negative feedback. I witnessed how Don Quixote made himself motivated by fulfilling his sense of self rather than conventional notions of performance. He is disciplined by his sense of mission rather than by rewards. Don Quixote’s message is about elegance. His imagination creates beauty not only in his love for Dulcinea but even in the world around him. Quixote encourages us to seek out beauty in our daily lives which is about a creative imagination that defies the constraints of today's reality. A moral and inspiring message about uplifting the human spirit. A life of dedication that does not depend on any outcomes but a life with leadership that requires both discipline and passion. All about humans has a limit. It enlightens us that life is to be challenged. I believe that identities and societies are constantly changing and that values have the power to transform us. Each person should be respected based on the strength of our character rather than the circumstances of our birth. I conclude that everyone, rich or poor, nobleman or peasant, can become decent, brave, and courteous despite the social barriers that divide us into various stewardship classes. In the world we live in, taking our path without harming others seems to be impossible. But, through humility, we should always guide our intentions toward noble ends, which are to do good to everyone while doing evil to no one....