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.
Fernández de Lizardi called himself the "Mexican Thinker," and his novel is deeply didactic. Each misadventure of Periquillo is followed by an explicit moral lesson, often delivered by a wise older character. The novel’s final message is clear: honesty, hard work, and prudence lead to a good life, while idleness and greed lead to ruin. Yet, the novel is not a simple moral tract. Periquillo remains a complex, even sympathetic character. His flaws are human, and his suffering is often disproportionate to his crimes. The reader laughs at his schemes but also feels pity when he is beaten, jailed, or left for dead. This tension between moral instruction and narrative empathy gives the novel its lasting vitality. periquillo sarniento
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 Periquillo’s early schooling is a farce: teachers are cruel or incompetent, the curriculum is outdated, and rote memorization replaces genuine learning.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. As the first novel written in Latin America,
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. He also incorporated local customs, foods, and slang,