Month: September 2026

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Don Quixote

POOR ROCINANTE

I will start by saying that i still have 30 pages to read but do not fret, i will finish them tonight before class.  That being said, I feel like I already have a pretty good understanding of Don Quixote as a person , and more importantly, I feel incredibly bad for Rocinante.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most so far is just how crazy Don Quixote is. I knew about the windmill scene from class, but I didn’t realize that basically his entire life works like that. These chivalry books really got to him, he literally starts interpreting real life situations as if he is in one of these books. An inn becomes a castle, ordinary people become knights and characters in his adventures, and obviously windmills become giants. What makes it even funnier is how completely confident he is. When reality proves him wrong, he doesn’t really reconsider anything. He just finds another explanation that allows his version of reality to continue.

While I was reading, Don Quixote actually reminded me a lot of Arthur from the anime Fire Force. Arthur is also completely obsessed with the idea that he is a knight, and one of the funniest things about his character is that his abilities basically become stronger depending on how deeply he believes in his own fantasy. The closer he feels to being a real knight, the more powerful he becomes. Don Quixote obviously doesn’t suddenly gain superpowers, but I feel like his brain works in a very similar way. His belief that he is a knight is so strong that reality almost becomes secondary. If something doesn’t fit his story, he just changes his explanation of what happened instead of admitting that he might be wrong.

And then there’s poor Rocinante.

Rocinante is basically dragged along for all of Don Quixote’s adventures and has absolutely no idea why any of this is happening. Don Quixote’s imagination can turn an inn into a castle and windmills into giants, so of course his horse also has to become some legendary knight’s horse. I think that contrast between what Don Quixote sees and what is actually happening is probably my favorite part of the book so far.

The weird thing is that even though Don Quixote is clearly delusional, I actually find him pretty likeable. He gets beaten up, embarrassed, and proven wrong constantly, but none of it really destroys his enthusiasm. There’s something almost admirable about how committed he is to the person he wants to be, even if everyone around him can see that his version of reality makes absolutely no sense.

Arthur would definitely understand him.

Rocinante, on the other hand, deserves a vacation or perhaps a new owner.

Question: If you could convince Don Quixote that only one thing from his imagined world wasn’t real, what would you choose, and do you think he would actually believe you?

 

Categories
Columbus

Columbus

I guess, I’ll start by admitting that I didn’t manage to finish the entire reading this week. I was a little short on time, but I read as much of Columbus’s journal as I could, and even from what I did read, there were a few things that really stood out to me. Going into this reading i though it would just be about the exploration, discovering the americas and documenting what he found. I found what interested me most was how Columbus interpreted everything he encountered.

Something I found almost funny at times was how determined Columbus was to make everything fit what he already believed. He leaves Spain expecting to reach the Indies, and even when he encounters places and people that don’t necessarily match those expectations, he doesn’t really question it. Like when he reached Cuba and continues to search for the great khan. It made me think, was columbus actually trying to discover a “new” world or just shape what he saw into what he already understood.

The communication between Columbus and the Indigenous people made this even more interesting. He repeatedly admits that they communicate mostly through signs and that he has difficulty understanding them, yet he still draws some pretty huge conclusions from these interactions. Whenever someone seems to gesture toward another island or ruler, Columbus somehow ends up connecting it back to gold, spices, or the places he already expects to find. It made me question how much of what we are reading reflects what the Indigenous people were actually communicating and how much is simply Columbus hearing what he wants to hear.

The way Columbus describes the Indigenous people, He seems genuinely impressed by their generosity and friendliness. At the same time, he notices their lack of European weapons and quickly begins thinking about how easily they could be controlled. At one point, he even claims, the Spanish could “keep the whole population in subjection and make them do whatever one wanted.” I found that shift pretty disturbing. The same peacefulness and generosity that Columbus admires also become reasons, in his mind, that these people could be exploited.

That contradiction is probably what I’ll remember most from what I read. Columbus seem genuinely wondering at the people and places around him, but he is also evaluating them at the same time: Can they be converted? Where is the gold? What can this land provide? How easily could these people be controlled? It made the journal feel like more than just a record of exploration. In a way, it also becomes a record of how Columbus sees the world, and sometimes that tells us just as much as the things he is actually describing.

Question: Do you think Columbus sees the places and people he encounters for what they are, or is he always seeing them through what he already expects and wants to find?

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Introduction

Somehow, I’m Back

Hi everyone! My name is Muhtadi, and I’m a fifth year studying an interdisciplinary combination of Computer Science, Economics, and Commerce at UBC. As you can probably tell from that combination, literature isn’t exactly the most obvious place you would expect to find me, yet somehow I am back for another RMST course.

I took RMST202 previously, and going into it I really didn’t know what to expect. I definitely wouldn’t have described myself as someone who regularly sits down and reads novels, and the idea of getting through a new book every week was a little intimidating. Some weeks were definitely easier than others (I’m still recovering from Combray), but by the end of the course I realized I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I expected.

I think a huge part of it was also coming to class and and discussing it with other people, there were books I finished thinking I completely understood, only to come to class and hear an interpretation I never would have considered myself.

Outside of school, a lot of my interests are pretty far removed from literature. I’m really interested in technology and business, and I enjoy working on different projects. When I’m not doing something school-related, I’m usually hanging out with friends, going to the gym, playing different sports, or gaming. That being said, RMST 202 actually got me into reading a lot more. Since finishing the course, I’ve started reading quite a bit of Dostoevsky, which is something I definitely wouldn’t have expected myself to say before taking the class.

I guess I’m excited to see how this course compares to RMST 202, especially now that I know a little more about what to expect. One of the biggest things I took away from 202 was becoming more comfortable with books that I didn’t immediately understand or even enjoy at first. Some of the readings I struggled with the most actually led to the best discussions, because hearing everyone else’s interpretations made me notice things I completely missed while reading on my own.

Hopefully RMST 201 introduces me to some more books and authors I wouldn’t have picked up on my own, and maybe adds a few more names to my reading list along the way.

Question: What kind of books or stories do you normally enjoy?

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