Don Quijote I

Well I have to say that there are a lot of “radical” moments to chose when it come to Don Quijote. I guess we should start at the beginning where he decided that he now going to be a knight and set off on this little adventure. Most people don't wake up at 50 and decide “oh hey I think I'll be a knight today.” Maybe it was some sort of mid-life (ok near-end-of life) crisis. Kind of like he woke up one day and realized that he hadn't done anything important or significant with his life so he better get to it before he dies. He chooses the name Don Quijote de la Mancha. Interestingly enough his name means “foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action” (according to Merriam Webster). Interestingly enough we see this “crazed chivalrous romantic old man” decide he's going to set off on this adventure and do so in the name of the farm girl he once had a crush on.
We later have Don Quijote “mistake” windmills for giants (yes because that's a common error) and then blames it on the fact that there is an enemy chanter that changes the giants to windmills when he charges. It not only shows that Don Quijote has an “active imagination” to say the least but that he's basically content with his new reality. I know most people don't like to call him crazy—but he's crazy—at least to the outside viewer. Don Quijote thinks that what he was doing is fine, perfect, and totally normal. He's created his own world and lives in it alone (pretty much the definition of insane).