“Vine a Comala porque me dijeron que acá vivía mi padre, un tal Pedro Páramo.” (103)

Pedro Páramo: Comala and Its Desolation

Pedro Páramo (1955) and El llano en llamas (1953) by Juan Rulfo are treated as Mexican revolution novels, but what many scholars neglect to mention is that the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) had a minimal impact on the states of Jalisco and Michoacán, the two major hotbeds of the Cristero War. We must first understand the Cristero War, not as an isolated incident, but rather an extension of the revolution and the final act to the drama that was the Mexican Revolution. Understanding Pedro Páramo and El llano en llamas as literary works that both take place in Jalisco, we begin to understand the psychological and human impact of the war. Pedro Páramo's Comala is a jalisciense town filled with ghosts and characters who have suffered due the unidentified conflicts referenced in the novel. While I believe that the novel does give some credence to the scholarly readings as an examination of conflicts during the Mexican Revolution, the relationships between the landed elite and the campesino populace was not challenged in Jalisco until the Cristero War (Preciado Zamorano), where the issue of land reform was also in question. While haciendas were destroyed during the Mexican Revolution, the bulk of the expansive network of land-estates throughout Western Mexico were not threatened until President Calles and his administration began to talk seriously about land reform. It should be noted that while wholesale land reform didn’t happen until the Presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940), however Calles’ presidency began earnest dialogue on the matter. The novel, however, clearly describes the social dynamic between the upper class landed elite and the lower-class peoples. 

Brief Summary

Juan Preciado has gone to Comala, the birthplace of his mother, to find his father, Pedro Páramo (quote above) to get what his mother declares to be rightfully theirs. He enters the desolate town of Comala, located in southern Jalisco, and discovers a town inhabited by ghosts. Through a fragmented narrative, the reader discovers the past of Comala and the events that lead to its downfall at the hands of the cruel hacendado Pedro Páramo who decides to exact revenge on the populace of the town for the death of the love of his life. 

Mobirise

Modern Administrative Regions of Jalisco

Emptying Town

While Comala is a fictional town and seems to portray a fantastic and mysterious world where the dead still roam, it presents very real demographic changes happening in the southern region of Jalisco and the periphery of the state. If we look at figure 3 and the map in figure 4 we can begin to see that the region away from the center of the state and away for the center of power in Guadalajara suffered the most loss in populations- while the data in the CSV file is incomplete, it can be inferred that the trend in Jilotlán de los Dolores and Pihuamo,  both located in the southeast section of the map to the left, is also applicable to the other municipios. Further development and access to the state census records would be needed to fully develop an exact picture of the effects of the war in the south. 


Furthermore, Jilotlán de los Dolores and Pihuamo present lower concentration of haciendas. Given the economic importance of haciendas in the Jalisco economy and their higher survivability, the relatively small collection of haciendas in the 2 aforementioned municipios could imply 1) little economic development or lack of economic opportunity or 2) a monopolistic control of the land and economy by a handful of haciendas. The reduction of ranchos in the region could coincide with the collapse of of the extensive hacienda system following land redistribution after the Cristero War. Coupled with armed conflict in the region, it could be an explanation of the demographic change.   

Figure 3 and 4

-¡Váyase mucho al carajo!
-¿Qué dice usted?
-Que ya estamos llegando señor.
-Sí, ya lo veo. ¿Qué pasó por aquí?
-Un correcaminos, señor. Así les nombran a esos pájaros. 

-No, yo preguntaba por el pueblo, que se ve tan solo, como si estuviera abandonado. Parece que no lo habitara nadie.
-No es que lo parezca. Así es. Aquí vive nadie.
-¿Y Pedro Páramo?
-Pedro Páramo murió hace muchos años. (107)

Soledad de Comala

The quote above describes the condition of the town in humoristic fashion. It is a conversation between Abundio, an important character that frames and sets the stage for Comala in the novel, and Juan Preciado. As they they enter the town, Juan Preciado asks Abundio what happened here, referring to Comala, Abundio read Preciados question as if the question as what just passed, and tells him it was a roadrunner. Upon which Preciado tells him that he was referring to the town, that it seems empty. Upon which Abundio tells him, it doesn't seem abandoned, it is abandoned. 

