Sancho Panza as Governor in Don Quixote Essay

      When Pizarro got back, he and his brothers discovered a group of people called the Incas. They saw that the Incas had a lot of gold and greed took them over. They tricked the Incan leader and captured him. The ransom to release the Incan emperor, Atahualpa, was to fill a room measuring 22 by 17 feet with gold. The Incas did fill the room but Pizarro killed the emperor anyway and conquered the Incas. When news of Pizarro’s conquest reached King Charles’ ears, he was overjoyed. He expanded the territory which Pizarro governed. A lot of South America was under Spanish rule. After all of the gold was divided between all of the leaders of the expedition and the king, each man got about $52,000 in Spanish pesos. That was a lot of money back then.

Eventually one of Cortes’ men led a massacre of the Mexican nobles, and murdered Montezuma. These conquests led to other conquests with the motivation of more gold and more land. Another conqueror, Francisco Pizarro, also led his men to capture an emperor, Atahualpa of the Incans, and held him for a ransom of silver and gold. With this gold and silver, as well as land, they executed Atahualpa. These violent raids proved beneficial to the Spanish, helping them spread their conquered land further south in the Americas. This quest made the Spanish not only rich in silver and gold, but in land and with slaves, by use of violent force.

The book “Quixote’s Soldiers,” by David Montejano was written in clarity to describe and inform readers the injustice the Mexican Americans endured during the mid 1960s through the early 1980s in which they successfully battled for, “a new and more representative political order.” The following critique of “Quixote’s Soldiers,” includes how the Chicano Movement was introduced, the author's purpose and interpretations, and the overall successes and weaknesses of the book.

As I was reading this chapter, I could not stop thinking about the stupid thing I knew Don Quixote was going to try and do. So far in the novel, he has done stupid thing after stupid thing, but they were all comical to a certain extent. When I got to this chapter, I could help feel anything but frustration towards Don Quixote, and even Cervantes himself.

Hernan Cortes and his army arrived in Tenochtitlan and his main goal was to get the gold that was there. The Aztecs didn’t know that they were a threat they received them and soon enough they were being threatened for gold by the Spanish army that was invited. When the Aztecs were forced to display their gold Hernan and the other Spanish men went rummaging through the gold and took nothing but gold. For example, document A states, “They seized these treasures as if they were their own..” The part were it says “as if they were their own” demonstrates that they didn’t have respect for others or their

The line you mentioned is one that caught my attention as well. It seems to be trying to show that just because something is not mentioned directly, does not mean that it is not there. It definitely brought to light the apparent ignorance of Don Quixote as well. While experience is definitely important, passion is just as important as well. However, I would have to agree with you that Don's passion outweighed his ability in this case. When you said "just because it is not in the books, does not mean that it doesn't exist", it reminded me of a quote by Carl Sagan when he stated " absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". Anyway, good job Robert on this post and thanks for sharing.

The cooks prepared over 1,300 plates of food for Montezuma and the guard. There was a storerooms filled with an amount of gold (bars and artistic/sacred objects) and arms that even the king of Spain would have been jealous of. Cortés observed all of this and knew that he was in favor in the eyes of Montezuma because his lodgings were in a sacred palace. Cortés played the part of the innocent and humble admirer and did nothing but compliment Montezuma in order to gain more information on the wealth of the Aztec king. Cortés makes sure that he fulfills all of Montezuma's expectations and as a result, Montezuma says: "…and for this reason we take it for certain that you are those whom our ancestors predicted would come from the direction of the sunrise. As for your great King, I feel that I am indebted to him, and I will give him of what I possess" (World History: Castillo, 248). Cortés is not only gaining control of Montezuma, but his wealth as well.

Among many things given to the Spaniards during the first few days of contact with the Aztecs was a large chest of gold figures along many other expensive things. This gesture of good will by the Aztecs would eventually lead to their downfall. The moment Cortez started receiving all these wonderful items his mind was most likely made up that he would do whatever it took to plunder every valuable item of the Aztec kingdom. As Cortez gradually moved deeper into Aztec territory he steadily received more gifts from the Aztecs and from other city-states that surrounded Tenochtitlan. Each time Montezuma requested for Cortez and the Spaniards to return back to the coast and conduct meetings and trade from there. However, with each gift received just gave Cortez additional incentive to move towards Tenochtitlan. By the time the Spaniards were in Tenochtitlan the Aztecs saw their true colors and it was too late.

