It is difficult to read more than one or two pages of Don Quijote de la Mancha without coming across an example of union (or conflict) between the extraordinary and the banal. Indeed, Cervantes repeatedly uses this juxtaposition as his main comic device, usually at the expense of the poor, mad Don Quixote, whose overzealous perception of the ordinary world around him drives the novel. At the same time, the squire Sancho Panza consistently sides with reality - but only when he is immediately confronted with the obvious error of his master's sensory perception of the world. In other words, Sancho accepts and even seems captivated by Quijote's eloquent description of the chivalrous life, but when confronted with the absurdity or potential peril of acting according to the chivalric code, he turns to what he knows: the safe and everyday world he knows. As we will see, this pattern becomes particularly apparent in the contiguity and apparent discontinuity between chapters 20 and 21. These two chapters seem to go in opposite directions: while Sancho dominates the first with his aborted story and secret defecation, Quijote takes over. the second with his enthusiasm for Mambrino's helmet and his noble narration of the knight's life. Yet these seemingly incongruous aspects of the chapters fit together, in the manner described above, in light of the fulling mill adventure in chapter 20. It all begins with an unfamiliar noise in the night, which triggers a battle between our two heroes for the supremacy of interpretation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Don Quijote and Sancho react to noise in typically opposite ways. Excitement invades the heart of the knight, who considers this strange noise as an excellent opportunity for him to demonstrate his honor: “Yo soy aquel para quien están guardados los peligros, las grande hazañas, los valerosos hechos” (p. 179). Quijote sees a danger as mysterious as his destiny, and he repeatedly says that he would welcome a heroic death during his adventures God willing, even giving instructions to Sancho in case he does not return. Although his master's impassioned exposition of his duties brings Sancho to tears, the squire maintains his preference for survival over principle, fearing the dual prospect of losing his friend and facing the terrifying noises alone. Because Don Quijote remains true to his sense of duty, Sancho must sneakily steal his domination of the chapter in order to prevent him from leaving in search of danger. To do this, Sancho ties Rocinante's feet together, rendering the horse immobile, and Don Quijote reluctantly decides to wait until dawn. Sancho offers to entertain his master until sunrise by telling him stories, thus usurping control of the dialogues and chapter of Don Quijote. However, above Quijote, in this hierarchy of power, is the historian-narrator who truly oversees the story. Throughout the text, the narrator supports Don Quijote, not necessarily by subscribing to the mad knight's interpretations, but by accepting their plausibility and never mocking him for his madness. The narrator reads his story expecting Quijote's experiences to mirror those of other Andantes caballeros, and he repeatedly praises the knight, calling him, for example, "luz y espejo de la caballería Manchega" (92). We must therefore consider him as idealistic like Quijote, linked to chivalric conventions despite the repeated misinterpretations of his protagonist. He does not always agree withinterpretations of the mad knight, sure, but it also never ridicules its subject for his madness. It is appropriate, then, that Sancho's initial attempt to exert influence over the course of events includes the telling of a competing story, one that deals with shepherds rather than knights-errant. Sancho thus usurps the power not only of his immediate master but also of his narrator. Although the historian-narrator sides with Quijote in this central conflict, the biting satire of chivalric romance throughout the novel suggests that Cervantes himself supports Sancho. From this point of view, the narrator becomes a sort of straw man that Cervantes has erected as a vehicle of irony. The usurpation of Sancho thus acquires a double meaning, first as a means by which the squire can prevent his master from going in search of danger, and second as a means by which the author can insert his sarcastic voice into a false story . Although Sancho's story does not necessarily reflect Cervantes' literary preferences, the forced break in the pseudo-chivalrous romance of Don Quixote fits with the author's low opinion of the genre. Although Sancho's explicit intention in telling his story is simply to distract his master, it quickly becomes apparent, through the style and content of the tale, that he is at the same time trying to calm himself. The tale begins: “In a place in Extremadura, there was a cabrerizo pastor, who decided to guardaba cabras; the cual pastor or cabrerizo, like my cuento, llamaba Lope Ruiz; and is Lope Ruiz and in love with a pastor called Torralba; la cual pastora llamada Torralba era hija de un ganadero rico, y este ganadero rico...' (182) Stylistically, by doubling each name or profession - as the object of one clause and the subject of the next - Sancho gives his story a a deliberate rhythm, a repetitive rhythm that serves to soothe him, just as a steady rocking motion soothes a crying baby. When