The assertion that it is abandoned is reflected but the ghosts in the novel and but the use of words. In figure 5 bellow we see a text analysis upon which we can see the frequency of certain words. I chose words that connote emptiness, loneliness, darkness, and the cause of the downfall of Comala. Luna, meaning moon, represents the night but is also part of the name of Pedro Páramo's hacienda, La Media Luna. Nada is chosen because it connotes the lack of something. The name of Pedro Páramo is also interesting, a páramo is a wasteland, typically dry and desolate without the ability to sustain life.  

Mobirise

Figure 5 Text Analysis (couldn't figure out how to embed)

Mobirise

Image from the 1967 movie, Pedro Páramo 

Could the death of Comala be due to the hacienda system collapse? 

The second half of novel focuses on Pedro Páramo and the collapse and ultimate death of Comala. Rulfo makes clear that Comala died because of the action or, rather inaction, of Pedro Páramo

La Media Luna estaba sola, en silencio. Se caminaba con los pies descalzos; se hablaba en voz baja. Enterraron a Susana San Juan y pocos en Comala se enteraron. Allá había feria. [...] Hasta acá llegaba la luz del pueblo [...] Juró vengarse de Comala:
- [Pedro Páramo] Me cruzaré de brazos y Comala se morirá de hambre. Y así lo hizo. (209)

The quote above conveys explicitly how Comala died. Pedro Páramo let Comala starve out of revenge for the towns misgiving of celebrating during the day of his beloved's burial. Although it was a misunderstanding, Páramo, from his hacienda, saw the unrelated celebration in the town as an act of disrespect and decided that from that point forward, he was not going to “help” the town.

If we look at figure 6 we can see a map of the concentration of haciendas. While the incomplete data doesn't give us a full picture, we can develop further questions as to why the demographic change is prominent in the south and periphery regions.  

Figure 6

Could the loss in population be due to the loss in economic viability of rural Jalisco ranchos or could it be due to a retaliation on part of the hacendados due to the change in power structure following the Cristero War? The war was traumatic for many that lived, however was it enough to empty the countryside permanently? In the rancho section of figure 6 we can see again the distribution of emptied ranchos. Perhaps there is a connection between hacienda collapse and rancho disappearance but given the scope of this project, more information and data will be required.  

Allá atrás, Pedro Páramo, sentado en su equipal, miró el cortejo que se iba hacia el pueblo. Sintió que su mano izquierda, al querer levantarse, caía muerta sobre sus rodillas; pero no hizo caso de eso. Estaba acostumbrado a ver morir cada día alguno de sus pedazos. Vio cómo se sacudía el paraíso dejando caer sus hojas: «Todos escogen el mismo camino. Todos se van» (215)

With this final scene, Pedro Páramo dies looking at Comala. Pedro Páramo and Comala are the same. Comala is a part of him that will die as he dies- “a ver morir cada día alguno de sus pedazos”- Just like the death of Susan San Juan, Comala would suffer the same fate- the paradise that was Comala is no more. Rulfo includes in Pedro Páramo's death scene, «Todos escogen el mismo camino. Todos se van»- meaning: all choose the same path, they all leave. While the context of the quote can be seen as choosing the path of death and leaving to the afterlife, if we look at it within the context of the demographic exodus from the Jalisco countryside, that path that is chosen is that of migration, emptying ranchos, reducing the labor force, and extension making the haciendas obsolete. Perhaps Juan Rulfo's novel, Pedro Páramo, can be understood as reflection of these massive demographic shift we've been able to identify with the data at our disposal. However, further research is needed.   

Mobirise site maker - See here