Losing both of his parents at an early age, Rulfo lived in a Franciscan orphanage before studying at the University of Guadalajara. Juan Rulfo (1917-86) was born in Jalisco, Mexico, where, as a child, he experienced the violence of the government-Church conflict that escalated into the Cristero rebellion (1926-29). Cassandra was able to accurately predict the future, but was cursed by having no one believe a word she said.Īlthough everyone thought Susana was a NutterButter when she was alive and kicking, it's Dead Susana's voice that everyone is interested hearing in the graveyard… because they want to know what the real deal was with Pedro Páramo.A novel set in rural Mexico from the late nineteenth century to the 1940s first published in Spanish in its entirety in 1955, in English in 1959.Ī man’s search for his father leads him to Comala, a ghost town filled only with voices and the dead, from whom he learns the tragic history surrounding his father’s death and the decline of the village.Įvents in History at the Time the Novel Takes PlaceĮvents in History at the Time the Novel Was Written Just check out another Greek woman from the Trojan War named Cassandra. As in many other works in the Western Canon, the madwoman speaks the truth.
She also fills the role of madwoman, another important role (actually, she shares it-there are more than a few nutcases in this town). Susana, too, is inspiringly beautiful enough to prompt Pedro to murder.
In Greek mythology, Helen was a woman whose beauty caused men to go nuts over her: Guys were so infatuated that they ending up starting the Trojan War. The character of Susana works kind of like a Helen of Troy figure. That would be sweet if it weren't for the whole I'm-sad-so-now-I'll-starve-Comala thing. He spends his time talking to her, even though she's absent, saying things like, "Hundreds of meters above the clouds, far, far above everything, you are hiding, Susana" (7.8). She is Pedro Páramo's obsession, and her death is what causes him to finally condemn Comala to death. But that doesn't take away from her importance.
Susana isn't super active in this novel-her big contribution to the plot is dying after acting crazy for a long time.
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