Maybe the Real Mental Stability was the Friends We Made Along the Way

Mental Illness plays a prevalent role in Don Quixote. In fact, it’s the catalyst of the entire plot. Don Quixote’s delusions fuel his mad quest across Spain. Even though he is a danger to himself and others, his adventures and the friends we made along the way make for a touching story. I genuinely think the Monty-Python-esque humor of the misadventures of the Don is hilarious. This entire novel is very slapstick and chaotic and I love it.



However, I know from personal experience that watching people you love struggling with psychosis and delusions is difficult. It's hard to care for them when their mental illness makes them believe they don't actually need help. As rambunctious and silly this story is, it's hard not to see the underlying cause of his misadventures, which is that he can't separate his fantasies from reality. Mental illness, in real life, is far more often debilitating and heartbreaking than as charming as it is portrayed in Don Q. How did this read to you? Was this something on your mind as you were reading? Why or why not? What are your thoughts on the contrast between the genuinely hilarious or heart-warming moments in Don Quixote and the underlying cause behind it?

Troy Story 2: Electric Boogaloo

When we talk about the works of Homer, Aeschylus, and Virgil, we usually talk about them in the context of individual books. But when we pan out and view them from a distance, it becomes clear that each individual book is part of the same story, the difference between them being the context in which we view the story.

The Iliad begins with an up close and personal view of the beginning of the rift between Achilles and Agamemnon: A rift that moved gods and men and turned the tide of the war. We're getting to see the Trojan war, yes, but we're viewing it through the context of Achilles' actions and the effect he had on it.

Next, the Odyssey. As we follow Telemachus and Odysseus around the Mediterranean, we learn through their eyes and ears more about this world and the characters in it. In Agamemnon's part of the Oresteia, we find more clues. The tape rewinds, and we expound upon a part of the narrative that had been glossed over in the last story.

Hundreds of years later, Virgil dusts off the old epic and gets out paper and pen. This time we rewind almost back to the beginning and we see the aftermath of Troy from the perspective of Aeneas and the Trojans.


When else in history has this phenomenon occurred? What other examples do we have of different authors and different mediums joining together through time and space to create a single narrative that has imprinted itself into our culture? I think it’s special how The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Oresteia, and The Aeneid form Voltron an interconnected web of people and events that make up a part of a much larger story.