FL 380: An Archaeology of the "Boom":
Modern Latin American Prose Fiction
Reading Guide to Rulfo #2
Pedro Páramo
- 61-62 Time change: Flashback. Pedro Páramo's life and times
The good years
- 65 "Those people don't really count".
- 65 Time change: Prospection. Juan Preciado and Dorotea in their grave
Getting acquainted
- 66 Dorotea: "For me, Juan Preciado, heaven is right here".
- 66 Juan Preciado: "And your soul? Where do you think it's gone?"
A.Attitudes and beliefs concerning:
l. Life
2.Death
3. The afterlife
4.The soul
a.What is the state of these voices?
- 66-68 Time change: Flashback. Pedro Páramo's life and times
Pedro Pármo's reaction to Miguel Páramo's death
- 68-75 Time change: Years later Father Rentería remembers the
night Miguel Páramo died.
- 70 "I did. I'm the one who's dead".
- 71 Memories of a previous visit to Contla in search of absolution
A. "You cannot continue to consecrate others when you yourself are
in sin".
- 72 "Oh, my friend, let God judge the dead".
- 73 "Not sick, Ana. Bad. I feel that's what I am. A bad man".
- 74 Dorotea's confession: "I'm the one who used to get the girls
for the deceased. For Miguelito Páramo".
- 75 Father Rentería's epiphany: "Then came the dizziness,
the confusion, . . . the taste of blood on his tongue".
- 75-76 Time change: Prospection. Juan Preciado and Dorotea in their
grave: Eavsdropping on other dead: Susana San Juan.
A. "I sense where I am, but I can think. . ."
- 78 Humor in death: "Who, me? I was asleep for a while."
- 79 An explanation: "What happens with these corpses that have
been dead for a long time is that..."
- 79 "Anyone of dozens. Pedro Páramo slaughtered so many
folks after his father was murdered that he killed nearly everybody who
attended that wedding".
- 80-81 "Don't you believe it. He loved her. I'm here
to tell you that he never loved a woman like he loved that one".
A.What to make of such an undying love?
- 80-81 On how and why Comala died.
- 81-82 Time change: Flashback. Pedro Páramo's life and times
Susana San Juan and her father, Bartolomé, return to Comala: "Well,
the way he treats her, she seems more like his wife."
A.What do you make of this?
- 83 "And weep I did, Susana, when I learned that at last you would
return".
- 84 Susana's poignant question: "And who am I?"
- 85 Susana's poignant revelation: "Of course I am, Bartolomé..."
- 85 Pedro's plan: "She must be left without family".
- 86-87 The Indians
- 88 '"It slept with me, between my legs. It got wet, and I felt
sorry for it and let it stay in my bed."
A.Justina's cat
B.Pedro Páramo's macabre plan for Bartolomé
C.Susana's bed
D.The behavior of the dead
- 90 "Then it was father ... So he came to tell me good-bye".
- 90-91 Time change: Flashback : Susana's childhood, Bartolomé,
and the mineshaft.
- 93 "Why do you come see me when you are dead?"
- 93-94 The revolutionaries: The Mexican Revolution
- 95 The narrator wonders: "'But what world was Susana San Juan
living in? That was one of the things Pedro Páramo would never know".
A.What would be your guess?
- 95-96 Time change: Prospection : Juan Preciado and Dorotea in their
grave: Susana speaks about her dead husband, Florencio.
- 96-99 Time change: Flashback : Pedro Páramo's life and times:
The Revolution:
A."But why have you done it?"
B."You're the leader. Or would you rather not get tied up in
this revolution?"
- 99-100 Time change: Prospection : Juan Preciado and Dorotea in their
grave: Susana and, her husband, Florencio.
A."The box they buried her in must have split open, because I hear
something like boards creaking".
- 100-101 Time change: Flashback : Pedro Páramo's life and times:
- 100 Susana dreams about Florencio:
A."But all you care about is souls. And what I want is his body."
- 101-104 Pedro Páramo and Gerardo Trujillo, his lawyer.
- 105-107 Pedro Páramo and Damiana Cisneros
- 107-108 Pedro Páramo, Damasio, and revolutionary advice:
A."Go raid some town!. . . Show them that you're not just out for
a good time".
- 108 Susana San Juan: "A woman who is not of this world".
- 109-110 Susana's intuition: "I only believe in hell".
- 110 Pedro Páramo's confirms the above: "Don't be silly,
Justina".
- 111 Two versions of communion
- 114 "Perhaps she had nothing to repent of. Maybe there was nothing
for him to pardon."
- 115 Time Coincidence: Flashback and Prospection align to mark the death
of Susana San Juan.
- 115-117 December 8: Susana's death and Comala's undoing: "I will
cross my arms and Comala will die of hunger".
- 117 Pedro Páramo, Damasio, and more revolutionary advice:
A."No question. You're on the side of the government".
B."I don't care what you do".
- 117-118 Pedro Páramo remembers Susana San Juan: The autumn
of a patriarch:
"Pedro Páramo's lips kept moving, whispering words".
- 118-124 Circularity: Abundio returns to the story: "At that same
hour. . ."
A.The death of Abundio's wife
B.A son meets his father
C.Death of Pedro Páramo