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).
However, Lazarillo was not as helpless as he sounded. Through various cunning acts, he managed to steal "good large pieces of bacon and sausage" and money from the blind man. In his mind, he justified his actions with this line: "that's how I used to make him pay for the way he treated me" (29; ch. 1). Essentially, he became as deceptive as his master. Even though he was quick to judge their behavior, he was not willing to scrutinize his own actions criti...