Topic > The Use of Fragmented Structure in Pedro Páramo

Juan Rulfo uses fragmented structure in Pedro Páramo to provide plot and character information from the perspective of different characters at different times. This allows the stories to be echoed and echoed throughout the novel. Often this structure creates a sense of ambiguity and confusion because Rulfo leaves the interpretation up to the reader and because of the non-linear aspect of the story. In this fragmented plot, Rulfo uses sound and silence to add suspense and contribute to the setting and plot. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayJuan Rulfo wrote Pedro Páramo with shifts in tension and shifts in perspective of several characters that add tension and reveal more and more about the plot. With seventy fragments varying in time and perspective, the reader must piece the puzzle together based on how they interpret it. For example, when the narrative switches from Juan to Pedro in fragment six, it confuses the reader because it does not initially indicate that the fragment is about Pedro. The reader only learns that fragments six through eight are about Pedro because Rulfo writes “'Pedro!' the people called him” at the end of fragment seven (Rulfo 14). These fragments, although confusing at first, are the first fragments to directly involve Pedro. Rulfo uses them to introduce Pedro and allow the reader to learn something about his past. This also adds tension because it acts as a sort of face reveal; before that, the reader cannot match a character to the “Pedro Páramo” that Juan sets out to find. Rulfo uses both sound and silence to add suspense and truly embody the theme of the living and the dead in the novel. For example, in fragment three, there are no “children” or “doves” and only silence can be heard. However, Juan still feels “that the city [is] alive” (8). This reflects the theme of the novel because there is a middle ground where the reader is not sure how to distinguish between the living and the dead. The lack of sounds of “children” and “doves” characterizes the disturbing and ghostly aspect of the novel. Rulfo implements another use of sound and silence in fragment twenty-eight. “Sounds. Murmurs of voices. Canto far… As if women sang” exemplifies the ambiguity that Rulfo once again displays (46). This fragment describes a “distant song” that may or may not actually be heard. Rulfo writes “as if” instead of illustrating in a more defined tone that women actually sing. The scene leaves it up to the reader to decide what exactly happens. A third example of a fragment in which sound and silence appear prominently is in fragment twenty-nine. The line “Empty carts, stirring the silence of the streets” once again represents the horror of the city (46). Rulfo uses lines like these to illustrate the silence that allows for a sense of ambiguity to be present. The city is simply made to seem dead, and this is partly due to the presence of silence. Rulfo also writes that there is an “echo of shadows” (46). The sound of shadows is quite ironic because shadows are simply an image projected by an object, not having the ability to emit noise. Pedro Páramo's fragmented structure allows some stories to echo and reverberate throughout the novel. For example, the story of Pedro Páramo himself is one that comes up again and again. His story begins on page twelve when Pedro was just a little boy. Think about Susana and how they would fly kites. Pedro thinks of her fondly, and this establishes early in the story that Susana and Pedro are two characters who seem to have gotten along well at some point. Later, the reader learns how much Pedro cared for Susana: “ha.