preview

Examples Of Heteroglossia In Pedro P�ramo

Decent Essays

In Pedro Páramo, author Juan Rulfo incorporates many different voices—those of Juan, Pedro, and Father Rentería, for example. He does this by breaking down the novel into fragments that come from different characters. He also includes both third person and first person narration inside these fragments. To what extent does Rulfo use multiple forms of heteroglossia to provide clear insight into characters, while still maintaining the complex nature of the novel?
The forms of heteroglossia used in the novel create confusion, but they also increase the reader’s understanding of the novel. The shifts in perspective within the fragments allow the reader to understand what is important to specific characters, whereas the differing perspectives between fragments serve to provide multifaceted descriptions of different aspects in the story, while also emphasizing the role of time in the novel. The switches between third person and first person create confusion each time they occur. Unlike other novels, the thoughts of characters are not always designated by quotation marks nor are they italicized. Occasionally the first person phrases will be given context with a phrase …show more content…

Although at first the fragments provide confusion because they seem to be disorganized, there is a pattern to them. Rulfo’s organization of the flashbacks is important in emphasizing the role that the past plays in the novel. At first, flashbacks start slowly. They speed up, or occur more frequently, as the novel progresses. The reader becomes more and more trapped in the past as she reads, which mirrors the entrapment of the citizens of Comala in the past. The reader’s confusion, as provoked by the first two types of heteroglossia and the narrative style, feeds a sense of being lost and alone, much like the people of Comala, and the town itself,

Get Access