Pedro Paramo Symbolism Essay

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The Symbolism of Light and Darkness in Pedro Paramo
Death and life. The dead and the living. In Pedro Paramo the confusing use of different narrators in used only so that we can see the bigger picture. Juan Rulfo’s uses many different narrators and points of view to try and show the picture of the puzzle that we can’t yet grasp. With the use of different characters, it can be determined if a character is dead or not which provides insight about the story as to if it’s in the present or if it is clinging to the past. The thoughts on characters are somewhat different to their own point of view. First there are the thoughts on Pedro. Juan’s thoughts are those of a fatherless child who has never met his dad like Hang in Paradise of the Blind. …show more content…

For right now he is a mystery to the reader and his son. When Abundio is having a conversation with Juan and he is talking about what Pedro did for all his kids Juan replies with “I don’t remember,” (Rulfo, 7). Like someone who is alive they can’t remember something from when they were just a baby. But someone who is dead, like Abundio, might remember it because it was in their past life. Already the reader can see signs of death in the novel. However, Dolores has different thoughts on Pedro because she already knew him. So far it is known that Pedro is a stranger but with the help of Dolores she was able to provide some insight on him. Dolores “always hated Pedro Paramo,” which is what makes her character all the more confusing (Rulfo, 18). If she hated him why did they marry? Why did they have a child? Dolores even says, “God, that Pedro’s a sharp boy!” (Rulfo, 39). Here it is seen that she did love him but she knew the real reason why Pedro wanted to marry her. She thanked God for giving her Pedro even though she knew of his true intentions. She saw him as an evil that just wanted to repay a debt by marrying her. From her point of view, we can start to make out that Pedro is someone who doesn’t …show more content…

In a way it is like father, like son. Father Renteria hates Miguel and Pedro knows this. Pedro tells Father Renteria, “I know you hated him,” (Rulfo, 26). Father Renteria is convinced that Miguel did something that he was accused of. Because of this he takes an action that no priest should ever do. He looks up to God and says, “I hope you damn him to hell,” (Rulfo, 26). The use of this character is to shows us that even holiness is tainted in a city like this. This character shows us that those in purgatory are damned in their own hell. In Father Reneria’s eyes, a life on earth without a body is a punishment that Miguel deserves. Dorotea saw Miguel as the son she never had. When Dorotea is talking to Father Renteria she tells him, “From that time he had the measles,” (Rulfo, 74). This proves that she has taken care of Miguel since he was a little boy. She probably loved him as Dolores loved Juan. She also tells Father Renteria, “I went to Miguelito’s wake, padre,” which also shows that she mourned for Miguel (Rulfo, 73). She was actually sad that he was gone while everyone else in the village thought he was an evil spawn. The use of Dorotea is to show that parents’ thoughts on their kids will never change no matter what it is that they do. Eduviges thoughts on Miguel were different from Father Renteria’s. She tells Juan that “He went every night to be with his sweetheart over in a town called Contla,” (Rulfo, 21). It

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