Do you sympathize
with the characters? Which ones, and why?
Maybe the
only one with whom I sympathize is Sancho Pança. I like him, a simple
man, witty and humorous, loyal and….has abundant proverbs in his head to be
poured upon us! I think for Don Quixote, to live a Christian life is just an
idea; mere theory. When his quire was beaten (I forgot in which scene :D) Don
Quixote ran away ‘till he was sure everything is safe for him to help Sancho.
His action was not correlated with his principle. On the contrary, Sancho never
hides the fact that he is a coward and hates physical battle, but in time of
trouble, he left his precious Dapple and his own safety, and ran to save his
master, who has caused him most of his ill-lucks. THAT is a true Christian!
What does the setting
of the book tell you about the way human beings are shaped?
- In his frenzy, Don Quixote is carrying noble ideals to save the oppressed, but most of the people he meets cannot see it, they only see his absurd appearance and madness, and take him only as a madman. We are often deluded by appearances and our own ideas, and forget to delve deeper.
- Idea could perhaps be the most powerful tool to shape our civilization. It can bring us to the truth or deludes us to the false; only grab it literally without finding the truth would be very dangerous, for ourselves and for others.
Did the writer’s
times affect him?
Very much!
Because Cervantes wrote is mostly from his own experience, which showed us
Spain in the early 17th century era. Cervantes joined the Spanish
army, and it is believed to be the source of his knight-errantry and chivalric
idealism.
What exactly is the
writer telling you?
I think
Cervantes wanted to portray the decreasing idealism of knight-errantry
principles he was facing at his era. Morality has been decreasing in the tumult
of new era, and people have failed to keep the true Christian values.
In what sense is the
book true?
Modernism,
in any era or century, brings also moral corruption to a society as a side
effect. And it is depicted in this satirical romance as well.
~~~~~~~~~
I forgot about that: sometimes Quixote was not very courageous. And I did not like how cruel or rude Quixote was toward Sancho. Sancho was the only one, at times, who had any sense.
ReplyDeleteYes, his insisting on Sancho to lash himself is really unacceptable. He always call his squire with 'friend' Sancho, but in practice he treats him as a servant.
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