La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes

written by anónimo
[II] 277-338

Summary:

Part One
Lazarillo de Tormes was born in the river Tormes, and his father had been accused of a crime and taken away (and died) when Lázaro was eight. His mother then began to see a new black man Zaide with whom she had a baby. The town soon finds out about the affair with Zaide; thus, he is whipped and kicked out. His mother is forced to work at a local inn, and sends her son off to a ciego.

Lázaro becomes the servant of the ciego. The ciego first tells Lázaro to draw close to the ear of a bull to hear the great din inside; the ciego hits him, causing Lázaro gores and pain, and says, “ha de saber más que el Diablo” (281). Lázaro then realizes, “Parecióme que en aquel instante desperate de la simpleza (innocence) en que, como niño, estaba dormido” (281).

The ciego prays for other people for a living and is poor and miserly. Lázaro does what he can to get food; for example, he cuts holes in, then sews back up, the ciego’s sack that has food. Later, Lázaro steals gulps of the ciego’s wine; the ciego hugs the jug. Lázaro the uses a straw to take sips of it; when the ciego gets suspicious, he makes a small hole in the jug to provide a fountain of wine for himself. The ciego feigns to notice it, but the next day slams the jug on his mouth. Lázaro bleeds and misses teeth; the ciego derives a perverted pleasure from it.

From thence forth, they treated each other poorly: the ciego pulled Lázaro’s hair, and Lázaro led the ciego down the worst paths. In another instance, the pair gets grapes. The ciego says that Lázaro takes one, then the ciego takes one, etc. until all are gone. When the ciego takes two, Lázaro quickly devours the rest. The ciego knows he has been tricked; Lázaro, if honest, would have told the ciego that he was taking two.

Later, Lázaro steals wine and sausage from the ciego, but tells him that someone else must have done it. Like a hound, the ciego smells the sausage in Lázaro’s mouth, but just in time, Lázaro throws up on the ciego. He is summarily beaten; the ciego later says, “que si un hombre en el mundo ha de ser bienaventurado (blessed) con vino, serás tú” (293).

In his final trick, Lázaro, leading the way past a puddle, makes the ciego jump with all his might into a pole. Lázaro then escapes.

Part Two
Lázaro then is paired with a clérigo who amazingly is more miserly than the ciego. The clérigo has a locked chest with food but gives Lázaro very little; meanwhile, the clérigo dines like a king. Lázaro starves so much that he cannot walk; he even prays for the death of others because funerals provide him copious food.

Lázaro, learning from the ciego, though tricks a tinkerer into giving him a key to the chest; he then takes a whole roll of bread for himself. After the clérigo notices, Lázaro makes mice nipping on the guarded bread, tricking the clérigo to give Lázaro the mouse-bitten parts. Such tricking persists until the clérigo boards up the chest; Lázaro then hammers holes in the chest, which look like a mouse’s doing. The clérigo then sets up mouse traps inside the chest; Lázaro eats the cheese and bread. The town concludes it must be a snake; the clérigo becomes paranoid about his disappearing food.

One night, though, the key hiding in Lázaro’s mouth creates a whistle (or to the clérigo, a serpent’s hiss). The clérigo smacks Lázaro, simultaneously injuring him and revealing the secret of the alleged snake. The clérigo then kicks Lázaro out, because he is such a devious miscreant.

Part Three
Lázaro is picked up by an escudero, a squire. He initially looks like a noble man, but he has no food. On the first day, Lázaro is still so hungry, but the escudero has already eaten. Lázaro, dying of hunger, finds a piece of bread in the house and shares it. Later, Lázaro is shown the escudero’s sword. He is given chores while the escudero walks around like a gentleman, looking for money and food. Lázaro himself begs for bread and tripe; the escudero eats with him. Together, they steal and beg for food to survive.

Unfortunately, all beggars are ordered to leave the city, or face the whip. They stop begging, and go hungry for days. The escudero then finds a real and tells Lázaro to use it; whenhe goes into the street, he sees a dead corpse and is scared it is headed for his house. The escudero then talks about the doffing of the hat, a ridiculous, satirized custom.

When a man and woman come to ask the escudero for the rent, he tells them to come back later. He flees. Lázaro is then taken as a prisoner before the neighbors convince the constable that he is innocent. He is let free.

