It's all pink bows for girls and blue overalls for boys in Pedro Páramo. This novel gives us an insider's look into gender roles in rural Mexico at the turn of the 20th Century, and man oh man is it strict. The characters must fill positions as daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, and lovers—all roles super-influenced by gender norms.
While male characters can literally get away with murder because "boys will be boys," women are often stuck between the rock of being dutiful daughters and the hard place of being wives. Makes you wish The Rocky Horror Picture Show had been showing in Comala.
Questions About Gender
- The Media Luna ranch is dominated by Pedro and Miguel Páramo and don Fulgor. How does this accumulation of manliness shape events at the ranch?
- If Pedro Páramo were a woman, how would this story be different?
- Almost all of the people that Juan Preciado interacts with are women. What does this fact say about women's role in society?
Chew on This
Pedro Páramo reveals the conflicts that arise between men and women when the latter try to fulfill more than one familial role—that is, as both daughter and wife.
The men in Pedro Páramo feel weak and overcompensate with brute violence.