The Itching Parrot (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

Pedro Sarmiento (sahr-mee-EHN- toh), nicknamed Periquillo (peh-ree- KEE-yoh), meaning “The Itching Parrot,” the young rogue protagonist of Spanish America’s first novel. As the son of upper middle-class people of Mexico City, he seeks the easiest way of earning a living. A monk’s life is too exhausting. He tries other professions: barber, physician, apothecary, beggar, and finally secretary to a colonel in Manila. Finally, a schoolmate, now a priest, turns him to a prosperous, honest life, resulting in Pedro’s marriage and respectability.

Señor Sarmiento, Pedro’s father, who wants Pedro to become a tradesman.

Señora Sarmiento, who, wanting her son to be a priest, dies of grief at his many vices.

Januario (hahn-eew-AHR-ree- oh), a schoolmate who makes a fool of Pedro for his attentions to Januario’s cousin, with whom Januario himself is infatuated.

Don Antonio, a good man, unjustly jailed, who helps Pedro. Later, Pedro finds him destitute and aids him.

The Daughter of Don Antonio, who becomes the wife of the reformed Pedro.

A Scrivener, who arranges Pedro’s release from jail so that he may serve as the scrivener’s secretary.

Bibliography:

Bell, Steven M. “Mexico.” In Handbook of Latin American Literature, edited by David William Foster. 2d ed. New York: Garland, 1992. The section on The Itching Parrot shows that Fernández de Lizardi did not seek to entertain the colonial nobility in his novel but instead to enlighten the masses.

Cros, Edmond. “The Values of Liberalism in El Periquillo Sarniento.” Sociocriticism 2 (December, 1985): 85-109. Studies the relationship between the Spanish colony of New Spain and its metropolis through the relationship between father and son, which the first-person novel relies upon as a guiding theme.

Franco, Jean. An Introduction to Spanish-American Literature. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1969. The section on El periquillo sarniento argues that Fernández de Lizardi represents a new type of Spanish American, one for whom the newspaper served as a weapon, and contends that Poll is too passive a hero to be sympathetic to the modern reader.

González, Aníbal. Journalism and the Development of Spanish American Narrative. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993. The section on El periquillo sarniento argues that the main character is an allegory of the journalist and of the duplicitous nature of writing.

Vogeley, Nancy. “Defining the ‘Colonial Reader.’” PMLA 102, no. 5 (1987): 784-800. Argues that Fernández de Lizardi’s aim in writing the novel was to challenge readers’ expectations that a literary work should follow European standards and have an elevated style. Argues that Fernández de Lizardi created a new genre and a new readership.