Part Seven
Lastly, Lázaro works for a alguacil, a constable. He has a royal post and deals wine. He is well fed, living near the alguacil, and lives a good life. He marries a servant of an archbishop, and when rumors fly around about her prior sexual encounters, Lázaro quickly shuts them down. He loves his wife, and he is happy.

Themes:
-desafío y perseverancia: la tenacidad individual ante los retos de la vida
-el engaño y el desengaño, la honra y la deshonra
-la crítica social y política
-la decadencia del orden establecido y el descontrol
-lecciones de la vida y el repudio del error
-la prosa peninsular desde el Medioevo hasta el siglo XX

Translation:
http://www.4olin.com/index2.html

San Manuel Bueno, mártir

written by Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo

[II] 438 - 487

Summary:

Told by Ángela Carballino. Raised in a religious household and town, a firm believer in the Catholic religion. She lives in a village Valverde de Lucerna, situated between a beautiful lake and a solitary mountain.

 

Her brother Lazaro wants her to be educated in a big city, away from the crude town so she is sent outside of the village to a larger city. Everyone here knows about Don Manuel. His presence draws her back to her village where she becomes a personal assistant of sort for him. He is all about caring for his people, and they cling to him, and his magnificent voice, as an anchor, especially Blasillo, a mentally disabled man who hangs on his every word, representing the blind faith of the town. Don Manuel greatly disliked being idle, alone with his own thoughts.

Lázaro returns from the Americas rich and with strong feelings of progressivism: he is dismissive of religion and anything associated with it. He is determined to move his family to a larger and more progressive city. However, when his mother dies, her greatest wish is for him to convert for her, and just before she dies he promises to pray for her. This brings him into greater contact with Don Manuel and Lázaro realizes he is not like other priests. He eventually decides to convert to Christianity, or at least that is what he tells the town, and enters into the orbit of Don Manuel. He never misses a mass, and becomes a disciple of sorts to Don Manuel. The day of his baptizing however he confronts Angela with the fact that neither he nor Don Manuel believe in resurrection,and both are unsure as to what happens after death, although Don Manuel claims at times to believe that a person dies completely, he is fairly uncertain and vague at others. Don Manuel does know that his religion is the consoling of others, and nurturing the belief in an afterlife in his followers brings them consolation, which is why he will never tell them the truth.

 

Don Manuel is tormented by the possibility, and indeed as he sees it the probability, that there is no life after death, and lives in constant conflict with himself and with the prospect of suicide. The philosophy he follows, to which Lázaro has been converted, is that the non-existence of an afterlife must be hidden to others at all costs so that they may live a happy life. Lázaro argues that Don Manuel is a saint not because of his unwavering belief in Christianity, an organization Lázaro continues to see as outdated, but because he sacrifices his life for the happiness of others (there are continual allusions to Don Manuel's Jesus-like qualities).

 

Don Manuel’s physical health gradually worsens; on the day of his death he admits that God exists, but because he has seen God's face he cannot be admitted to the promise land (allusion to Moses). He wants Angela to continue praying for all people, and to keep her faith, which she is able to do even though her spiritual advisor can not. Then he is taken to the church where he gives one final sermon, begging that the people continue to live a peaceful and happy life, and continue on with their faith. Then they begin to pray, and as the reach the point in the Creed that talks about resurrection and life after death, Don Manuel passes, with Blasillo at his side.

Lázaro dies soon after, following his teacher. Only Ángela is left, and even she is not sure if she retains faith in Christianity. She writes a testament of the events that occurred in the town then hides them. The preceding chapters we discover are that testament. She alone knew the truth behind Don Manuel, and she feels the need to capture it in some way, but she is unsure what to do with this truth.

 

Unamuno then becomes the narrator. Angela had given him her story and he chose to publish it. He feels actions speak louder than words and the truth wouldn’t change anyone’s mind.

