Don Quixote

The book “Quixote’s Soldiers,” by David Montejano was written in clarity to describe and inform readers the injustice the Mexican Americans endured during the mid 1960s through the early 1980s in which they successfully battled for, “a new and more representative political order.” The following critique of “Quixote’s Soldiers,” includes how the Chicano Movement was introduced, the author's purpose and interpretations, and the overall successes and weaknesses of the book.

When Esperanza looks at the trees, she notices how they are alike… How they both don’t belong. Being a Latina person and mistreated often, she feels as if she is the minority. She doesn’t belong like how the four skinny trees don’t. The author uses personification when using “skinny necks and similies as she compares herself to them. They become metaphors for her and her family, who are outcasts.

On the other hand, the imagery in the next half of the poem that Soto uses about adults is much more serious and sad than the imagery he has used for the children. A first example is “The cotton gin stands tall in the money dream”. This visual imagery is in reference to to picking cotton, or agriculture in general. Agricultural jobs are common among poor Mexican workers and are probably one of the only ways that many believe they can really earn money. In this second half of the poem, the author’s use of imagery is mainly featured around jobs and money. A second example of imagery when the speaker is talking to

A sharp contrast is seen between the narration style of chapter 8 and 9 of Don Quixote. The seemingly flowing tale of Quixote and Basque’s great battle is abruptly halted, and then after much explanation regarding the finding and composition of the remainder, is the tale finally allowed to unfold.

The most important aspect that differentiates this poem from many others is the dramatic use of dual language. Because many readers must use the translated notes to understand the Spanish portions of the poem, it requires them to deeply consider the speaker's connotations. Many readers will not realize Cervantes' intentional placement of the Spanish portions. Stanzas one, two, and three begin in English and end in Spanish. However, stanza four begins in English and ends in English with only one line in the middle consisting of Spanish. Though it is overlooked, this tactic offers a path upon which the subconscious may embark. To the speaker, California has been overrun and forever changed by the white people, represented by English. The single Spanish line is a representation of the speaker herself and exemplifies how truly lost she feels in this place. “Poema para los Californios Muertos” is a prime example of the importance of a dynamic use of language and the strength it brings to a poem when utilized to its full

Perez’s use figurative language throughout the poem transmits the concept of avarice in mankind with the ambition for amelioration. A representation of similes in the poem would be “Darkness spills across the sky like an oil plume.” In the literal sense, he is stating that it is nighttime which creates the setting of the poem. However, when referring to oil plumes, Perez is discussing the environmental damages such as destroying habitats and the source of diseases

An example of Quixote’s possible delirium is displayed when he is approaching the giant windmills, thinking that they are giants that he plans to slay. His sidekick, Sancho, attempts to help Quixote understand that they are not giants; but gives up and allows him to charge the windmills.

Almost all who have read, or who have merely just heard of, the novel Don Quixote are aware of the comical adventures and misfortunes of Don Quixote during his attempts to pursue the life of a chivalrous night. However, fewer people are cognizant of the crucial role that Sancho Panza played in instigating and heightening the humor in Don’s quests. Time and time again readers question Sancho’s unwavering willingness to follow Don Quixote and take part in his seemingly outlandish and completely irrational adventures. Sancho began as a poor farmer. The novel refers to him as being “very honorable, if a poor man can be called honorable” and “a little short of salt in the brainpan (61). The Don promised Sancho immeasurable riches, including being

“At the heart of Don Quixote is the discrepancy between external appearance and internal perception.” says Wirfs-Brock (2). In that respect, Don Quixote is depicted as a character who is guided merely by his internal perceptions, disregarding external appearances. Most of the time, he is deluded, depended on his faculty of imagination, stuck in his make-believe world through the guidance of chivalric books he is obsessed with and “everything he read in his books took possession of his imagination” (1/1 p.27). He takes everything he reads in those books for real as if they were parts of history and decides to join this glorious history by making a knight errant of him. In order to put all he has read into practice, he puts on a rusty armor, devises a heroic name for himself which is ‘Don Quixote de la Mancha’ and for his horse which is ‘Rocinante’. Additionally, since “a knight errant without a lady-love is a tree without leaves or fruit, a body without a soul” (1/1 p.29) he finds “a good-looking peasant girl” called Aldonza Lorenzo and decides to call her ‘Dulcinea del Toboso’. So this peasant girl becomes a princess, the most beautiful lady in the world for him to whom he may serve “as if he really were in love” (1/1 p.31).

enemies would be left to rot, but in his own reality, he is doing the only

Another vice presented by the Poet is the connotation which depicts the ‘back air' of the suffering and torture the Latin Americans go through at the hands of the United Fruits Company. For example, in lines 12, 19, 23, and 25, words such as sleeping dead, dictatorship, submissive blood, and tombs are used to indicate the aura of death surrounding the setting of the poem. In some instances such as line 26, the word flies is used to refer to people who are present in various caliber under the rule of the company to drain the resources of locals and manipulating them authoritatively to provide forced labor. The nature of this description is evident in the 28th

Sancho only plays the part of squire in hopes of becoming wealthy and owning his own island. Quixote yearns to recreate this world he has long read of: chivalry, battles with giants and evil beings and the rescue of maidens. However, in a more realistic sense, Don Quixote deals with windmills, bedclothes, and injustices. While Don Quixote represents illusion and imagination, Sancho Panza represents reality. They complement each other in a dualistic way. They foil each other in such a way that they might be seen as two halves of a whole. They represent a person who needs to have imagination whilst living in reality, because too much reality is destructive for any one man to deal with. However, their relationship, which is a combination of idealism and realism, affects each other in a negative way, in terms of the things they stand

     Finally, imagery is used throughout the story such as the “proximity of God howling beneath the house” which seems to convey a dark image of God. Another example of imagery occurs when Soto burps to “perfume the air.” It gives one a sense that Soto is burping not just let out gas but to give him a sense of relief and

The protagonist, Don Quixote's obsessive reading of books of chivalry plays a major role in defining his character; his inspiration for his travels as a knight errant comes from the literature about chivalry that he reads, the literature that causes him to lose his mind and go mad. Everything that he usually experiences in his journey, first happened in the books that inspired his travels. The character, Dulcinea’s role as Quixote’s lady-love becomes equivalent with the position a king might hold in a true and honorable knight’s life.

The novel Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes, is an exploration into the idea of created reality. Cervantes, through the character of Don Quixote, illustrates to readers how we as human beings often make reality to be whatever we want it to be.