“You should know Sancho, that a man is not worth more than any other if he does not do more than any other” – Miguel de Cervantes
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, or shortly known as Don Quixote was written over 400 years ago in 1605 and is widely considered as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works of all time.
Don Quixote Summary (you can skip if you just want the lessons, or read the book yourself)
To sum up the novel so we can start analyzing the lessons from it is pretty straightforward. Don quixote started out as a more or less normal 50 something year old man in rural Spain. He has a house and some property to his name as well as a few people related to him and working for him there.
One of his favorite pastimes is reading the many fictional tales of “knight-errantry” published at the time containing the mythical stories of knights such as King Arthur, Amadis of Gaul, and other names too old for most of us to recognize them.
Don quixote becomes so engrossed in his books that soon he does nothing else. He doesn’t sleep, he just reads and reads- eventually selling some of his property so that he can continue to read and buy more books. (Side note- he either must have bought quite a few expensive books or land was not worth as much back then).
By reading all of these chivalric knight tales, Don quixote himself becomes absolutely convinced that he is a Knight Errant and In a word- he loses his mind completely.
The next thing we know is he throws on his family’s old rusty armor, makes himself a helmet out of pasteboard(cardboard) and immediately begins to ride off on his skinny feed horse named Rosinante.
Soon he has himself Knighted by an annoyed innkeeper (who recognizes his craziness but just wants him to leave) and manages to convince one of his neighbors named Sancho Panza to be his squire. Sancho panza isn’t crazy, he’s just an idiot. He is primarily motivated by the promises of land and money that Squires of the time were expected to make, and Don quixote has no shortage of examples of how squires were richly rewarded for serving their masters well.
The two set off in search of adventures. Too many to be recounted here but the most well known are the adventures of the windmills and the fight at the inn.
One thing you must understand is that in 1605, Knights pretty much no longer existed. No one had time for mystical adventures, and much of those stories were questionably believable.
However, Knights were still expected to find their Lady, slay giants, and right any wrongs they saw. While riding around on his skinny horse Don quixote spies several “giants” off in the field. Sancho, riding next to him on his plump little donkey, is very confused because all he can see are a couple of windmills.
Much to his dismay, Don quixote charges the windmills believing they are giants and thrusts his lance (a tree branch) into one and is lifted up and falls off his horse. As Sancho runs up to see if his master is alright Don Quixote supposedly breaks out of his delusions and sees the battered windmill before him and asks where the giants went.
Sancho tells him he has to be insane if he thought the windmills were giants but Don quixote easily explains that they must have all been ‘Enchanted’ by someone out to ruin their plans.
The “enchanted” theme runs quite often, as supposedly Don quixote is a normally sane person in most circumstances but as soon as Knights and Chivalry are concerned he loses all base in reality.
They continue on attacking random people including people of the church, and get the shit beat out of themselves more than a couple times. The book is absolutely hilarious when Cervantes describes how everything goes down.
The novel continues on with their adventures for this book and is continued in the second part which I will write about soon.
The Don Quixote Attitude
Above is the basis of the plot for any non readers of the book or anyone who wanted a refresher. As I begin this blog I will regularly update the recommended book list but this book will pretty much always be on the recommended book list.
Not only is it a ‘classic’ but it’s an hilarious story about how with the right willpower and mindset you can achieve success, even if it’s only in your own head.
In every book I read I never try to analyze the symbolism or any innuendos in the text. I simply read what the author says and interpret it the way I want to. This is why books are so powerful. It allows you to take a peek into the story and mind of someone else and make it your own. The way you see and read a book is different from anyone else who reads it.
Compare this with a movie, where all the imagination and thinking is done for you. This can be a nice escape and glimpse of a genius story and directors vision but in my own experience, nothing has changed my view and perspective on life more than reading a good book.
Don quixote is one of those books. Besides making me laugh out loud causing me to pause the book (I listen to most books on Audiobook, this reader happened to be fantastic, his name is George Guidall) It’s something I think about constantly.
In my life, I often feel a connection with certain artists, authors, and directors. You probably know what I am talking about. As if this book was written with you in mind, and it has the ability to stand the test of time and connect with other like minded souls.
This is also why I wanted to write my own interpretation of this novel. Anyone who reads this is likely very similar to myself and as such the better we can get to know each other and communicate I think the world will be much better off.
Embrace the Don quixote spirit. Find your purpose. Your purpose should be something that if you died at the instant you were doing it, people would still say you lived a good life.
This probably isn’t at your desk job and probably isn’t on your commute to work. Most of us live in other people’s lives. It takes incredible courage to break out of the mold and forge your own path in life. Even Don Quixote was described as mid 50’s, gaunt and skinny and it doesn’t really go into his past but we can assume he never really lived the life he wanted.
It’s never too late to start living your purpose.
The best thing is to start working on it now and if you have no idea what your purpose is that’s fine, most people don’t have a clue. But start working. Start creating. Build something of value. Leave an impact on this world. Become the man that the woman of your dreams can’t help but be attracted to.
All of this is part of the Don Quixote attitude and more. This is just what I took out of it, and I imagine when I read it again at a different point in my life I will get something else out of it. But for now, have a great day amigo, I hope this added some thoughts and motivation into your life.
Go out and live it.
- Spencer Claeys