Character Analysis
There's also a grab bag of ghostly characters that come on the scene in Pedro Páramo. Since Juan Rolfo gave 'em names, we thought we'd better mention them. Plus, you know, we want to honor the dead.
Dona Inés Villalpando is a shopkeeper who sells things to Pedro's family on credit when he is a boy, and ends up giving Abundio the liquor that sets him off to kill Pedro when he's an old man. Her son, Gamaliel, takes over the shop but is pretty grouchy and lets his mom work while he sleeps at the counter.
Rogelio is the telegraph operator who hires a teenaged Pedro, but he asks Pedro to do boring things like watch his kids, so he quits his job.
Inocencio Osorio, nicknamed the Cockleburr because of the way he sticks onto bucking horses, was a horse breaker and also part-time witch doctor. He's the one who advises Dolores not to sleep with Pedro on her wedding night.
Ana is Father Rentería's niece. She loves the priest and trusts him, even though he is too ashamed to tell her that he pardoned Miguel Páramo, the man who raped her.
El Tartamudo (literally, "The Stutterer") serves as a messenger to Pedro Páramo, and is the one who tells him that Fulgor was killed.
El Tilcuate, or Damasio, is basically a mercenary whom Pedro hires to pretend to be a revolutionary and to protect his lands from the real revolutionaries. The tilcuate is a type of snake, so Damasio's nickname gives us some insight as to his sneaky, slithery character.
María Dyadas is Eduviges' sister, who goes to the priest to beg him to pray for her dead sister's soul. He refuses, though, since Eduviges committed the mortal sin of suicide.
Doña Fausta and Angeles are two old ladies who decorated the church for Christmas right before Susana San Juan died. They notice that the light in her room at the ranch, which usually burns all night, goes out and then comes back on. They have a feeling this means something is wrong, and it certainly is.
Chona and her boyfriend are two people whose voices are heard in Section 27. She is a girl who refuses to leave her old father to run away with her boyfriend. He tells her that if she doesn't come he will go out with Juliana instead. Their fight is a little glimpse into the relationships between men and women and parents and children, and the responsibilities each have to each other in the society of Comala.
Refugio is Abundio's wife, who dies without receiving the last rites because Father Rentería is out fighting in the Revolution.
Terencio and Ubillado Lubianes are brothers who work at the Media Luna. They help to bury Miguel Páramo and complain about their sore bodies after the hard work. Isaías, Terencio, and Jesús are also workers. All of them discuss the boss's dead son before heading to bed.
Galileo is a farmer who believes he owns his land, but suddenly Pedro Páramo claims he sold it to him. He has a conversation with his brother-in-law, who is sure that Galileo will end up dead if he challenges Pedro.