AKKAS ALI
Assignment: First Draft
Prof: Jeff Peer
Date: 03/13/2017
Do authors present any similarities or ambiguous based on the Life of Lazarillo de Tormes, written by an anonymous author, and Life of a Sensuous Woman, by Ihara Saikaku? Yes. There are many parts has shown similarities based on two works such as in the beginning both Tormes and the woman were thinking about their lives the way has changed in the ending. However, I think we meet a number of “trickster” characters that make them into heroes because they became mature in their early lives, gained a lot of experiences and realized about real lives.
Lazarillo de Tormes and the sensuous woman both became mature in their early lives. Lazarillo learns from his blind master many things although his master torture him very much. His master did not give him food. On the other hand the sensuous woman was an eleven years old girls, did not like other do her hair style and redo herself, as mention in the passage, “Aristocrafts, you know are always thinking about love, whether they’re composing poems or playing kichball.” She is only eleven years old, but wnen she men and women lying together, she got excited and wanted to make love with men. She also get many letters from men and found men and she cannot stop meeting them.
The lazarrillo and the sensuous woman both gain experiences. Lazarillo has gain a lot of experiences from his different masters. In the life of Lazarillo de Tormes book mentions that “It is a joy to me to recount these childish matters to Your Excellency, to show how much virtue there can be in those who are born to low estate and drag themselves up and how much vice in the great who let themselves be dragged down”(13). As far as we can tell through the information that Lazarillo has so joyously chosen to reveal, Lazarillo has gone through many formidable experiences with many different masters. His first, the Blind Man, was described openly exploiting others for personal gain. He learned how to survive from his blind master and how to go through his entire life. Lazarillo de Tormes was a child raised by experiences not by parenting. It was these experiences that taught him to be resourceful to survive. The result of these resources shaped the course of his life. Even his name was given to him from an experience resulting from his birth nearby a river. When Lazarillo worked with the Blind Man, “who was so close-fisted and stingy” that he almost starved him to death. But, he was able to survive, “if [he] hadn’t managed to get along on [his] own wits and ingenuity there were many times when I would have perished of hunger” (12). The Blind Man provided Lazarillo with crucial life lessons to help develop a foundation of values that helped him survive with his other masters. On other hand, the life of a sensuous woman, she gained experiences, caring people’s daughter and worked for a high -ranking aristocratic family. In the reading mentioned that “Taking care of other people’s daughters isn’t an easy job”(603). I think, she got experiences how to take care baby, sacrifices her life, gave up relationships with men and managed to overcome every temptation to meet them. Besides,her love letter also impress women for men who ask for them. According to the reading, “ I could make the woman who read one of my letters fall deeply in love with the man who’d asked me to write it” (603). basically, she has relationship with a lot of men and knew how to persuade men by different ways, especially, writing love letter and men fell in love even though they are very far. Therefore, the combination of a life of a lazarillo life and a life of a sensuous man, I find similarities based on different perspective.
The life of a lazarillo and life of a sensuous woman play an important role and realized a practical lives rather than get stuck in imaginary lives. In the case of Lazarillos life, in very began, he thought life was very difficult because the blind master tortured him, gave hard time not providing food. At the same the blind man taught him about real life and how to go along even though sometime life is not easy, “Stupid”. As mentioned in the reading that The blind man also tried to teach Lazarrillo that life isn’t easy, “Stupid! Get it through your head: a blind man’s boy has to keep one jump ahead of the devil himself.” (12) The blind man’s used the bad treatment to teach Lazarrillo about life and other valuble things, “Because for all he abused me, the blind sinner had taught me a great many things, and that among them.” (33) When Lazarrillo escaped from the blind men, he had a new master that he had to find ways to survive even though it was with tricks, and it wasn’t the right way. “Silver and gold have I none, but I can give you plenty of good tips on how to get along. And it was true. For after God it was he who gave me life, and though he was blind himself he lighted up things for me and guided me along in way of the world.” (13) When Lazarrillo left the blind man he discovered the blind man’s knowledge about the world and how to take care along in the world. Another point that I want to mention when Lazarillo said: “It is a joy to me to recount these childish matters to Your Excellency, to show how much virtue there can be in those who are born to low estate and drag themselves up, and how much vice in the great who let themselves be dragged down.” (13) I believe that people who fight for their goals and objectives, and they see the real world’s obstacles and difficulties they unfold better than the people and became successful to overcome difficulties in their real lives.
In addition, the sensuous women fell ashamed and sorrowed for herself having bad relationship with a lot of men after enjoying her life with them in the early life. Sometime, people forget that everything has a limitation and they often cross their limitation. At a certain point, they realize it and fell ashamed and become afraid. According to the reading, “I began to grow frightened of myself. With this single body of mine I’d slept with more than ten thousand men”(610). In her case, it reminds me that she was a very young beautiful woman, liked fancy sex and often changed men. She remembered her present position rather than thinking the future and cried very hard, going to the temple for praying. She said that “As I did , I suddenly realized the most important thing there is to know in life.” therefore, I would say that she learned from her mistake what she had done and realized that this is not a real life and she had to be face in a real life where bodies really do disappear completely.
Even though we met a number of “trickster” based on two reading, the life of Lazarillo de Tormes, and Life of a sensuous woman, makes them heroes because they have overall qualities such as maturities, gained a lot of experiences, knowledge and able to distinguish between real and imaginary lives. There are very much similarities is both reading based on different perspectives and they are the main heroes in those reading.