El Buscón by Francisco de Quevedo follows the life of a Spanish pauper who manages to survive by manipulating people with his winning personality and robbing them. The protagonist, Don Pablos, resembles Edmond Dantes from Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Rodion Raskolnikov from Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. All three characters are disadvantaged men who discover their capacities for crime. Don Pablos story is unique because of his fun-loving attitude. He's a resilient kid who doesn't wish malice upon his victims. Desiring respect, he manipulates people into respecting him before robbing them, thus winning the affirmation he needed and the subsistence.
Quevedo arranges his plot as a device for the philosophical analysis of Pablos' character. The argument in question is the nature of crime. What causes a person to commit a crime: nature or nurture? In other words, are there genetic factors which determine a person's propensity to criminal activity or are circumstances the predominant influence? Either way the person in question is a criminal of questionable character.
The case for Pablos' genetic predisposition to crime is strong. Pablos introduces himself with a brief but passionate praise of his homeland and parents. He's proud of his origins, but he quickly learns as he grows up that his parents were criminals themselves. Dad was a thief, and mom was a prostitute and a witch. Additionally his only brother also robbed, until he was caught and executed. By the time Pablos would have been finishing school and officially entering adulthood his mom and been imprisoned and his father hanged. After their deaths Pablos pursues more serious crimes in Segovia, with the added benefit of his father's inheritance. He hangs out with criminals and refuses to work. Given the occupations of his parents and brother, it seems likely that indeed Pablos hails from a family which does not function well within the bounds of social convention. They're rebels who don't conform to laws, social or judicial.
On the other hand, Pablos also receives enough disadvantages early in life to have been handicapped when it comes to successfully adapting to social pressures as an adult. With two delinquent parents, he is presented with role models of crime. He also is not encouraged to take any initiative. When Pablos learns about school, he must convince his parents to allow him to attend. This was promising, but Pablos is humiliated in school because they kids all know his parents' reputations. He's also grieving from the death of his brother, a traumatic incident for any young child. His only strong influence is his friend Don Diego, whose father appears to be a tyrant based upon the boarding school he later sends the boys. Finally, by the time Pablos is an adult, his parents have been forcibly removed from his life. Whatever example they were supposed to set, it wasn't the one he received. He's destitute, having never been taught to work or given instruction. Understandably, Pablos is pushed in the direction of crime based upon his environment and experiences growing up.
