The significance of acorns in Don Quixote. Issue 2 (2nd April 2020)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- The significance of acorns in Don Quixote. Issue 2 (2nd April 2020)
- Main Title:
- The significance of acorns in Don Quixote
- Authors:
- Darrell, Jennifer A.
- Abstract:
- Abstract: In the Barataria episode of Don Quixote, Cervantes uses acorns as a source of humor, highlighting the contrast between aristocratic and peasant ways of life. Acorns, however, not only connote a rustic, lower class existence, but they also symbolize the myth of the "Golden Age, " a romanticized vision of humanity's earliest days. Cervantes explicitly links acorns to the Golden Age earlier in the Quixote, when the nuts inspire don Quixote's discourse on the theme. While critics often interpret Barataria as a type of utopia, albeit a failed one, the symbolic connections that the acorns provide suggest that we should also read the episode against the myth of the Golden Age in order to uncover its full significance. A utopian society achieves its ideal state through adherence to a set of rules and regulations that aim to promote accord among its citizens, whereas this social code is absent in the Golden Age, unnecessary in an as-yet-uncorrupted community. Through his strategic use of acorns, Cervantes calls attention to the differences between the two visions of a halcyon existence, ultimately suggesting that the very idea of utopia points to a decline in the human condition.
- Is Part Of:
- Explicator. Volume 78:Issue 2(2020)
- Journal:
- Explicator
- Issue:
- Volume 78:Issue 2(2020)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 78, Issue 2 (2020)
- Year:
- 2020
- Volume:
- 78
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2020-0078-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 71
- Page End:
- 74
- Publication Date:
- 2020-04-02
- Subjects:
- Barataria -- Cervantes -- Don Quixote -- Golden Age -- utopia
English literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals
American literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals
Electronic journals
820.5 - Journal URLs:
- http://lion.chadwyck.com/toc/ExplicatorHelenDwightReidEducat/issues.htm ↗
http://www.heldref.org ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/vexp20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗
http://www.umi.com/proquest ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/00144940.2020.1732854 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0014-4940
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 3842.153000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 13627.xml