Abstract
This essay will analyze Chapter XXII, episode of the galley slaves, from a Bakhtinian lense as a heteroglossic structure not only through the languages exposed within the episode, but also its literary codification. This construction attempts to gain a closer representation of the complexity of the social reality and to expose a hierarchy (or structure) of power and inequality. To begin, this study will examine the three literary codes embedded in this hybrid codification: the caballeresco, the picaresque, and the testimonial. In particular, there is an emphasis on the testimonial code as a narration of the collective experience of a marginalized group that reflects the social reality in the contemporary time of Cervantes. Consequently, each code serves as a perspective or interpretation of the social reality and is paired with a principal character: Don Quijote with the caballeresco, Ginés de Pasamonte with the picaresque, and the galley slaves with the testimonial. In addition, through an analysis of the heteroglossia of languages exposed through the conversations and interactions between the characters each code demonstrates advantages and disadvantages in forming part of the codification. As a whole, the purpose of this essay is to illustrate how Cervantes presents the possibility of expanding the potential of literary language and the role of literature as a medium that can represent not only the complexity of the social reality, but also the history of a marginalized community that is oppressed under injustices and a hierarchy of power.
