Close Reading Chapter 1

Chapter 1 describes the circumstances in the death of Juan's mom and the promise he made to her to go see Pedro and ask for what he never gave them.  An interesting quotation in this chapter is, "Little by little I began to build a world around a hope centered on the man called Pedro Paramo, the man who had been my mother's husband" (Rulfo 3).  The diction in this quote is interesting because instead of referring to Pedro as his father, Juan calls him "the man who had been my mother's husband."  Right off the bat, Juan Rulfo is creating that tension and setting up how he feels about Pedro.  The diction of that quotation reinforces the separation between Juan, his mom and Pedro.