Gentle man
After her husband is killed, Lazaro’s mother marries a black servant in the house where she works named Zaide. Despite his dark skin, Zaide is described as a caring and gentle man, who wants to help his family and who wants to provide for them. In fact, he puts his life in danger just to make sure that his new wife and children have enough to eat. All this aspects portray Zaide as a good man, someone who wants to fight for other and who doesn’t hesitate to steal from the rich and give to the poor.
Horned man
An important image in the novel is that of a man cheated by his wife and the reason why this image is important is because it appears several times in the novel and because Lazaro is unfortunately cheated on by his wife when he reaches maturity. To suggest that a man has been cheated on, he is often portrayed as being a man with horns on his head. This image is suggestive because it makes reference to the idea that the man in question is treated more like and animal and less like a person worthy of respect.
Poor people
In the third chapter, the mayor of the town where Lazaro finds himself in decided to throw all the poor people out because of a crop fail. Lazaro saw the lines of people leaving the town and the sight of it scared him so much that he stopped going out to beg even though he knew that he will have to suffer from hunger. The idea transmitted through this image is that poor people were disposable and no one cared about them as long as the rest of the population was fine.
Injured man
When the priest discovered that Lazaro was stealing his food, he beat him so hard that it took Lazaro more than two weeks to be able to walk again. After he left the house where he stayed during the time he was injured, he noticed that people were more inclined to give him food when he was begging on the streets. Once his injuries disappeared however, Lazaro stopped receiving so much food and was instead criticized for not having a job. What this highlights is the idea that for some people, appearance is everything and people are more inclined to be compassionate if a person looks hurt or if they appear to be helpless.