Quijote complains about the monotony of this way of telling, Sancho justifies it by asserting: “De la misma manera que yo lo cuento...se cuentan en mi tierra todas las consejas, y yo no sé contarlo de otra, ni es although vuestra me merced pida que haga usos nuevos" (182). These "usos nuevos", although explicitly referring to the conventions of narration, also indirectly refer to ways of thinking, of perceiving the world and, in this adventure particular, to act in the face of a potential threat. “Mi tierra” therefore describes the source not only of Sancho's literary style but also of his interpretation of the unknown noise He tells this kind of story at this particular moment in the novel specifically for. to distract himself from the possibility that Quijote was right - and to remember his old ways and his home, where he would feel safe, where strange noises in the night would always have innocent explanations After Don Quijote cut. short of Sancho's story, the squire suddenly feels the need to defecate. Although this is explicitly a normal physiological process, the timing of this particular urge makes it clear that, unconsciously, Sancho is always trying to distance himself from the terror of the unknown by falling back into the mundane. Cervantes makes this implication clear through Quijote's initial reaction to the horrible odor: "Paréceme, Sancho, que tienes mucho miedo" (186). Don Quijote attempted to reassert his dominance over the course of events by stopping Sancho's story and trying to mount Rocinante again; his literary usurpation foiled, Sancho must now try a less linguistic and more animal approach in order to maintain interpretative control. If his pastoral story ran counter to Don's chivalrous romanceQuijote, the undignified act of defecation is the polar opposite of the glorious acts of the knights errant. Indeed, if we were to chart the progression of chivalric honor in these two chapters, this short scene of Sancho's defecation would surely mark the nadir. When morning arrives and our two protagonists discover that the true source of this strange noise is a fulling-mill, we learn that both were wrong in their shared assumption of a menacing origin. Yet while Sancho is delighted to find such an ordinary machine as the cause of the noise, the sight angers Don Quixote. Looking at chapter 20 figuratively, one could say that while the noise was still unknown, a struggle began between Quijote and his squire to determine what the cause would be; Sancho won this struggle by tying Rocinante's legs, telling his story in his chosen style, even defecating - in short, refusing to allow Don Quixote to control the chapter. Quijote's anger at the sight of the fulling mill, however, leads him to reassert his domination both over Sancho ("es menester hacer diferencia de amo a mozo, de señor a criado y de caballero a escudero", 190) and over the course of the novel. Indeed, as we will see, chapter 21 is dominated by Don Quijote; after the shame of chapter 20, the knight jumps at the chance to use Mambrino's helmet to restore his vision. Don Quijote and Sancho argue briefly at the start of chapter 21 over whether the approaching man is wearing the helmet - an argument which, placed chronologically as the boundary between two opposing spheres of influence, sums up the juxtaposition of these two chapters and the greatest conflict between realism and idealism throughout the text. Incredulous at Sancho's questioning, Quijote asks his squire if he does not actually see a knight approaching with a golden helmet on his head. Sancho responds: “Lo que veo y columbro... no es sino un hombre sobre un asno, pardo como el mio, que trae sobre la cabeza una cosa que relumbra” (192). This construction "no es sino" perfectly describes Sancho's way of thinking and perceiving: he sees "nothing other than" a man with something shiny on his head, and therefore he cannot dare to claim that This is Mambrino's helmet. When Sancho mentions, during his doubts, the recent adventure of the fulling mill, Don Quixote quickly calms him down: “Ya os he dicho...que no me mentéis, ni por pienso, más eso de los batanes” (192) . The knight is certainly aware of his previous misinterpretation, but he refuses to let it alter his interpretation of the approaching man or his chivalric duties. He simply wants to erase her from his and Sancho's memory, and Sancho effectively drops his objection. Of course, unfortunately for poor Don Quijote, the misadventure of the batanes was written in the manuscript of the historian-narrator and even to the reader. After Sancho gives in to the argument, the historian-narrator himself intervenes with a few sentences saying 'true story' of the barber and his basin. Yet this truth is of no consequence, for two reasons. First, any rational reader would assume from the start that Sancho was right and Quijote was wrong; we don't need the narrator to tell us this. This section could easily be eliminated without confusing readers as to the real identity of the man's hat. Secondly, and more importantly for our purposes, what the man actually wears has no impact on the balance of interpretive power between Quijote and Sancho has already surrendered and Quijote has taken over. control At first glance, this short interruption from the narrator seems to support the squire's interpretation by confirming the inaccuracy of Don Quijote's interpretation..