The Powerful Nature of Hope

The first page of the book is not so much of an introduction, but a catapult.  Rulfo launches us from zero to sixty in a blink of an eye.  Right off the bat we learn of the death of the narrator's mother, Dolores, who makes him promise to right the wrongs a man named Pedro Paramo had committed against them.  She says that Paramo would want to see him.  This is an interesting statement because it conflicts with the sentiment that Pedro was a bad father and husband.  Paramo had put them out of mind for so long, why would he want to see Juan Preciado now?  The fact that Dolores was so close to death adds significance to this statement.  Rulfo is attempting to express the powerful nature of hope.  Even at the end of her life, Dolores is still holding on to the hope that Pedro Paramo really wanted to be with her, that he really loved her.  Paramo's profound negative impact on her life later syncs up with Rulfo's characterization of Pedro as an evil and manipulative man.