Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Interpretation :: essays research papers
Humans are set apart from all other animals for one reason. We have the power of imagination and thus power to interpret what we read. Therefore, we can argue that the written word is the most meaningful of all types of communication. It is valid to say that if ten people read a book and were asked to retell the book in their own words that weââ¬â¢d hear ten different versions of the same book. In todayââ¬â¢s society, our interpretations are feared. We might interpret anything contrary to the authorââ¬â¢s intentional meaning. The author could then possibly be liable for any actions we take after reading his works. Don Quixote is one who consciously decides to interpret his books of chivalry as the right way of life and concurrently decides to live his own life in that manner. ââ¬Å"I remember reading that a certain Spanish knight . . . having broken his sword in battle, tore a great bough or limb from an oakâ⬠(69). Since Don Quixote had read about this particular knigh t, he justifies it to himself that he too could also tear a limb from a tree and uses it as a makeshift lance. When Sancho asks if Don Quixote had any pain, he replies, ââ¬Å"I do not complain of the painâ⬠¦because a knight errant is not allowed to complain of any woundsâ⬠(69-70). Again, Don Quixote is going by a set of rules of chivalry that he obtained from his reading. At night, Don Quixote refuses to sleep ââ¬Å"but thought about his Lady Dulcinea, to conform to what he had read in his books about knight errants spending many sleepless nights in the woodland and desert dwelling on the memory of their ladiesâ⬠(70). I do not believe that Don Quixote is mad, as some may say, but that he is only interpreting what he has read to suit him. If Don Quixote were a real human in todayââ¬â¢s society his family could very well sue the publishers of the books that he read, claiming that the books drove him to insanity and should not have been published. However, if all wri tten works were feared in that context, then it is also a possible that all books are to be feared. This is shown when Don Quixoteââ¬â¢s niece helps a priest and a barber to burn Don Quixoteââ¬â¢s treasured books of chivalry. When the barber suggests that ââ¬Å"These do not deserve burning with the rest, because they do not and will not do the mischief those books of chivalry have doneâ⬠(61).
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