Raymond Cazis
Professor Peer
ENG 2850
7 September 2016
Blog Post: The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes Ch. 1 and 2
Lazaro: A Transitional Character
From the very first pages of The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes, we see how the protagonist Lazaro is a transitional character who is affected by the ups and downs of his life’s journey. This work is the first of the Picaresque genre, and it is considered the foundation of the modern novel. This is important to take notice because the characters of the modern novel transition from static characters, seemingly unaffected by their circumstances, into metamorphic characters who transform according their journeys. Lazaro is certainly one of these transitional characters. In the first two chapters, he learns and adapts to the situations he encounters under his first two masters—the blind man and the priest.
Lazaro’s first master the blind man, who is a trickster himself (and one of the best!), teaches Lazaro his devious ways. Lazaro’s time with the blind man taught him “wits and ingenuity” (p. 14), providing him with the requisite skills that make him become our Picaresque protagonist, just as the trickster characters of the Anansi stories. “But with all his experience and shrewdness I found ways to get around him, so that always, or at least most of the time, I collared the lion’s share” (p. 15). Lazaro learned how to fend for himself and how to use others for his own advantage.
These skills took Lazaro from a childish state of naivety into a state of being informed of the realities of society. This enlightened Lazaro as to how those on the fringes of society, such as the blind beggar, could take advantage of and manipulate mainstream characters for their own benefit. The blind beggar, although himself very aware of the difficulties of existence, was a “close-fisted and stingy” man. He would provide only necessities for Lazaro, and he even sometimes lacked at that! To ease his hunger, Lazaro would steal food from his blind master’s sack and wine from his wine jug. He would also steal a portion of the blind man’s alms by keeping a portion of each for himself. Lazaro, out of necessity, learned to adapt to his situation so that he could provide for himself.
Biblical References
I also want to mention a few of the biblical references I noticed in the first two chapters. These references are important, considering this work was written during the Counter-Reformation when the Inquisition was imposed. I see a certain parallel between Lazaro and Lazarus of the Bible. Lazarus is a character in the Bible who existed by eating crumbs that fell from a rich man’s table. Lazarus died a poor beggar, but because of his faith, passed into heaven after death. The rich man did not go to heaven due to his lack of faith. I believe Lazaro is a reference to Lazarus, in that Lazaro is also poor, maintaining an existence at the mercy of his masters. Perhaps in the end, Lazaro too will see is misfortune turn into something positive.
On page 13, the blind man says to Lazaro, “Silver and gold have I none, but I can give you plenty of good tips on how to get along.” This is another biblical reference to a portion of Scripture in which a lame man begged money from the apostles Peter and John. Peter answered the beggar, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee” (Acts 3:6). Peter then healed the lame man so that he could walk. This shows that the blind man was an enlightening figure to Lazaro, in a way “healing” him so that he could walk through the rest of his journey.
The third biblical reference I want to mention is found on page 21. It reads, “At the end of three days if we’d had neither we did a St. John and shook the dust of the place from our feet.” This is another reference to the apostles in which Jesus told the apostles to “shake off the dust of your feet” (Matthew 10:14) when they were not well-received in a city.
Death as a Release
Lastly, I want to point attention to the line, “So really there was no ease for me except death” (p. 34). In the first two chapters, Lazaro’s troubles would not cease. Just as soon as his situation would improve, he would find himself struggling again. This line also supports the parallel to Lazarus, whose earthly troubles were never resolved. Only after death did Lazarus’s troubles cease. This raises a question in my mind: will Lazaro’s troubles be resolved only after death? Will death serve as the instrument of peace for Lazaro, or will he find along his journey a path towards a better existence?
I really liked your references to biblical scriptures. Although through the reading I could see how much influence the bible and its writings had on the story, I could not directly correlate it as I haven’t read the bible so I appreciate your detailed description and comparisons making the references more sensical to me. I agree that this reading really reiterates the picaresque theme, as have most of the readings in class. There seems to be a common “trickster” theme here with the main reasoning always being survival and includes some sort of authoritative figure that impedes or makes it more challenging to survive. I thought the beginning of the chapter one was important in order for us to create some sort of a sympathy with the character Lazaro from the beginning. Knowing the traumas he had endured as a child , makes it easier to sympathize with him and root for him. Its also funny where at the beginning of every new master, the blind old man and the priest, it sort of seems to come with a good expectation. I thought for sure that the blind old man would help him live a more fruitful life, which is the reason his mother gave her blessing in the first place. Only to find himself facing extreme hardships . When that story ended and he found himself with a priest, I thought for sure that this would be the light at the end of his tunnel. How could a man of God bring any torture to a poor boy? Then of course he was faced with even worse circumstances then previously. But even though he contemplated death and was in the worst conditions, he still never gave up. He did what he could with his situation and did everything in his power to survive which he said he did through the power of prayer. The lesson I gained here which I believe is present in many stories, is that the key to overcoming anything is faith and to never give up, always analyzing how to make some good out of the bad. And although this story was written over three centuries ago, the lesson here still rings true. And good literature is timeless.
Raymond, you did a great job capturing the beginning of Larazo’s story. I agree with K.Oliveira regarding the reference to the biblical story of lazarus. Additionally, my perception of the first two chapters went beyond Larazo’s life encounters with his masters but more so to the treatment of the very poor in those times. Based on the description depicted from Larazo’s eyes, I visualized his inhumane conditions and somehow felt Larazo was speaking on the behalf of many others like himself. Larazo’s treatment was reflective of the times where society disposed of unwanted children , as stated by Larazo’s mother , “I know that I will never see you again. Try to be good, and may God be your guide”(p.11-12) -thus making the dynamic between the master and ‘slave’ seemingly to be the acceptable norm. And to make matters worse, masters were not accountable to any higher protective authorities which further masked their actions as beneficial to the ‘slaves’. Overlooking the hardship, Larazo demonstrated a will to survive, which I found admirable. Overall, the first 2 chapters really wet my pallet for more of his stories….on to the next chapters.