Sancho

In chapters nine through fourteen Sancho Panza  begins to have his own character development. We learn a lot about Sancho, from the way he thinks, his reasoning for actions, and whether or not Sancho is crazy.

The beginning of the adventure

In the beginning of Don Quixote, after Quixote reads the many knight stories and decides that his destiny was to become a knight and save the world. When he began his “quest” he decided that if was to become a real knight, he needed a sidekick. This is where Sancho Panza comes into the story. When Don Quixote first asks Sancho Panza about joining him, Sancho reluctantly says yes without any slight hesitation. As the reader I assumed that Sancho was going to join Don Quixote, but the fact that he joined him without really thinking brings up a red flag for me. Did Cervantes create Sancho to just be the sidekick who always goes along with the protagonist (Don Quixote), or was he created to kinda be like the reader, such as when we were first introduced to Don Quixote we thought of him as a man who just wants to fulfill his dream and that message kinda resonates with the reader to always reach for your dreams and try to accomplish them. Then the way we view Don Quixote drastically changes, we come to the realization that him becoming a knight was not only his dream,but the way he actually vies as reality and we come to the conclusion that Cervantes made Don Quixote is actually crazy and is losing his mind and cannot separate reality and fantasy.

Sanchos Smart???

When Sancho begins to question the methods and the decisions of Don Quixote. Sancho is promised by Don Quixote when he wins a battle  he is granted an island that he will bestow the position of governor to Sancho. When Sancho hears this news, he becomes blinded with the idea that he could become the governor of this mysterious island. So this brings up the question  of whether Sancho is a genius for staying with Don Quixote or is he just as crazy as the so called knight in training Don Quixote. Sancho says something that makes us really question whether or not he is as smart as we think he is “that I have never read any history, for I can neither read nor write, but what I will venture to bet is that a more daring master than your worship I have never served in all the days of my life.” So since Sancho cannot read he has never actually read one of Don Quixote’s knight fairytales, so Sancho doesn’t know what being a knight is all about, he only knows from Don Quixote tells him. So is Sancho extremely gullible to what Don Quixote has to say. I really hope that as the book progresses that Sancho slowly pulls away from the following Quixote like a lost puppy into making his reason for this quest personal and does what is his best interest.