A Picaresque novel and the Rascal

A picaresque novel features a hero who is a "picaro," the Spanish word for a rascal. Generally, the picaro is a young man who has grown up in an abusive and cruel environment. Using what he has learned in his youth, he employs deceptive tricks against other people in order to get money from them. In this kind of novel, the character's peripatetic existence brings him to different Spanish towns, thus offering the reader a unique and personalized glimpse into the contemporary society of Spain (Alpert 7).

In a sense, a picaresque novel is a satire of the novel of chivalry that was in vogue during that era. The picaro, the "hero" of the picaresque novel is in stark contrast to the hero of the novel of chivalry. The hero in the latter novel is usually a knight who adulates women and exhibits incredible courage in his battles. Even the writing style of the novels differs from one another. While the novel of chivalry contains long archaic sentences, the picaresque novel consists of the language of commoners (Alpert 7-8).

Considered one of the first picaresque novels published in the middle of the 16th century, Lararillo de Tormes features Lazarillo who seemed to have immersed into a criminal life against his will. Because of his family's abject poverty, he was given away to a blind man who turned out to be a cruel master and used deception for earning money. Lazarillo painted a pitiful portrait of his existence with the blind man who deprived him of food and drink (28-9; ch. 1)

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able (72; ch. 5). Although Lazarillo played many tricks against his masters, his actions could be partially justified by their cruelty towards him. Most of the time, he acted in a cunning way only to support his own basic survival, not to hurt anyone intentionally. Unlike his early masters who used deception to earn their income and enjoyed their actions, Lazarillo merely begged for money when he had no other source of income. In fact, later on, he settled down to a series of legitimate jobs (76-77; ch. 6-7). Throughout his early adventures, Lazarillo showed a powerful perception of what is right or wrong, especially in his analyses of his masters. He saw through the hypocrisy of the priest who preached about temperate eating and drinking habits and overly indulged himself in practice (40; ch. 2). He learned to see beyond the exteriors of people's professions and appearances. The blind man turned out to be a cruel master who was not as vulnerable as he seemed when Lazarillos' mother gave her son to him. The priest was a hypocritical man who was stingy and self-centered. The gentleman whom Lazarillo first assumed to be affluent did not even have a cent to his name. However, Lazario did not grow and develop in his self-perce

Category: Literature - A