Depicted on the cover of Quixote’s Soldiers is a group of Mexican- American men and women in protest formation. They carry with them signs that say “Justice for La Raza,” “Ando sangrando igual que tu,” and “Cops out of our communities!” David Montejano argues that Mexican- American reform groups are often left out of the Civil Rights Movement taught in a classroom. San Antonio was the birthplace of the Chicano movement. Here, various organizations were formed to encourage the government to increase Mexican- Americans opportunities in the educational field as well as in the work field. The Brown Power movement campaigned for Mexican- Americans to reject assimilation into the American mainstream society, and celebrate their Chicano history.

At first, Sancho is a timid character. He is very much a realist and often guides Don Quixote back to the land of reality, 'look you here,' Sancho retorted, 'those over there aren't giants, they're windmills, and what look to you like arms are sails- when the wind turns them they make the millstones go round'(Cervants p.64). Gradually, however, Sancho becomes more talkative, full of stories, and a believer in Don Quixote's madness. He also functions as the jester character, or the gracioso (the buffoon character of Spanish comedy) archetype. Sancho is illiterate and seems to be proud of it as well. He adds humor to the novel by recounting stories such as the goat story '…once upon a time and may good befall us all and evil come to him as evil seeks…that in a village in Extremadura there once lived a goat shepherd…the fisherman climbed into his boat and took one goat across, and he came back and took another goat across…' (Cervantes p.159). He is a rude peasant who serves as a faithful companion to Don Quixote. He travels with Don Quixote and is the voice of reason to Quixote's idealistic thinking, often times leading him from trouble and serious

If I were Sancho Panze at the battle of the windmills, I would have went home. The battle of the windmills is Sancho’s first adventure with Don Quixote. Sancho’s tries to tell Don Quixote that they are windmills and not giants, but Don Quixote will not listen. As Sancho helps Don Quixote to his feet he alludes that Don Quixote is mentally ill. “God help us! exclaimed Sancho, “did I not tell your Grace to look well, that those were nothing but windmills, a fact which no one could fail no see unless he had other mills of the same sort in his head?”(Norton pg. 1699) Despite the madness Sancho had witness he continued it journey with Don Quixote.

In the story Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra it talks about a man named Don Quixote, who is a fifty-year-old that lets his imagination take over, from the region of La Mancha in Spain. After reading some books about chivalry, he becomes obsessed with it and decides to revive chivalry in the world. He wants to bring justice and peace back to the world. He sets off on his first adventure and returns unsuccessful, so he decides he needs a squire. He persuades Sancho Panza, a poor laborer to leave his wife and become his squire, as well as join him on his next adventure.

enemies would be left to rot, but in his own reality, he is doing the only

I’m a good looking, smart, young man with money and.. I love you! I know you want me! Do men objectify women based on stereotypes about what women want and need based on their own selfish life plans regardless of how the women feel? This is the subject of discussion in “Don Quixote of La Mancha Book I, Chapter XIV,” by Cervantes.

     In chapter sixteen, Don Quijote and his sidekick, Sancho, arrive at an inn, all beat up from their battles, and from falling down a lot. The hero thinks the inn is a castle, and deems that they are owed a warm and comfortable place to sleep because he is the Great Don Quijote de La Mancha, braving battles against all evil for the purpose of saving the kingdom. Sancho and a girl who works at the inn, Maritones, have a “knight errant” conversation, in which he realizes he needs to explain the point behind what he and Don Quijote do. “A knight errant can see himself, as fast as ‘one, two, three,’ either beaten with clubs or turned into an emperor. Today, he can be the most wretched creature in the world, and the neediest, and tomorrow he can have two or three kingships to give his squire.” (p. 87) The poor man really thinks that Don Quijote will someday be rich and famous and hook him up. Even if this became the case, as he is really secretly out for himself, for his own recognition, who’s to say that Sancho would get anything out of this, except for orders to relay his newfound fame to Dulcinea?