Characters Analysis Essay on Pedro Paramo and Susana San Juan

Introduction

In the novel, Pedro Paramo, Susana San Juan is one of the characters who I see as not being super active (Patron 11). Her contribution to the above novel is dying slowly due to the crazy acting styles that she often exhibits. However, this does not take away her significance in the plot of the novel. Susan is Pedro Paramo's obsession; as a result, her death forces him to condemn Comala to death (Wilson 14). Even after her death, Pedro Paramo spends most of his time communicating to her, in other words, Paramo is saddened by the death of Susan. After reading the novel, I have discovered that Susan San Juan acts like Helen of Troy figure. Helen, in Greek Mythology, was a woman whose beauty attracted many men, in other words, men became so amazed by her dazzling beauty, the same qualities portrayed by Susan. Susan was also inspiringly gorgeous enough to prompt Pedro to murder.

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After analyzing the role of different characters in the above novel, I have realized that Susan fills the role of a madwoman, another critical role that she engages in alongside some nutcases in the town. As of many cases in the Western Canon, Susan speaks the truth just like other madwomen, she talked of different things including predicting the future events, but no one was able to believe in her words (Williams 12). Even that everyone thought that Susan was a mad woman when she was alive, everyone wants to hear her dead voice from the graveyard, and in other words, people are interested in knowing her relationship with Pedro Paramo.

After reading the novel, I have realized that the little lady, Susan, causes almost all the problems even if she does not mean to. However, the biggest mistake she made was to enter into a relationship with Pedro Paramo from a tender age (Rowlandson 21). When her family moved out of Comala, Pedro Paramo never forgets her, therefore, spent most of her life remembering and searching for her. However, I am very sure that Susan is also suffering from the same torture as Paramo, childhood relationships are often prolonged, and individuals involved will always keep remembering each other with the activities they used to undertake. The death of Susan's mother sent the entire family to agony where they moved to live in an abandoned mine. She goes ahead to marry Florencio, but after staying for a short while, he dies to force her to go back to their family. The relationship between her and Pedro Paramo continued lingering in her mind, and as a result, she marries him.

Conclusion

From the novel, I have learned that Susan's craziness protects her from Pedro, a situation that makes him crazy over her. She feared Pedro's ability to have a cruel dominance over her, hence the reason for being too stupid (Chemris 19). Pedro, through his influence, has managed to control all sorts of women in his life, but Susan, with her tricks, managed to contain him. Pedro is known to have had so many children with other women because of his power and influence. Susan, therefore, uses her madness to control the influence of Pedro. Her craziness, thus, enables Pedro to focus on her and to forget about other women in Comala. From my understanding of the novel, I believe that Susan has played a very significant role towards the main character, Pedro Paramo.

Works Cited

Chemris, Crystal. "The Pilgrimage Topos and the Problem of Modernity: A Transatlantic View of Selected Hispanic Texts." Romance Studies 26.2 (2008): 136-149.

Patron, Sylvie. "The death of the narrator and the interpretation of the novel. The example of Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo." Journal of literary theory 4.2 (2010): 253-272.

Rowlandson, William. "The Journey into the Text: Reading Rulfo in Carlos Reygadas's 2002 Feature Film" Japon." The modern language review (2006): 1025-1034.

Williams, Gareth. "The Mexican exception and the "other campaign." South Atlantic Quarterly 106.1 (2007): 129-151.

Wilson, Jason. "Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo." The Cambridge Companion to the Latin American Novel (2005): 232-44.