Remember is... (living?): an analysis of the female character in the novel Pedro Páramo (1955), by Juan Rulfo

Abstract

The present project aims to analyze the construction of the female character in the novel Pedro Páramo (1955) by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo (1917-1986), more specifically the characters Dolores Preciado and Susana San Juan who have very significant roles within the plot, Since Dolores was the wife of the protagonist Pedro Páramo, and Susana, his great and only love, from childhood. Trapped to death in the images and memories of a happy past, although these women do not coexist in the narrative, the analytic approximation between them is justified not only by their connection to Pedro Paramo and its importance in the protagonist's particular history, but also by Have the memory as one of the main marks of its construction. Among other aspects Dolores and Susana also show different positions regarding the traditionalism that marks the era of the narrative, set in the period of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1940). Therefore the analysis of the construction of these characters will contemplate the discussion and problematization of relevant thematic elements that emerge from the narrative, such as memory, the female voice and the social role of women, based on works that present a broad reflection on these themes especially Candido (1987), Perrot (1989), Halbwachs (1999), Leite (2002), Brandão (2006), Le Goff (2006), Bezerra (2011), Arango Guevara (2014) and also assumptions of Feminist Literary Criticism (SHOWALTER, 1984; Macedo, 2005, BONNICI, 2007). (AU)