Juan Has Mommy Issues (Chapter 1 Close Reading)

Juan can't get over his mother's death. The context of the sentences where he is talking about her proves this. He tells us first about how his mom asks him to go to Comala when "she was near death, and I would have promised her anything." He stays by her bed until she dies, and he "kept repeating the promise even after I had pulled my hands free from her death grip." By this time in the story, she is dead. But Juan goes back to add more, saying, "Still earlier she had told me" and adding more details about what she said. Juan could have told us about his mom's death in chronological order, but by going back to her life even after she had died in the book, it shows he wants to keep her alive.