Picaresque Tradition: Lazarillo de Tormes and Forrest Gump

Introduction: Defining the Picaresque Genre

According to Maximillian E. Ovak, unlike some other literary designations — such as the baroque and the grotesque — the essential features of the picaresque in literature have been defined based upon a series of notable and specific works of fiction, including The Adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes. Lazarillo was a critical influence upon the genre's development and also its definition among literary historians. In general, the genre is associated with the following features: a fluid social situation, whereby the rogue hero can easily move in and out of different strata and his fortunes can take sharp upturns and downturns; a pseudo-autobiographical format, whereby the narrator claims to be either the hero or to know the hero and thus has authority in verifying and detailing absurd circumstances; and finally a partial and prejudiced narrator who nonetheless maintains a critical and reflexive view of the situation, even when the narrator and the hero are the same person. Another example of a picaresque novel in which the narrator and the hero are identical yet deeply self-critical is Moll Flanders, in which the repentant Moll looks back on her life as a prostitute and thief.

Other characteristics of the picaresque novel include a wide array of social classes and a stress on material circumstances — the hero may be born poor and achieve great wealth, or may lose and gain several fortunes over the course of his existence. Being born into poverty is a common starting point for picaresque characters. The story is usually episodic, and even when there is a narrative drive, it tends to be fairly loose. The novel often focuses on presenting the reader with a series of strange places and people to astonish them, more so than to create suspense. Finally, there is what Ovak calls a sense of moving "horizontally through space" and "vertically through society" (Ovak 77). This means that the character changes location through travel while simultaneously moving up and down in terms of social class.

While these characteristics are most readily observable in fiction, they are not confined solely to literature. This paper explores how the classical picaresque elements are manifested in Lazarillo and then compares how its features are adapted, changed, yet still simultaneously discernible in what has been called the modern picaresque of the film Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks. Forrest Gump is episodic and features a hero who is naïve and undergoes a series of reversals of fortune, but its American context and — more importantly — its cinematic medium allow for less irony and satire than are present in the picaresque's literary forms.

The Traditional Picaresque Model: Lazarillo de Tormes

In the classic The Adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes, the young boy is apprenticed to a blind beggar by his own mother after his father is condemned as a thief. The beginning of the book is narrated in Lazarillo's guileless tones, but the actual constructor of the narration is obviously far less naïve than his narrator suggests, frequently contrasting Lazarillo's credulity with the hard lessons his masters impart upon him — beginning with the beggar who nearly beats him senseless with a stone. "If I do not keep a sharp look-out for myself I shall have none to assist me," Lazarillo reflects, and this sober realization could be said to define many heroes of the picaresque genre (17). The picaresque hero is rarely bad by nature, but the hardscrabble circumstances into which he is forced compel him to behave in ways that might otherwise seem dishonest or self-serving. Lazarillo's narrative voice grows more knowing as the narration continues and he witnesses the venal ways of the world, specifically those of the clergy.

The picaresque story often takes particular delight in showing how true virtue is seldom rewarded, in contrast to those who are clever and effectively "game" the system. Although Lazarillo's mother contracts him to the blind beggar because she believes the beggar is holy and hopes her son will lead a good life, in fact the beggar is merely skilled at reciting Bible verses to wheedle money out of clients. One reason the story was published anonymously is that it was perceived as having anticlerical overtones. The book is divided into a series of chapters during which the hero is contracted to a succession of masters, most of whom are representatives of the clergy.

Anticlerical Satire and Social Mobility in Lazarillo

Of the priest, for example, Lazarillo observes that his eyes "danced about the moneybox as though they were quicksilver," and Lazarillo mourns that he was unable to steal a single coin during his entire time working for the priest (28). Even so, being contracted to the priest represents a considerable upturn in Lazarillo's fortunes compared with his previous master. Indeed, his kindest and poorest master — a squire — is the only non-religious figure to whom the boy is contracted.

A deflationary attitude toward the clergy is not an essential feature of the picaresque novel, although it is clearly part of the intention and thematic presentation of Lazarillo. Through a series of accidents — not so much by his own virtue as by manipulating the scoundrels he encounters and exploiting the credulity of believers — Lazarillo eventually reaches a state in which, "I was at the top of the ladder, and enjoyed all sorts of good fortune" (79). This prosperity is attained not through personal goodness but through cleverness. It should also be noted that even Lazarillo, though he enjoys his prosperity, did not set out to gain such security; rather, he stumbled into it by accident while attempting to survive a succession of cruel masters who nakedly used the church for their own self-enrichment.

The picaresque can function as satire as well as a striking portrait of different modes of life, and the vertical and horizontal trajectory of Lazarillo's existence is clear as he increases in wealth and is exposed to a series of figures who reveal different facets of a venal and corrupt church — one more interested in enrichment than in helping the poor or serving Christ. The Church claims to advance the cause of the poor while simultaneously using people's fear of God to enrich its members. Lazarillo's desire for personal wealth, while self-interested, is not nearly as calculated as his masters' and, at minimum, it is not hypocritical, and is thus less likely to draw the reader's condemnation.

Conclusion: Medium, Irony, and the Evolution of the Picaresque

While Forrest Gump could be called an American envisioning of the picaresque, it also possesses certain unique features — such as the character's lack of concern about money and his prioritization of sincere emotional ties over everything else — that are not even present in other American picaresque works such as Twain's famous novel. The picaresque novel's ironic, knowing, and distanced narration is not conveyed through the voice of the character so much as through the visual contrast between Gump and the people around him who are conscious of making history. Gump does, in effect, narrate the tale through a framing device, and he offers some limited insight, including his famous observation that life is like a box of chocolates. The theme that biting into a box of chocolates symbolizes the picaresque notion of chance may resonate with earlier versions of the formula, but Gump's homespun belief in goodness — regardless of his finances or whom he encounters — could likely only be successfully rendered in a cinematic format, as it seems contrary to the ironic and satiric tone that defines the picaresque in its written form.