A Brilliant Madman

Thirty-eight percent!  That's how far I have come in Don Quixote.  I am 334 pages into a 940 page book.  That's saying something!  Even if I were to give up now, I feel like I could be proud of what I have yet accomplished.

I just finished the chapter in which Don Quixote expounded on the idea that arms are superior to letters, meaning it is better to be a soldier than a scholar.  It flies in the face of the saying, "The pen is mightier than the sword," as well as all of my personal opinions.  But he certainly speaks well in this passage.

"In this manner, and with these rational arguments, Don Quixote continued his discourse, no one listening to him in that moment could think of him as a madman; rather, since most were gentlemen engaged in the practice of arms, they were very pleased to listen" (Chapter 37, page 329).

"Those who listened to him were overwhelmed again with pity at seeing the man who apparently was intelligent and rational in all other matters could lose those faculties completely when it was a question of his accursed and bedeviled chivalry" (Chapter 38, page 333).

I will be a finisher!

Hooray for progress!  :)  I am now 35 chapters into Don Quixote and about 35% through the book.  I have just under 100 chapters left though...  :P  I figure, if I can read at least three chapters a day I can be done in a month.  That is my new goal.  If sooner, all the better!  If longer, well...  at least I'll finish it.  I'm determined to be a finisher, especially when it comes to books.  I work very hard to try and teach my girls to be finishers too.

Today my four-year-old finished reading (by herself!) a 113 page, 23 chapter, picture-less book.  (The Tale of Jolly Robin.)  Was it a good book?  Absolutely.  Was it a mistake to have her read by herself
 it so young?  Probably.  Will we be doing it again?  Not for a while.  But it was still an awesome experience to have her learn that she can do hard things and finish them!

In that same spirit, I am beyond determined to not only eventually finish Don Quixote, but to finish it in relatively good time.  I feel encouraged by the fact that having looked at all the other books on the Well-Educated Mind list, none of them are NEARLY as long as Don Quixote, (except for maybe Anna Karenina, but I've already read that one.)  So, if I can just plow my way through this first novel, I will be golden for the rest of the books.

My current thoughts on Don Quixote:

I can tell that a main focus of the story is the close but complicated relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.  I have already found myself identifying echoes through time of that type of relationship, such as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  I will probably write more on this theme later.

Another train of thought that has stuck with me as I've read is that this book is all about madness in it's different forms and varieties.  There's the obvious insanity of Don Quixote, but you can't help wondering as you read, "Is he really crazy?   Or is he just acting like it?"  I've considered the possibility that he has just decided that he wants a little adventure before his life comes to a close.  And then there is the foolishness of Sancho Panza.  He is simple-minded and easily swayed.  There is the insanity of Cardenio after being wronged by his friend and supposedly by his lover.  The list I'm sure could go on.  Hopefully this idea will be easier to flesh out and elaborate upon later.

Overall, I'm finding Don Quixote to be increasingly enjoyable and there is more of a flow to the read than before.  I'm hoping I've gotten over the hardest hump, those first however-many-chapters that you have to wade through before you become truly engaged in any book.  I'm still looking forward to the downward slide that comes later on when the end is in sight and the momentum carries you through to the finish.

17th Century Humor

My kindle tells me that I am twenty percent through Don Quixote.  ...It's slow going.  I don't know why though.  It's very entertaining, and truly surprisingly funny!  I don't know what caused me to imagine the 1600's as such a serious time period.  I think it can be easy to forget that these people were still people just like us.  Yes, they lived in a very different world, and spoke in a very different way, had customs that are sometimes beyond our comprehension...  But there is a universality in the human soul and experience that crosses all borders and times.

One of those commonalities apparently is humor.