Symbolism:

Lake = Don Manuel, tranquil appearance but a lot of unknown turmoil beneath the surface, cannot blindly accept the idea of an afterlife like the rest of the town which is shown when the snow does not stick to the lake’s surface

Mountain = townspeople, everything is exposed, accept the idea of an afterlife which is shown when the snow sticks to the mountain

Themes:

-existentialism

-idea of reality versus dreams

-el engaño y el desengaño, la honra y la deshonra

-la fe y la razón, la justicia divina y la vida

-la prosa peninsular desde el Medioevo hasta el siglo XX

 

Translation:

http://teachers.ausd.net/classlink/getfile.ausd?fileid=56285

[erin b.]

Vuelva Ud. mañana

written by Mariano José de Larra
[II] 421 – 437

Summary:
In short, this story is a critique on the Spanish society of the time. It is losing its superpower status and is in a conflict between progressivism and traditionalism. Anyways, the story begins with a statement of theme: [la pereza] cerrerá las puertas del cielo a más de un critiano (422).

A stranger visits the narrator, a Spanish writer. The critique begins when the visitor says he believed all Spanish were gentlemen – something disproven by the horde of robbers he met. The visitor, Monsieur San-delai, then states his purpose: he is traveling to Madrid to prove his family identification, to claim his inheritance, to invest in Spain, and to visit Madrid. He proposes a reasonable schedule that is 15 days long. The narrator just laughs at the visitor’s naivety of Spanish life.

They go to the genealogist, and are met by their first (of many) “Vuelva Ud. mañana”s. The genealogist always has something to do: he has to take a break, he is about to leave, he as to go to the bullfight. Sin embargo, nunca encontraba momento oportuno para trabajar (427). This slowness is the way of life; everybody takes their time. The shoe maker, the ironer, the sombrero maker all need more time off.

When they bring the Monsieur’s documents to an office worker (which took a couple of days to even see him), the worker is too lazy to look for the documents. Instead, he says they were sent to another office. They travel around, only to discover that the documents were with the first office worker. The Monsieur becomes angry; the narrator just says la pereza es la verdadera intriga […] es más fácil negar las cosas que enterase de ellas (431). When the Monsiuer tries to invest money, he is declined because of Spanish arrogance: foreigners cannot invest. Out of frustration and advice from the narrator, the Monsieur departs.

The narrator then says that he is no exception! It took him many days and way too much effort, but he finally finished it, because he decided not to be so lazy. Da gracias a que llegó por fin este mañana, que no es del todo malo; pero ¡Ay de aquel mañana que no ha de llegar jamás! (436)

Translation:


Themes:
-la crítica social y política
-la prosa peninsular desde el Medioevo hasta el siglo XX

El Conde Lucanor

Ejemplo XXXV. ("Lo que sucedió a un mozo que casó con una mujer muy fuerte y muy brava”)
written by El infante don Juan Manuel
[II] pp. 268 - 275

Summary:
El conde pide a Patronio por consejos sobre su criado. El criado quiere casarse con una mujer brava y rica -- es un idea bueno? (¿Es el criado como el mancebo moro?)

El mancebo quiere casarse con una mujer rica. Quiere subir de su clase baja; no puede hacer lo que quiere sin dinero. Primero el padre de la mujer dice "no," pero después el padre del mancebo habla con el padre de la mujer. Ellos hablan ("Si casen, no podemos ser amigos"), y el mancebo y la mujer se casan. Los parientes, como dice la tradicción, los quedan en casa hasta el proximo día. El hombre les pide agua al perro, gato, y caballo -- los corta y despedeza. (El hombre está haciendo un punto a su esposa nueva.) Le pide agua a su mujer. Lo hace la mujer. Y después, los parientes lo admiran al hombre porque puede controlar su esposa brava. Despues, el suegro de la mujer trata de hacer lo mismo de matar un gallo. No tiene el mismo éxito porque ella conoce a el.

La morale? Las impresiones primeras son tan importantes.

Si al comienzo no muestras quién eres,
Nunca podrás después cuando quisieres. (275)

Translation:
http://antinous.tripod.com/mujerbrava.html

Themes:
-desafío y perseverancia: la tenacidad individual ante los retos de la vida
-el machismo, la lucha por el poder entre los sexos
-ganar y perder en el juego de amor: la passion entre el hombre y la mujer
-lecciones de la vida y el repudio del error
-la prosa peninsular desde el Medioevo hasta el siglo XX