Don Quixote: Progressive Views in a Time of Discrimination.

The story of Don Quixote was written by Cervantes in a time of chaos and fear that in many aspects is not unlike our time in the 21st century. While today our concerns in America are Muslim terrorists and illegal Hispanic immigrants, in Don Quixote’s time, the target of hate and mistrust was also directed towards the Muslim population of Spain as well as the Jewish population.
It is my impression that Don Quixote is satirizing the xenophobic outlook of the government in power. His desire to return to the “Golden-Age” represents a desire to return to a time of peace when Christian, Muslim and Jew lived together in harmony and mutual respect for each other.
While the Don still feels there is a separation between the common man and nobility, as shown in his unwillingness to assist Sancho when he is being blanket-tossed because he cannot draw his sword upon a commoner. His honorable intentions, while making things difficult for Sancho, are clear in his mind and to the reader. Looking at today as an example, we see a similar separation between the low-income apartment dwellers and those living in gated communities.
Today, we see the class separation determined not so much by religious beliefs as in the time of Don Quixote and Cervantes, but rather economics. The power of the dollar has replaced nobility and position as the unit of measure when determining importance or respect.
Don Quixote longs for a time when honor and morality were as important as one’s position. The Don, as a minor noble, does not expect to pay for services – such as staying a night at the perceived castle which his refusal to pay leads Sancho to suffer through the blanket tossing episode. The Don is operating according to his chivalric beliefs.
This chivalric belief came forth through the intermixing of Jewish, Moorish and Christian views. Through a common language, the people of Al-Andalus were able to flourish. The arts and science flourished in this rich environment, only to be brought into question during the inquisition. As Cervantes writes, it was a time when books were burned and people were jailed and tortured in the name of Christianity.
While King Phillip II wanted Spain to become a homogeneous state, and his country as a result was suffering the painful and violent process of ethnic cleansing, Don Quixote was longing for a time of peace and harmony. To me, this is very reminiscent of America today.
We Americans, like Don Quixote, long for a better time - A time when we were on top of the world and loved by everyone and seen as a protector of freedom such as the end of World War Two. That time of peace and prosperity in Spain and America was short lived however and was quickly replaced with the paranoia of the inquisition and in America, the McCarthy era and repeated again in the post 9/11 era. The loss of acceptance and tolerance led to dark times in both countries. It is this dark time that Don Quixote is set in and is in my mind what Cervantes is satirizing in his story of Don Quixote.