Pedro Páramo's First Chapter...Beginning with an End

The first thing I noticed after reading this short chapter was how the final sentence links directly to the very first sentence of the chapter. The first sentence, “I came to Comala because I had been told that my father, a man named Pedro Páramo, lived there.” (1) and the final sentence, “That was why I had come to Comala.” (1) both deal with Juan’s motive of going to his mother’s hometown. I think Juan Rulfo does this in the first chapter to set the stage for the idea of endings originating from beginnings. More specifically, deaths having a role in the lives of the living, or the past living the present. I think the idea of the past playing a prominent role in the living present is a theme introduced in this first chapter through the linking sentences as a literary device.

Another element of the first chapter that holds meaning is the repetition of the word “promise”. Juan promises his mother that he will return to Comala and avenge whatever his father took away from them. Juan also says he would have promised his mother anything at that moment on her deathbed. The repetition of “promise” contributes to how much of the character’s motives are centered on promises and hope. A quote that deepens this idea is towards the end of the first chapter, when Juan says, “Little by little I began to build a world around a hope centered on the man called Pedro Páramo…”(1) This quote both defines Juan’s motivation but also contributes to the overarching idea of fulfilling promises with the motivation of hope which ends up holding its significance throughout the entire novel.