Pedro Comala Quotes

In Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo, Juan goes to Comala to find his father, Pedro. Pedro had an intimate relationship a girl who he forced to leave her family to be with him. As Pedro and Susana’s marriage proceeds, Susana begins to demonstrate signs that she is mentally unstable. The controlling of Susana’s life by other men reveals that mental instability is the only escape from a patriarchal society. After Susana leaves Comala, she marries Florencio, who soon dies. Susana is then forced into an incestuous relationship with her father, Bartolome San Juan. during the time in which the relationship takes place, Susana grows crazier and requires the care from her nurse, Justina. Susana’s requirement for mental treatment following her incestuous …show more content…
As Father Renteria tries to have Susana recite the phrases necessary for her repentance, Susana recites a different phrase while mocking Father Renteria’s efforts. Susana mocking of Renteria’s efforts reveal that Susana does not wish to confine to the commands of a man, especially to those of Father Renteria, who has sexually assaulted women in the past. Additionally, Susana is portrayed as mentally insane as she recites her own phrase; therefore reinforcing the revelation that Susana has become mentally unstable in order to subdue the patriarchy. After Susana dies, the people of Comala throw a fiesta as they are pleased with the death of the mentally unstable Susana. Pedro, angered by the fiesta, vows to make Comala pay. Pedro proceeds to starve the people of Comala; thus, Comala becomes a ghost down. Susana’s indirect destruction of Comala and its society reveals how Susana’s mental instability ultimately destroyed the patriarchy in Comala. Susana became mentally insane in an effort to cooperate with and eventually subdue the patriarchy, and she achieves doing so through Pedro’s retribution against the