The second prolog of the novel begins by Miguel De Cervantes expressing his frustrations with the author who published a fake sequel to Don Quixote. This metafictional approach uses irony to address the plagiarism and blends the two worlds of reality and fiction. Cervantes claims he does not want to malign the dishonest author, Avellaneda. However, Cervantes goes on ranting about how this counterfeit author should ashamed of himself. As the paragraph progresses, there is a sense of growing frustration as Cervantes states “I know very well what the temptations of the devil are, and one of the greatest is to give a man the idea that he can compose and publish a book and thereby win as much fame and fortunes, as much fortune as fame…” (Cervantes
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What is strange about this passage is that blowing up a dog with a tube is impossible. The madman blows up the dogs to be as round as a ball like a balloon animal. Having cute round dogs might seem like an adorable image. However, sticking a tube through a dog’s anus and blowing it up with ones own breath is far from pleasant. Cervantes wants the readers to know that Avellaneda blew up the sequel to Don Quixote just like the madman blew up the dogs. When describing what the madman did to the dogs Cervantes starts listing off all the different tasks that are involved in blowing up a dog. Cervantes describes how hard it is to blow up a dog, implying how hard it is to write a novel. The passage where he is listing the steps in torturing the dog is one long sentence giving off the tone of how lengthy and difficult the process is. Cervantes tells the reader that if Avellaneda does not like that story, then he has another one to tell, and this parable is even more …show more content…
The owner “seized a measuring stick, came after the madman, and beat him to within an inch of his life, and with each blow he said: ‘you miserable thief, you dog, why did you hurt my hound?” (Cervantes 457). By using empathy Cervantes is able to convey to the reader how much he loves his novel similar to how an owner cares for his dog. The parable continues with “(the madman) never dropped a stone on one [dog] again,” which is how Cervantes appeals to Avellaneda to never plagiarize again (Cervantes 457). Cervantes is implying that the madman is not only insensitive but almost satanic in his pleasure of crushing innocent dogs. Similarly, Avellaneda has a heart of stone for ruining Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote. At the end of the anecdote Cervantes states, “Perhaps something similar may happen to this story teller, who will not dare ever again to set his great talent loose among books, which, when they are bad, are harder than boulders” (Cervantes 457). In this sentence Cervantes likens Avellaneda’s book to a boulder that is so horrendous, it crushes the reader. By utilizing the word “hound” repeatedly in this passage, Cervantes is driving home the point that Avellaneda could not differentiate between types of dogs; to him all hounds are the same. This represents how Avellaneda is unable to distinguish between great literary novels or lesser quality books;
What is strange about this passage is that blowing up a dog with a tube is impossible. The madman blows up the dogs to be as round as a ball like a balloon animal. Having cute round dogs might seem like an adorable image. However, sticking a tube through a dog’s anus and blowing it up with ones own breath is far from pleasant. Cervantes wants the readers to know that Avellaneda blew up the sequel to Don Quixote just like the madman blew up the dogs. When describing what the madman did to the dogs Cervantes starts listing off all the different tasks that are involved in blowing up a dog. Cervantes describes how hard it is to blow up a dog, implying how hard it is to write a novel. The passage where he is listing the steps in torturing the dog is one long sentence giving off the tone of how lengthy and difficult the process is. Cervantes tells the reader that if Avellaneda does not like that story, then he has another one to tell, and this parable is even more …show more content…
The owner “seized a measuring stick, came after the madman, and beat him to within an inch of his life, and with each blow he said: ‘you miserable thief, you dog, why did you hurt my hound?” (Cervantes 457). By using empathy Cervantes is able to convey to the reader how much he loves his novel similar to how an owner cares for his dog. The parable continues with “(the madman) never dropped a stone on one [dog] again,” which is how Cervantes appeals to Avellaneda to never plagiarize again (Cervantes 457). Cervantes is implying that the madman is not only insensitive but almost satanic in his pleasure of crushing innocent dogs. Similarly, Avellaneda has a heart of stone for ruining Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote. At the end of the anecdote Cervantes states, “Perhaps something similar may happen to this story teller, who will not dare ever again to set his great talent loose among books, which, when they are bad, are harder than boulders” (Cervantes 457). In this sentence Cervantes likens Avellaneda’s book to a boulder that is so horrendous, it crushes the reader. By utilizing the word “hound” repeatedly in this passage, Cervantes is driving home the point that Avellaneda could not differentiate between types of dogs; to him all hounds are the same. This represents how Avellaneda is unable to distinguish between great literary novels or lesser quality books;