Literary Analysis of Don Quixote and House Taken
Don Quixote
The Two Sides of the Ingenious Gentleman
Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote revolutionized the novel. Its complex narrative structure, attributed to an Arab chronicler, employs a process of refraction, distancing the author from the story. The multiplication of perspectives blurs the lines between fiction and reality, raising questions of literary truth. This debate affects both the main plot and the interwoven stories. Characters develop lives of their own, evolving as the narrative progresses.
Published between 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote blends literature and life. Don Quixote, influenced by literature, becomes a knight errant. The work’s multiple authors and layered narratives give it historical dimension and establish levels of reality. A confusion between historical and literary truth emerges, impacting both Don Quixote and Sancho. The work presents itself as historical truth, with literature shaping the characters’ experiences. Don Quixote perceives reality through the lens of chivalric romances, while in the second part, others invent adventures for him.
Parody and Levels of Reality
The novel employs parody on four levels:
- Voluntary World: Don Quixote’s initial quest for identity.
- Transformed World (by Don Quixote): The world altered after his first sally.
- Transformed World (by Others): The world as perceived and recounted by Sancho and other characters.
- Extra-World: Interpolated stories like Camacho’s wedding.
The narrator’s perspective is limited and unreliable. At times, they struggle to recall names or details, displaying contradictions and doubts.
Characters and Structure
Among the characters, we encounter Don Quixote, whose imagination and memory fuel his escape from reality. His madness highlights the ambiguity between literature and life. Sancho, a rustic figure from theatrical tradition, represents individualized humanity. He serves as a counterweight to Don Quixote, and they influence each other through dialogue.
Analyzing a chapter from the first part, where Don Quixote frees galley slaves, reveals the novel’s structure. The main theme is the liberation, while a sub-theme is the dialogue among characters, exploring the reasons for each prisoner’s incarceration, the character of Ginés de Pasamonte, and the consequences of the liberation. The characters include Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, the galley guards, and allusions to Dulcinea del Toboso and the king.
Internally, the chapter has three parts: the depiction of the prisoners’ misery and Sancho’s warning; the dialogue between Don Quixote and the slaves; and the focus on Ginés de Pasamonte and the liberation. Externally, Cervantes alternates narration and dialogue, providing insight into Don Quixote’s adventure and the parallel stories of the slaves. The chapter begins and ends with humor, starting with the ironic parody of Don Quixote’s act of freeing criminals and ending with the mockery of the act’s consequences.
Symbolism and Significance
Sancho, typically the voice of reason, initially tries to dissuade Don Quixote but then assists in the liberation. The guards, in turn, attempt to reason with Don Quixote. The dialogue between Don Quixote and Ginés de Pasamonte holds significant weight. Don Quixote, instead of battling monsters, acts as a liberator, going against established justice. This reveals a shift in his values.
Ginés de Pasamonte, likely a reference to the historical Spanish soldier and writer, plays a crucial role in this chapter and reappears later in the novel.
House Taken
One interpretation of House Taken suggests a Peronist allegory, where the house represents traditional Argentina, forced to retreat under Peronism and the rise of previously excluded sectors in political life. The story’s origin lies in a nightmare where a mysterious entity invades the narrator’s home, pushing them out room by room. However, the dominant interpretation centers on incestuous undertones between the two siblings. Irene and the narrator, possibly inbred, create a closed society where they accept their isolated existence.
Characters and Setting
- Narrator: A 40-year-old man living with his sister Irene in the old family home. He maintains the house and cares for his sister.
- Irene: The narrator’s sister, described as quiet and hardworking. She rejected two marriage proposals.
- Mary Esther: The narrator’s deceased love, who died before they could marry.
The house, located in Buenos Aires, is old and spacious, though the land holds more value. It represents the protagonist’s psychological state.
Symbolism and Interpretation
- Oak Door: Symbolizes imprisonment and exclusion. The characters close themselves off from sections of their home, becoming prisoners of their own making.
- Fabric/Knitting: An intertextual reference to Penelope in the Odyssey. Irene’s knitting, which she eventually abandons, represents her clinging to routine and the eventual resignation to her fate.
- Key: Represents the narrator’s liberation from the house and the symbolic imprisonment of the unknown entity within.