Dr. Ramirez
World Literature
Pedro Paramo

Encyclopedia Britannica Overview:
As a child growing up in the rural countryside, Rulfo witnessed the latter part (1926–29) of the violent Cristero rebellion in western Mexico. His family of
 prosperous landowners lost a considerable fortune. When they moved to Mexico City, Rulfo worked for a rubber company and as a film scriptwriter. Many of the short stories that were later published in El llano en llamas (1953; The Burning Plain) first appeared in the review Pan; they depict the violence of the rural environment and the moral stagnation of its people. In them Rulfo first used narrative techniques that later would be incorporated into the Latin American new novel, such as the use of stream of consciousness, flashbacks, and shifting points of view. Pedro Páramo (1955; Eng. trans. Pedro Páramo) examines the physical and moral disintegration of a  laconic cacique (boss) and is set in a mythical hell on earth inhabited by the dead, who are haunted by their past transgressions. " (online)

"Rulfo, Juan." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2003.  Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 11 Nov, 2003
<http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=66065>.

Cristero Rebellion and Father Pro
Militant Catholics had arisen in several states in the so-called Cristero Rebellion, attacking  government buildings, burning schools, and assassinating officials. In reprisal, the government executed members of the clergy, burned churches, and massacred Cristeros and their sympathizers. Father Pro was shot by a firing squad after being suspected of involvement in an assassination attempt against former president Álvaro Obregón. (An automobile used in the plot was linked to Pro's brother.) Pro's execution was ordered, without trial or appeal, by the then president of Mexico, General Plutarco Elías Calles, the founder of what became the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

"Pro Juarez, Miguel." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2003.  Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 11 Nov, 2003                           <http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=63012>.


66 Dorotea seeks forgiveness for her sins but she will "never know glory"

67 Pedro recalls the moment when his mother announced his father's death--it is a moment that gets confused with others about death.
The narration then switches to the revealing of Miguel's corpse

69 Father Renteria reflects on Pedro's adoption of his illegitimate son, "The one he recognized--God only knows why"

71 Father Renteria tries to confess
72 Bitterness of the land
74 Dorotea confesses her sins about bringing women to Miguel

75-78 Susana in grave, reflecting about her mother's death from TB
78 Swtich to Dorotea and Juan
79 Reference to Pedro Paramo's reign of terror
81 Fulgo announces the return of Bartolome San Juan
86 Life in the village during market day when the Indians sell their wares
88 Susana imagines things while sleeping
91 Susana reflects on her childhood, entering a mine and discovering a skeleton
93 Announcement of Fulgor's death
95 Susana's memory of Florencio
97 Rebels against the government


Juan Preciado and Dorotea become our lens into the world of the dead:
They hear voices
They talk of Dolores--Juan explains why he came Susana's; we learn of her mother's lonely funeral
We learn about Dorotea's guilt for finding women for Miguel

Their conversations convey feelings of loss
A man has been murdered during Pedro's reign of terror; this took place after a wedding and after Don Lucas's death.

In Ruflo's novel, the proverb "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" holds true--but the dead are animated
They sleep, they wake, they talk; murmur; they toss and turn;
The wood of their coffins creaks