Periquillo - Sarniento
As the first novel written in Latin America, El Periquillo Sarniento broke new ground. Before it, literary production in the colonies was dominated by religious tracts, chronicles, and poetry in the Baroque style. Fernández de Lizardi adopted a colloquial, accessible prose that mirrored the speech of Mexico City’s streets. He also incorporated local customs, foods, and slang, creating a distinctly Mexican literary voice.
The novel’s most scathing critique is reserved for the educational system. Periquillo’s early schooling is a farce: teachers are cruel or incompetent, the curriculum is outdated, and rote memorization replaces genuine learning. Through this, Fernández de Lizardi echoes the ideas of Rousseau and Locke, arguing that education should be practical, moral, and suited to the individual’s role in society. Similarly, he condemns the gachupines (peninsular Spaniards) for their arrogance and exploitation of the criollos (Mexican-born Spaniards), subtly critiquing the colonial caste system. At the same time, he does not idealize the lower classes; Periquillo’s time among thieves and beggars shows that vice knows no social boundaries. This balanced cynicism is a hallmark of the picaresque. periquillo sarniento
At its core, El Periquillo Sarniento follows the picaresque tradition, a genre that originated in 16th-century Spain with works like Lazarillo de Tormes . The novel is narrated in the first person by Pedro Sarmiento, nicknamed "Periquillo Sarniento" (a name suggesting both cheekiness and an irritating, itchy quality). As a dying man, he confesses his life story to his children, hoping to guide them away from his own mistakes. As the first novel written in Latin America,
The novel’s influence is immense. It paved the way for later Latin American picaresque works, such as La vida inútil de Pito Pérez by José Rubén Romero, and even for the magical realism of the 20th century, which often blends social critique with folk humor. Moreover, the novel anticipated the novela de la Revolución in its attention to the lives of ordinary people rather than heroes and elites. While some critics lament the novel’s rambling structure and heavy-handed moralizing, others celebrate it as a rich, unpolished gem that captures the chaos and energy of a society in transition. He also incorporated local customs, foods, and slang,
A notable contradiction lies in the author’s own position. A criollo who supported Mexican independence (the novel was published during the final years of the War of Independence), Fernández de Lizardi was nonetheless wary of radical change. He believed in gradual reform, not revolution. Thus, while the novel criticizes specific abuses, it ultimately endorses a conservative social order: the poor should accept their station and work hard; the rich should be just and charitable. This ambiguity reflects the complex political landscape of early 19th-century Mexico.
The son of a poor but respectable family in Mexico City, Periquillo refuses to follow an honest trade. Instead, he bounces from one master and profession to another: he is a student, a sacristan, a pharmacist’s apprentice, a beggar, a thief, a bullfighter, a doctor’s assistant, and even a leader of a gang of thieves. He travels through the viceroyalty of New Spain, from the capital to the countryside, experiencing all levels of society. Each episode serves as a vehicle for Fernández de Lizardi to expose a specific social vice—the laziness of the privileged, the corruption of public officials, the greed of the clergy, the incompetence of quack doctors, and the brutality of the justice system. Periquillo’s journey is circular: after suffering imprisonment, betrayal, and near-death experiences, he finally returns to Mexico City, marries, and becomes an honest man—but only after learning the hard way.
El Periquillo Sarniento is much more than a historical curiosity. It is a lively, funny, and often heartbreaking journey through the underbelly of colonial Mexico. Fernández de Lizardi used the picaresque form to create a mirror in which his society could see its vices clearly. Two centuries later, readers still recognize the itchy parrot’s restless spirit—the desire for easy riches, the temptation to cheat, the pain of injustice, and the hard-won value of integrity. As the first novel of Latin America, it remains a foundational text, reminding us that literature can be both a fierce critic of its time and a timeless portrait of the human condition.
