Periquillo Sarniento [upd] Instant

Lizardi fiercely mocks the obsession with pretentious, useless academic learning, focusing on the lack of practical education.

The Itching Parrot: Analysis of Major Characters | Literature and Writing periquillo sarniento

: Due to its sharp criticism of the Church and colonial administration, the final volumes were initially banned by the Spanish Inquisition and were not published in full until 1825, after Mexico gained independence. Instead, he bounces from one master and profession

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. and near-death experiences

Periquillo encounters lawyers, doctors, and priests who are incompetent, greedy, or morally bankrupt.