This set of chapters this week brought up the issue of appealing to an audience in order to deceive them. This is shown in the scenario with the dike and duchess who set up an elaborate plan to trick Don Quixote.

The duke and duchess appeal to Don Quixote through flattery. They insist on his bravery and his goodness for being a knight errant. They also appeal to his vanity by referencing the first novel. In which case is further blurring the line between reality and fantasy even for the reader. They use these as a ploy to lure Don Quixote.

This is very similar to this past election. As known Donald Trump the republican nominee won the election. In my opinion I do not think any of his plans or rhetoric will hold true for his actual action while in office. I believe he was much like the duke and duchess and his voters were Don Quixote. He appealed to the flaws in the American voter’s views and promised them things that are simply not logical.

In any case, both Don Quixote and the American people were deceived. Leaving nothing but confusion and disappointment.

Another example of confusion between reality and fantasy is the puppet show. Don Quixote believes the puppet show is real and destroys the puppets. This is a showing of the old Don Quixote, who doesn’t really have any purpose to his madness. But we do see the new Don Quixote emerge when he offers to pay for his wrongs. I think Cervantes includes this to signify a turning point in Don Quixote’s behavior and make a clear distinction between the old and new Don Quixote. I think t also shows that do Quixote still has a lot of work to do.

Not to appear too cynical, but we can also compare our political system with the American people as a puppet show. It is no secret that the government has control over us. They can dictate how we live our daily lives by the decisions they make; Much like a puppeteer. Meaning every action as an equal or greater reaction. I think this election has made people brutally aware of how we can be controlled and makes people want to cut loose of their string. They want to take control of their emotions and tell the government how they want to feel rather than the other way around.

So in a way the American people are much like our knight errant- Very unpredictable and starting to become aware that the world is laughing at us not with us.