Blog Post – Chapters 3 & 4

Karen Monique Oliveira
Eng 2850
Professor Peer
09.10.2016

The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
Chapters 3 and 4

Recurring Theme of Hope

As a reader, I personally feel a hope for Lazaro with every new chapter and every new quest for a master. It seems as though Lazaro also carries with him a sense of hope even though he has gone through hell and back with his past two masters. This is something about his character that I find admirable. On page 57 after an old man said he could be his servant, Lazaro states “ I had decided that my new master was obviously a man who bought things in quantities, and that his meal was probably all ready and was exactly what I needed and was pinning for.” After reading that I was amazed at his positivity after everything he had gone through, even as just a reader I was not as hopeful for him. But this makes me think of the importance of hope as a theme in every story and in life in general. What is the point of anything if without hope? Everything that we do lies within the theme of hope whether we see it that way or not and especially for someone who is born under difficult or less than desired circumstances, hope is what maintains the story going. If the chapters began with Lazaro having a defeated attitude then we would not experience with him that sense of something better coming and perhaps the journey would not be as interesting and timeless.

Making a little, last a long time.

Another point I wanted to touch on was the idea of making a little last a long time, which is something that that comes up in previous chapters as well. On page 63 Lazaro talks about eating a little and making it last him a long time. Which is true, he would have to make bread crumbs last him for days. What this reminded of was the podcasts we listened to “The Uncertain Hour”, in the second episode we listened to a lady talk about how she got off of welfare and had too collect aluminum cans and then exchange them for money. After a while, she would collect enough to make about $600 which she said she could make last a while but it also came with making sacrifices such as knowing what was the most important to buy. She said she’s always been poor and all they do is try to get by. I feel as though Lazarillo lives his life in a similar manner and that in poverty, everyone is simply living day by day and when they come into any sort of food or money or necessity, they plan on making it last for as long as they can since they are uncertain as to when they will ever come into that again.

Humanistic Parts of Lazarillo

I think of all the chapters, in the third one we get to see how Lazarillo still possesses child like qualities. He has hope and he also has kindness which I believe stems from his own humanism, as well as when strangers show him kindness. After begging for food and collecting quite a bit he returns home and on page 70 as he is eating, he thinks about how he should offer the old man some, even though he should probably think about saving it, he still thinks of the old man. This shows that generosity is a state of being and not necessarily based on your wealth. Another thing that shows Lazarillo’s humanity is how he identifies with the old man. On page 73 he goes on to say that he is quite fond of the old man as he can see he doesn’t have much and was doing what he could. He said he chose to pity him rather then resent him and that he would bring back what he could to the lodge to help him get on. This shows that he has developed a sense of empathy towards people because of his own past experiences and this is a part of being human that not all accept, but he did. And that’s how a lot of people get on in the world, through empathy of others.
Authority Complex

Lastly, I wanted to discuss this idea that Lazarillo is always on the search for a master. The old man explains to him that “a gentleman is obliged to nobody” . He speaks that the idea of belonging to someone at their mercy, as somewhat of an illusion. So much so that he left his wealth in his old town because he did not want to answer to anyone unless it was God or the King. He is a prideful man and I believe that this concept does effect Lazarillo because in the next chapter , he only gives his master about a week before he dashes. Its also something that still exists today, this idea that we have to work for somebody else which of course for the most part is necessary in order to survive but it makes me think how often are we reminded that we can also become our own boss? For the most part the idea is to get an education, so that we can work for someone else who will pay us a good salary. I think having a mentor is important but a master is where things get tricky.