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Mercy and Compassion
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Lazaro’s story, marked by milestones of learning and loss of innocence, is a story of a boy growing older. But Lazaro’s process of coming of age is unlike many other examples in literature, distinguished above all by the character’s development of a deeply cynical worldview and his loss of a sense of morality. His mother’s parting words—a prayer that Lazaro should “learn his worth”—loom over the entire story. If it is true that Lazaro has, in fact, realized his worth at the end of the book by settling down as a lowly town crier and a cuckold, then perhaps his mother’s words are an omen that the essential worth of a human is very little indeed.
Lazaro himself foreshadows his own loss of innocence early on in the text when he remarks that he has much to learn from the cruel and conniving blind man if he hopes to survive. Lazaro’s time serving the chaplain years later marks a major pivot point in the text, as Lazaro begins to find financial security for the first time. However, his decision to spend his first savings on nicer clothes and a fine sword is reminiscent of the figure of the squire, who was concerned above all with appearances. This also marks the end of the streak of compassion Lazaro showed for the squire, and it foreshadows a shift in his values, from merely striving for survival and helping others when he can to having an interest in self-betterment.
In the final chapter, the narrator changes his name from Lazarillo (-illo being a diminutive ending in Spanish) to Lazaro. This change of name reflects a shift in identity, cementing a loss of innocence and signaling the moral transformation that has occurred. This shift is evidenced, for example, in the deal Lazaro strikes with the archpriest to turn a blind eye to his own wife’s infidelity. Here, again, coming of age and finding one’s place in the world are synonymous with moral corruption. Ultimately Lazarillo de Tormes is the life story of a poor boy who is subject to one brutal violence after another until he grows up to become a passive, unfeeling, and immoral person, doling out the same injustices he suffered as a child in exchange for a bit of money or power.
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Growing Up ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Growing Up appears in each chapter of The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Growing Up Quotes in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
Below you will find the important quotes in The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes related to the theme of Growing Up.
Chapter 1 Quotes
I was very small at the time but I was struck by what my little brother had said, and I thought, “How many there must be in the world who run away from others because they do not see themselves!”
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Lazaro is recalling that his younger half-brother would often become afraid of his own father’s dark skin and would run to his white-skinned mother in fear, not yet having realized that he himself was dark-skinned, too. This passage points out the illogic of prejudice, and the tendency to be cruel or punitive towards people based on characteristics that are out of their control. Indeed, the notion that even a dark-skinned person would absorb a prevalent racial prejudice and become afraid of his own father echoes the treatment of the poor throughout the book. Despite that the poor are shown to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam.
It seemed to me that at that moment I awoke out of the simplicity in which I had remained like a sleeping child. And I said to myself, “He’s right. I’d better keep my eyes open and my wits about me, for I’m on my own, and I’ll have to figure out how to manage for myself.”
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In this passage, following the incident in which the blind man knocks Lazaro’s head against the stone bull, Lazaro reflects on the blind man’s admonishment of him for his stupidity and he resolves that he will learn everything he can from the blind man about what it takes to survive on his own. This incident and the realization it produces in Lazaro will prove to be a major turning point in the development of Lazaro’s character—what Lazaro once would have seen as an unjustifiable act of cruelty, he now sees as an exercise of power and cunning that he would Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam con
“Oh wicked object, the fruit of worse behavior! How many there are who would like to see you on their neighbors’ heads, and yet how few want to have you for themselves, or even want to hear you mentioned in connection with them! … It’s a bad dinner and supper I’ve got in my hand here, but I’ll give it to you one of these days… What I’ve said is true. You’ll see, if you live long enough.”
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The blind man utters these cryptic but prophetic words at the inn in the town of Escalona, after he has rested his hand on an animal horn that is mounted to the exterior wall of the inn. At this time in Spain, horns were a common symbol for a cuckold, or a man with an unfaithful wife. Therefore, by reacting to the presence of a horn as a bad omen, the blind man is repudiating the practice of cuckoldry by cursing the horn which symbolizes it. The blind man’s statement that many people wish their neighbors would be cuckolded but Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusanti
Chapter 3 Quotes
“Oh Lord, how many of this sort must there be scattered through the world, suffering things for the moldy misery they call honor which they would never suffer for thee!”
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Here, again, Lazaro demonstrates a sharpening sensitivity to the hypocritical conduct of the adults around him. He makes this remark to himself after watching the squire walk to church, dressed very well and walking so proudly that Lazaro thinks no one would ever be able to tell that he lives in dire poverty. Lazaro clearly thinks the squire’s sense of honor, which the squire values and protects above all else, is a hollow and ridiculous pursuit that does more harm than good. In addition, Lazaro recognizes that what the squire sees as honorable has everything to do with outward appearances Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atqu
“He’s poor,” I said to myself, “and nobody can give what he hasn’t got. Whereas that miserly blind man and that niggardly skin-flint of a priest had both done alright for themselves in the name of God, the one with his hand-kissing and the other with his line of patter, and they starved me half to death. So it’s perfectly fair to be down on them and to take pity on this one.”
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Lazaro says this to himself in the squire’s bedroom one night after having looked through the squire’s pockets to see if he has any money. Upon discovering that the squire has not a single blanca in his purse, Lazaro takes pity on the squire, recognizing that his poverty makes him worthy of compassion. Here Lazaro, more directly than anywhere else in the text, speaks to the religious hypocrisy of his first two masters. Although the sequence of events in Lazaro’s life until now has been “from bad to worse,” it is noteworthy that Lazaro’s response to learning that he has Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accus
Chapter 6 Quotes
I did so well at this trade that at the end of the four years which I spent at it, by carefully putting aside my money I’d saved up enough to outfit myself decently in a suit of second-hand clothes…. Once I was respectably dressed I told my master to take back his donkey because I didn’t want to follow that trade any more.
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Here Lazaro refers to the time he spent working for the chaplain, at the end of which he was able to afford a cloak and a sword just like those that belonged to the squire he served. That Lazaro spent his very first financial savings on clothes is a subtle but clear indicator that a remarkable transformation has occurred in the years since he served the squire, during which time Lazaro derided the squire’s superficial value system. Specifically, Lazaro had looked with pity on the squire’s obsession with maintaining the appearance of a nobleman when he hadn’t the wealth to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Ve
Chapter 7 Quotes
“I’ll swear by the consecrated host that she’s as virtuous as any woman living within the gates of Toledo, and if any man says otherwise, I’m his enemy to the death.”
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These words are some of Lazaro’s last in the book. He writes them about his wife, whom he has been given every reason to believe is the mistress of the archpriest. This passage shows the willful blindness that Lazaro has chosen to show toward his own wife’s infidelity, the misconduct of the archpriest, and his personal disgrace that results from their behavior. Lazaro has made a steadfast resolution by the end of the book to deny the reality of his circumstance—and to kill anyone who dares to remind him of that reality. It’s also possible to read Lazaro’s cynicism into Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et
