For a large part of the first part of Don Quixote, the narrator simply tells the story. Although we are made aware of his presence as a character through his first-person style, his subjective interpretation of Quijote's actions, and his occasional references to his historical research, it is Quijote himself who rightly takes center stage from the scene throughout the first eight chapters. However, in chapter IX, the first chapter of the second part, the narrator steps into the spotlight, turning away from Quijote's (mis)adventures for a few pages in favor of his own story, the story of discovery of the second manuscript. Upon first reading this episode, one might be tempted to dismiss it as simply a tactic employed by Cervantes to support his elaborate framing device, designed to make the novel a story. (Indeed, the intricacies of the Spanish word "historía" come into play here, as the line between history and history was not clearly drawn in the late 16th century, when Cervantes was writing.) Taking a closer look at Chapter IX , however, we find a surprising pattern: the role of the narrator throughout these pages mirrors that of Don Quijote in Chapter I, moving from the status of engaged reader to that of principled actor. By laying out this briefly obvious parallel, we may well arrive at an unexpected conclusion about the novel as a whole. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Chapter IX begins with Don Quijote and El Vizcaíno frozen, about to begin their duel; the original chronicle, we are told, stopped here abruptly: “en aquel punto tan dudoso paró y quedó destroncada tan sabrosa historia, sin que nos diese noticia su autor dónde se podría hallar lo que della faltaba” (Cervantes 91) . The most significant word in this sentence, for our purposes, is perhaps the little personal pronoun “our”. With this easily overlooked construction, the narrator places himself in a group with his own readers. There was a time, he tells us, when he first experienced Quijote's story, as we do today, when he reacted with sadness to the abrupt rupture of the narrative. Just as Cervantes certainly wanted his readers to feel, the narrator simply had to find out what happened next. However, the narrator is not just any reader. More precisely, he reads like Don Quixote himself: with great passion for the genre of chivalric romance. In the second paragraph of Chapter IX, for example, he expresses surprise that Quijote does not have his own personal scribe, describing the situation as "fuera de toda buena costumbre" and "cosa que no faltó a ninguno de los caballeros andantes" . (91-2). In this way, just as Don Quijote attempts to write his own life story in accordance with the conventions of chivalric romance, the narrator reads his story with the full expectation that Quijote's experiences will mirror those of the other Andantes caballeros. In the same spirit and probably because of these shared preconceptions about chivalry, the narrator repeatedly exalts Don Quijote, calling him, for example, “luz y espejo de la caballería Manchega” (92). Some may say that these overly exuberant exaltations are meant to be interpreted as ironic; I must refute that while the author Cervantes certainly uses sarcasm, and while we readers must always remain aware of this technique, the narrator-historian must be taken literally as a character in the novel. The narrator reinforces his own sincerity by proclaiming himself and all his,.