Juan Rulfo is among Mexico’s most known prose writers. His life, Being subjected to experiencing the harsh effects of the Mexican revolution to his family and society, Rulfo became fond of writing about the Mexican culture and the different facets of living that is present their society practically considering the most evasive elements that affected the social living in Mexico back then and the factors continuously affecting the social standing of the country today.
In his story on Pedro Paramo, Rulfo again makes use of the factors indicating massive effects in the society such as that of betrayal, politics and the pressures of staying within stand of being one of the elite individuals in the society. Rulfo makes it a point that in this story, he does not only entertain the readers, but he also gives them a chance to see the basic culture and living that binds the Mexican people. Summary and Content Pedro Paramo was first introduced by the author as a young man who has loved a young woman, Susana San Juan. However, loving her or letting his love be made known was not that easy because he is caught in the middle of having a responsibility over the development of his parent’s land. Back then, owning a land is one of the most important factors that people could hold on to so as to be recognized by the government of Spain. Because of this responsibility, Pedro needed to let go of Susana when his parents died and left him with a land ownership to save.
Due to the need of saving his inherited land, he needed to marry an heiress who had enough wealth to save what he has of the land left to him However, love was lacking in the relationship, pushing Pedro to send his wife to a secluded place where he left her as he returned to his land and controlled every worker there to improve the property no matter what it takes. There had been lives sacrificed and relationships lost due to this pursued goal of Paramo. His depression over losing the woman he loved resulted to the indulgence of Pedro towards the greed and satisfaction that he got from gaining what he wanted from the land that was left of him by his parents. The son born to his wife later on realizes why he and his mom were secluded and was then given the last breath request by his mother to find his father and reclaim whatever is theirs. Here is where the journey of Juan begins. As he tries so much to make the ends meet between the dead and the living, he begins to understand the story between his parents, and the love of his father Susana.
Reaction and Reflection The elements utilized by Rulfo to present the different issues considered in his story was effective in presenting the symbolical background that binds the entire story. Truthfully, it could be recognized that this same elements of symbolism gives the readers an understanding that this story is not simply a narration about the life of a young man’s journey of finding himself. It was more like a definite source of conventional understanding about how Mexicans left by the war years actually tried to live their lives through finding themselves. AS they try to seek identity, they begin to unearth the different truths behind death and how this fact relates to the situations that they are currently facing in life. The transitional propositions used by the author to present the separation of life from death was effective enough in presenting how much the situations in life affects a person’s being and his view of the bitterness of it that death becomes a sweeter refrain of resting in peace.
For some reasons, the author was able to lucidly present his message in a way that spoke to the hearts of the readers and created implicative procedures in affecting how they practically viewed the difference of life from the actual act of living. Writing CritiqueThrough utilizing 70 fragments of narration, it could be noted that somehow, the story was able to present the different elements of social living the binds the Mexican society in the past. Basically, this includes that of the impoverished society, the greedy priests and the puppet government that gives in to whatever the Church says due to the crooked belief of Catholicism. The strong yet thought provoking words used by Rulfo allow the readers to imagine the situation clearly thus providing them a chance to see through the story and effectively be affected by the essence of its thought. The sad destiny that the Mexicans have been under during the war years basically presented different opportunities to them which seemed like curse due to the need of sacrificing a lot just to be able to find the most exacting procedures of considering the chance they have of surviving the challenges that life itself presents to them. These elements are the primary factors making the story of Pedro Paramo and his son’s journey alive and basically affective on the part of the readers trying to understand its message.
