Pedro Paramo Analysis

Juan Rulfo gained worldwide popularity and recognition with his style of writing and with the unusual yet masterful use of time in his unique novel “Pedro Paramo”. The past as a means of telling a story plays a crucial role, such that it takes the form of a place in the novel. The way the book is written and the information in it is served may confuse the readers at first, as Rulfo plays with the nonlinearity of the narrative sequences and chaotic arrangement of dialogues. Major themes and techniques are artfully jumbled together, the boundaries between the past and the present, alive and dead, history and fiction are blurred and the opposites do not exclude each other, but rather coexist in the novel. Certainly, there are some special reasons …show more content…
He made some references to Mexican revolution and tied the atmosphere of purgatory with tough life of Mexican people at that time; repeated violence, rape, crimes and the dictatorship of a cacique were predominant at that time. One person could decide the whole city’s fate, just like Pedro Paramo when he took vengeance on Comala citizens for accidently transforming his beloved one’s death into the celebration. He made a promise: “I will cross my arms, and Comala will die of hunger.” (p. 117) . The mixture of the mythical layer and Mexican realities, multiple references to the unjust political situation and brutality of the authorities portray a cyclicality of the events. The female part of Comala being constantly sexually abused by Paramos, the presence of patriarchal system, incest, degradation of women, violence and oppression towards powerless men are the representations of the rural Mexico. Rulfo highlights gender disparities and the way women are mistreated, such as Miguel abusing Ana, Pedro neglectance of any women except Susana, or even the Father Renteria’s disrespect towards Maria Dyada and Eduviges. In the grave Juan Preciado tells Dorotea that he had probably died from murmurs and from a cold that emanated from his own blood. The cold might be thought of as dark times of the desperate Mexico being ruled over by the dictators and the murmurs or the continuous voices may characterize the protest of the lower and working classes against feudal landowners. All of those elements of the twentieth century Mexican culture, which are present throughout the entire novel, do not add up to the action in the present, but rather repeat what had happened in the past. That is why the readers might feel the stagnation in a linear and sequential