~ "which deals with the status and way of life of the famous knight, Don Quijote de la Mancha"

1. Reading what sort of books "dried" Don Quixote's brain? Do you sense that Don Quixote is Cervantes? Can you think of ways their stories are parallel?

2. What does Don Quixote's need to hunt for a lady to be in love with reveal about Cervantes or about romance in the novels of chivalry?

3. What does Cervantes accomplish by portraying his hero as a laughingstock? Would such a quest be "inevitable" for a sane man?

4. Did you smile or laugh at Cervantes' wry humor or irony in this chapter?

"- which deals with Don Quijote's first expedition away from his home"

1. Do you fault Don Quixote for his motives and his desire to accomplish them according to the laws of chivalry? Do they seem reasonable to you?

2. Do you get the impression that the knight's primary motive is to right injustice or to achieve recognition and glory for having done so?

3. How does Don Q. confuse the "party-girls or whores" (Raffel's translation, honest!) for "noble virgins?" What was their response to our Don?

"- in which we learn how cleverly Don Quijote decided to have himself dubbed a knight"

1. Is Cervantes mocking the rules of chivalry in the mock knighthood ceremony?

2. Why does the innkeeper continue to go along with him, once he learns that Don Q. has no money to pay his bill? Why did the girls accept the title, "Dona" from him?

3. Were you taken aback by our Don's violent attack on the muledrivers, especially the second one? Did he go too far? How were such blows justified in his mind?

" - what happened to our knight when he left the inn"
1. "Each of us is as each does," Don Q. tells the farmer's boy in defending Juan Haldudo's knightly honor. Do you believe this observation to be true? Does this explain Cervantes' knight's actions?

2. Does the farmer's boy really believe in Don Quixote? Who is bound to suffer more, those who believe in Don Quixote's vision of knighthood, or those who do not?

3. Consider what it is that provokes the second young muledriver to break his lance and beat the fallen knight once he is down and helpless?

"- which continues the tale of our knight's misfortune"

1. In Don Quixote's place, lying on the ground, encased in armor, injured and unable to move, what would you do?
(Click to +++) Would you think of books you had read? Why did he choose to meditate over the passages he did?

2. What do we learn about how Don Quixote is regarded in his home town from the farmer who comes upon him in the road?

3. Is it significant that his niece and his housekeeper believe that all the valuable books in Don Quixote's library should be burned? Why not just discard them, or better yet, sell them?

"the entertaining and thorough inquisition into the library of the ingenious gentleman made by the priest and the barber."

1. The barber? Why would the priest send for the barber to be part of the Inquisition of books-as-heretics? Were you surprised the barber's literacy and the fact that he was familiar many of the books in the library?

2. Though portrayed with a good deal of humor, were you impressed at the random burning of the books in the library? Is it a good time here to talk about the Inquisition and the burning of heretics?

3. Did you catch the priest's reference to his friend, Cervantes, whose second book will earn that author the attention now denied him?

4. Was there a reason Cervantes put his knight to sleep while his books were being condemned? What do you expect his reaction to be when he wakes to find his cherished collection gone?

1. What has the housekeeper, "the secular arm," done with the remaining books in the library? Is Cervantes making a comment on the role of the the secular arm during the Inquisition here? Were you surprised at Quixote's reaction to the loss of his cherished collection of books?

2. How did the priest and the barber figure that by eliminating the cause of their friend's madness, the effect would cease too? Why didn't their plan work?

3. How would you respond to the niece's question to her uncle: "Who obliges your grace to be involved in these quarrels?" What does the she mean when she tells him that he is hunting for "imaginary bread made without wheat"?

4 Why did Quixote select Sancho Panza as his squire? What unusual promise did he make to Sancho in order to persuade him to leave wife and family and join his quest? Does Sancho believe in Quixote's knightly vision?

1. What was your reaction to the well-known battle of the windmills? Were you surprised to come upon it this early in the tale? 2. What is Sancho's reaction to Don Quixote's desire to attack the windmills in the fields of Montiel? What was his reason for attacking these windmill/giants?

3. Does the Squire still believe in his knight's mental stability after the windmill episode? How do you view the role of Sancho Panza in the story so far?

4. What was the point of the scene with the Benedictine monks, the "kidnapped" Princesss and the swordfight with her escort, the Basque page who spoke fractured Spanish?
End of Volume I, Part 1
Click Here for Vol. I, Part 2