Initially, the novel was met with cold critical reception and sold only two thousand copies during the first four years. You thought your town was dead and boring in the summertime, but you havent been to comala, mexico. Juans dying mother implores him to go to comala, and. The narrator, who goes to the dusty old town of comala in search of his father, pedro paramo, finds himself both sorting through the skeletons in his fathers closet and. It rises or falls depending on whether youre coming or going. As he approaches, a man on a burro, abundio, overtakes him and leads him down to the valley. At least that was what i had seen in sayula, just yesterday at this hour. The story begins with juan preciado narrating a trip he takes to his mothers home village of comala. It was during the dog days, the season when the august wind blows hot, venomous with the rotten stench of saponaria blossoms. She has recently died and asked him to find his father, pedro paramo, in the village where she was born. In the end, abundio, the guide whose ghost left juan preciado in comala in the first part of the book and who is another of pedro s illegitimate sons, loses his wife because he cant afford her medicine. A summary of this great book by juan rulfo by guido2rodriguez. The first person to suggest that the souls of comala might be able to move on after a period of time.
Comala a town in the state of jalisco, in mexico, where juan preciado arrives searching for his father. The town is a ghosttown and we are never sure of the people he meets, are they alive or ghosts. Recognizing that rulfo was describing a world i already knew and. This document was created with prince, a great way of. Pedro paramojuan rulfofree downloadpdf epubfreeditorial. The setting of juan rulfos 1955 novel, pedro paramo, is, quite literally, a ghost town.
The book tells the story of pedro paramo, of course, through a series of nonchronological events in which his son returns to the town of the father he never knew in order to learn about his life. It was the hour of the day when in every little village children come out to play in the streets, filling the afternoon with their cries. I bought a digital copy as well as a physical copy, but i mainly used my kindle copy. Juan learns later that abundio has been dead for a long time. Bartolom san juan fue a vivir con su hija a comala. I reread this bookin spanish in march 2012, almost a year later and loved this book. A spirit resident of comala, and one of juans hosts. This study guide consists of approximately 32 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of pedro paramo. It was what my mother had told me, and i promised i would go and see him after she died. Pedro paramo pedro paramo 1955, juan rulfo pedro paramo is a novel written by juan rulfo about a man named juan preciado who travels to his recently deceased mothers hometown, comala, to find his father, only to come across a literal ghost townpopulated, that is, by spectral figures. The town is a ghosttown and we are never sure of the people he meets, are they alive or.