Don Quixote – A Satire That Leaves You Chewing the Cud

As I soldiered on this tedious, oft-digressing, oft-drivel disquisition of a self-professed “knight-errant,” I all but threw this tome away. I failed to comprehend the aim of the book. Very often I found myself bemused as to who, if there is one, is the protagonist. Is it the quixotic (I later learned this word is derived from his antics), vacuous Don Quixote or the honest, guileless Sancho Panza, or the myriad characters — Cardenio, Lucinda, Ferdinand, Dorothea, the captain, Zoraida — whose stories get intertwined to the point of stubborn tangles with that of the titular character?
Until I came across a sentence that sheds light on the true purpose of this book and seems to be the author’s words in the mouth of a peripheral character of the book. Here is what a canon (a Christian priest) says of similar essays as this one – “And though it may be the chief objective of such books to amuse, I do not know how they can succeed, when they are so full of such monstrous nonsense.” And then it hit me. The author’s goal, all along, was to create a satire expressing his rage against the improbable, at-times-absurd chivalry stories that perhaps were prevalent in his days. If that indeed was his true aim, he has hit the bulls-eye.
Theatricality notwithstanding, Don Quixote’s character, his staunch belief in “knight-errantry,” and his devotion for books on chivalry are some things worth observing. Here is a poignant statement he makes in response to the aforementioned canon’s reproach for chivalry books – “Read these books and you will see they will banish any melancholy you may feel and raise your spirits should they be depressed.” “These books” could relate to anything in today’s world — binge-eating, binge-watching, doom-scrolling social media, echoing questionable opinions and beliefs, or even taking drugs — anything that makes our ever-present depressive thoughts go away and raises our numb spirits. Simulacrums of Don Quixote, who are obsessed with their beliefs, are omnipresent in our world, in ourselves — in ways that one might think as inspirational, while others perceive as delusional.
And this dichotomy is what this overwrought novel is all about.