GROUP READ: Don Quixote - Part 1, Book 2

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GROUP READ: Don Quixote - Part 1, Book 2

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1japaul22
Dic 31, 2011, 2:08 pm

This thread is for discussion related to Part 1, Book 2 of Don Quixote. It contains 6 chapters and our goal is to complete it in February.

2japaul22
Gen 24, 2012, 6:32 pm

Anyone reading book 2 yet? I just kept reading after finishing book 1 since I was really liking it. Since this section is short, I expect I'll finish it soon. I'm really enjoying it!

3fmgee
Gen 24, 2012, 6:39 pm

I am a couple of chapters in and I agree it is picking up. I am becoming very fond of Sancho.

With lines like "Hereafter, I will stuff my saddlebags with all manner of dried fruit for your Grace, but inasmuch as I am not a Knight, I shall lay in for myself a stock of fowls and other more substantial fare." it is hard no to like him.

4mamzel
Gen 25, 2012, 11:38 am

I really have a picture of James Coco (who played Sancho in the movie version of Man of La Mancha) when I read lines like that.

5japaul22
Gen 26, 2012, 9:13 pm

fmgee - I loved that line too, he's pretty amusing. I don't love how he deserted his family though!

mamzel - I haven't see any films based on Don Quixote. Maybe after I finish reading.

I love Marcela in this section. We get a taste of women's rights/feminism here. I loved how she reasons that she shouldn't have to return someone's love just because she's beautiful and he fell in love with her. I also think it's interesting that, as in many novels I've read pre-mid1900s, women who have their own money feel they are much better off and retain more rights if they stay unmarried.

6The_Hibernator
Gen 28, 2012, 8:43 pm

I'm guessing that this section was Cevantes' attempt at showing how foolishly books of chivalry portray love. The shepherd points out that when a knight is in danger of losing his life, he commends himself not to God, but to his lady. By the time he's finished with commending himself to his lady, he no longer has any time for God. I assume that Cervantes was Catholic (being Spanish) and that he would agree with the opinion of his shepherd.

Then, the lovely shepherdess gets her speech where she points out (as japaul22 says) that she shouldn't have to return a man's love just because he's thrown himself at her. I suppose that Cervantes felt that it is foolish for a tragically romantic man to throw away his life in a fit of unrequited love, and then for everyone to blame the person who was loved. These tragically romantic people probably abounded in books of chivalry.

7banjo123
Feb 2, 2012, 1:11 am

Does anyone know why they are eating acorns?

8Jacksonian
Feb 7, 2012, 11:43 am

>7 banjo123: Acorns are a common "peasant" food in history, usually roasted. (I remember this from Guns, Germs and Steel.)

9Jacksonian
Feb 7, 2012, 3:10 pm

Finished Part Two today. I agree with everyone liking Sancho more this section. He's becoming as mad as Don Quixote himself while serving his purpose as the comical "common man." I liked the beauty Marcela's speech on why she was not responsible for the young man's death -- how can she be expected to be both virtuous and unvirtuous at the same time to all people?

10banjo123
Feb 8, 2012, 11:05 pm

Thanks for the acorn info, Jill. I thought of them as almost inedible and nasty-tasting. I read G,G & S, but must have skipped over that part.
Agree on Marcela's speech--it was great and I'm impressed that Cervantes had so much insight into what it's like to be a beautiful woman.

11avatiakh
Feb 10, 2012, 8:42 pm

I loved the story at the start of Bk2 of how the writer came across by chance the arabic pamphlet that continued the adventures of our knight errant. The writing in the margin about Dulcinea's prowess with salted pork...and then back into the story so interrupted.
I also liked Marcella's speech, I went back to the book after listening to it on audio and read it after seeing all the comments here.

12fmgee
Feb 11, 2012, 2:50 pm

I finished Book 2 last night.I found it a little slow in the middle but liked the speech by Marcela at the end. I was ready for DQ to get a little mad when Dulciena of La Mancha was not known.

13lkernagh
Feb 12, 2012, 4:54 pm

I finished book 2 this afternoon. I am with Kerry - I really liked how book two started with the marketplace find of the pamphlet and the continuing adventures of DQ. I see that Sancho's is trying to 'manage' DQ, as best he can.... not an easy task! Marcella's speech is a good one and was probably a risky one to include at the time the stories were written.

Overall, rally enjoying reading DQ and trying to figure out why I haven't picked it up before now.

14Kristelh
Feb 15, 2012, 9:51 pm

Marcella's speech was great and very logical. I am enjoying the character of Sancho and agree that he is almost as mad but spurred on by greed where DQ is spurred on by an ideal.

15IrishHolger
Lug 9, 2012, 1:31 pm

Started late with the Group Read and am slowly making my way through. I have now finished Book 2. Not sure what to make of it. Or of DQ as a whole. I'll be curious what my opinion will be once I am finished.

When finally catching up with previously unread Classics I find that there are usually two extreme responses: Either the books are so much more than what you just imagined them to be. Or they haven't aged well. (Though that is always a bit of a contentious issue.)

With Book 1 I was surprised to see that the book was *exactly* like I imagined it to be (neither more nor less). All the same stories I already heard, the same characters, the same mood. For a change the "No, but I have seen the film" response actually resulted in me already "knowing" Book 1. I liked it but already got a feeling as if I was intimately familiar with it. That Book neither disappointed me, nor did I feel that I got a new insight into the character outside of what my preconceptions had already been.

Book 2 on the other hand did not contain any plot that I was yet familiar with. Instead we got a serious change of pace in comparison to Book 1. Whereas the first book had quite a lot of DQ's adventures in a couple of short paragraphs, the second one really only had one major story. And that wasn't much of a story. Sorry but for me the shepherd's issues really started dragging just to be finally rewarded with a foreseeable punchline in the form of Marcella's speech.

Let's see what the next few books will bring. So far I am reading this novel very slowly, a few chapters a week maybe which is probably symptomatic as I can't say that it has genuinely gripped me yet. DQ as a classic literary characters is important, no doubt. He definitely ought to be invented... if Cervantes hadn't done so yet. But as a current read it hasn't quite hit the nerve with me yet and I feel as if it is a bit too much of a variation on the same theme. I wonder whether anything new outside of "chivalry is outdated" will be revealed in the next few hundred pages. ;-)