Ode to Childhood & a Salute to Don Quixote for Trying to Preserve It

In the book "Don Quixote" written by Miguel de Cervantes, the main character Don Quixote himself, is lost in an imaginative world filled with knight errantry. He chooses to lose himself in the books written of the past rather than to face the real world that is right in front of him. He sets on journeys with his squire, "Sanzo Panza", whom believes that he might actually be rewarded with an island to govern so he might escape the poverty, many children, and his wife. Both main characters search for another non-existent world where the grass is greener. Although they stumble upon many who try to deny them of their imagination, they stick together until the end, where Don Quixote falls ill and lies until his last breath. This book is an example of how one tries to escape true reality and create a false world to live in, although reality comes back and bites you harder when you realize that life is not a fairy tale. All this is seen through not only Don Quixote's attempt to escape his uninteresting modern society and old age, but also through Sanzo's attempt to escape poverty and his nagging family. It can also be seen that Samson, a known scholar of knight-errantry, tries to escape reality by learning the ways of the knights and medieval times. Sampson though, can find the balance between the two different worlds and can distinguish them apart.

Cervantes, the translator and partial author, depicts Don Quixote as a coy old man, and makes the reader think that he really does know what is going on around him and that he merely chooses to ignore the world and the consequences of his disastrous actions. Cervantes does this to show the reader how Don Quixote dislikes the current real world to such an extent that he is willing to deny it. At several times in the novel, Cervantes also validates that Don Quixote may know more than he admits of the situation. Therefore, when Don Quixote suddenly declares himself sane near the end of the novel, Cervantes intentionally leaves readers wondering about his ability to shake off his madness so quickly. When Don Quixote's cleared and sane sudden mind returns home, he says:

Though I am relieved from looking for the name of an imaginary shepherdess, for there's the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, the glory of these brooksides, the ornament of these meadows, the mainstay of beauty, the cream of all the graces, and, in a word, the being to whom all praise is appropriate, be it ever so hyperbolical. (Cervantes, LXXIII)

He expresses his passion for Dulcinea, yet acknowledges the fact that she is only an "imaginary shepherdess". He even seems relieved that he no longer has to search for her name everywhere, and calls his old tactics of love "hyperbolical". Don Quixote continues to admire Dulcinea, but now in a clear and realistic mindset. His metaphysical view changes so smoothly that one would wonder if he really believed that windmills were giants, and that evil sorcerers wanted to deny him of his imaginary love. Don Quixote seems to have a lot to try and escape from, including his tired body and old age. He wants to feel young again, like many, and finds himself feeling like a little boy when his mind is lost in the fairytales of knighthood and wizards. One might come to believe that Don Quixote has the mind of a child, a mind that even plays tricks on the eyes. Even his servants sometimes treat Don Quixote as a child, forcing him to eat and sleep and not be locked up in the past. He almost refuses to accept his ageing and tiresome body, running on adrenaline and adventure frequently like a child. Only later in the book does Don Quixote lie in bed signing his will, and accepts the fact that he is a dying old man and not a young boy with a sword and a shield. "Forgive me, my friend, that I led thee to seem as mad as myself, making thee fall into the same error I myself fell into, that there were and still are knights-errant in the world (Cervantes, LXXIV)."We see here that Cervantes practically creates this doubt in our minds on purpose to show how one tries to believe there is an escape route, when deep in one's subconscious the error of the escape as well as the madness, is already known.

Sanzo Panza, Don Quixote's loyal squire and companion, also escapes his own reality in exchange for the fantasy life, in attempt to escape poverty and his bothersome family. When Don Quixote first approaches him in need of help in the beginning of the book, Sanzo is told "to be ready to go with him gladly, because any moment an adventure might occur that might win an island in the twinkling of an eye and leave him governor of it. (Cervantes, VII)". Sanzo believes, as well as explains to his wife, that if he tolerates Don Quixote and his insane adventures that he will someday be the governor of an island to where his family can also live more merrily. And he really did become a governor of an island, but as a trick of the Duke and Duchess, whom were tired of reality and wanted to have a little fun with Don Quixote and Sanzo. Sanzo believed their plan and became governor of a small island owned by the Duke and Duchess. He thought that all his hard work of tolerating Don Quixote was finally over and now he would be rich and free of troubles. Unfortunately, his escape to a better life crashed down upon him, quite literally, when the hired guards attacked him, pretending to be the enemy in order to scare him away. Sanzo's supposed paradise and riches were all a fraud, making him work harder than before, and really not be able to eat a thing. He started to feel as if all the riches in the world were just a prank and that his past way of life was the best. Sooner than later, he realizes, as he governs the island, his true calling, and that being a barred in governor is not, and should not be his job. So he leaves, and returns to his family, who ask him where his island is. Being a governor of an island was almost the dream of his family as well, because they knew that would be a better way of life. Sanzo followed in the steps of Don Quixote into his own made up world where the grass is greener. Sadly though, he got hurt and starved, and realized his mistake of trusting his life in the hands of a stranger (The Duke and Duchess), and then he returned home, to where he belongs. Your escape path may seem glorious and bulletproof in the beginning, but in the long run, it can do more damage to you then you would ever want to believe.

Samson is a sarcastic scholar in the arts of the medieval era. He is brought by Don Quixote's priest in the sense of being able to out due him at his own game of knight-errantry. Unfortunately, Don Quixote defeats Samson at his games and falls into a pit of revenge. At that point, Samson's mindset is not to bring Quixote back to this world, but to defeat him at his own. He follows deep into the pit of the false world and becomes obsessed with defeating Don Quixote as a knight.

I am, as all the world knows, a very famous poet, and I'll be always making verses, pastoral, or courtly, or as it may come into my head, to pass away our time in those secluded regions where we shall be roaming. But what is most needful, sirs, is that each of us should choose the name of the shepherdess he means to glorify in his verses, and that we should not leave a tree, be it ever so hard, without writing up and carving her name on it, as is the habit and custom of love-smitten shepherds. (Cervantes, LXXIII)

Through this line of Samson's it is shown that he has truly gone into Don Quixote's world in order to defeat him, but has become lost and too obsessed for his own good. This passage is said near the end of the book, where Don Quixote has already become aware of his insanity, yet Samson remains in that world of knight-errantry. Samson is like a lost boy trying to fit in with the others by following their tracks. Samson fears being left out after being defeated so badly that he will do anything to win back his pride and dignity, even if that includes getting lost in another world. Although, even after he manages to defeat Don Quixote in their second duel, he fails to grasp the old man's playful ways. Don Quixote may seems as if he is the lost character in the story, but really, Samson is the one who is lost both in the real world and in the false one. He attempts even, to escape the real world where he is lost, and takes his sarcasm too far into the false world thinking he will fit in, but falls there too. This is why Samson decides to continue acting as a knight, because he is still searching for the place where he might fit in.

In conclusion, the mind is willing to play tricks in order to please the heart and escape the problems of reality. Don Quixote, Sanzo Panza, and Samson, were all willing to change their metaphysical world and escape reality to a reality that was more pleasing to them. Don Quixote escaped to his knight-errant filled world to avoid his old age and body. Sanzo followed Don Quixote to escape his poverty and family. And Samson, so determined to win in a metaphysical world, wanted to conquer something that did not truly exist in order to find a place where he fits in. They all believed that they would find better, but when their false world collapsed they fell back into the reality and suffered the consequences. One needs to have a balance between the real and unreal, and know when you need to face reality instead of escape to an easier alternative. One is born into a certain world at a certain time to live in that way, not to lose oneself in another non-existent world when the current one gets to tough. You cannot escape true reality, because that is the only one that there is.