Pedro Paramo is, at heart, a study of power. What does the novel suggest about the uses and misuses of power? How does the novel use the figure of Pedro to explore power and its dangers?

Pedro’s one real emotional attachment in the novel is to Susana, his lifelong obsession and eventual wife. What is Susana’s significance in the text? How do her characterization and arc reflect some of the novel’s key themes and ideas?

How does Pedro Paramo explore cycles of violence? In what ways does the violence change and develop over the course of the text? How and why?