Don Quixote 2: Electric Sancholoo

This reading starts off with the author, Cervantes, ranting about how there is a false Don Quixote novel out there and instead of calling him out and saying profanities about him, he says profanities about the fake author.”You would have me call him an ass, an idiot, or a boor, but i’m far from doing that- let his sins punish him, let him eat it on his bread, and let’s say no more.” Back in the time of Cervantes, copyright did not exist, the only thing you can do in that scenario is what Cervantes did, he made fun of the fake author and encouraged the readers not to purchase it because it would be supporting the one who claimed his work.

Mirror Man

In the twelve chapters we read, we were introduced to a man dressed in mirrors that pretends to be a knight in order to send Quixote home, but it turns out that he is even more incompetent of a knight then Quixote! The concept of having a mirror of reflection of a hero is an old concept to symbolize that the hero can be stronger than himself and defeat his demons in order to save the world. Perhaps it is a statement by Cervantes that Quixote’s shadow would be even more incompetent then the original man. Maybe it is another critique on the fairy tale genre and lamp shading another cliche in his knight novel. Cervantes decides to use his characteristic humor and snark to subvert another trope commonly used in knight stories, the mirror knight was supposed to be a formidable foe, capable of matching his doppelganger in every aspect, but in Quixote’s case, he is a bumbling fool, who would be a match for Quixote in incompetence, but not much else.