How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She always hated Pedro Páramo. "Doloritas! Did you tell them to get my breakfast?" […]
"I wonder how many times your mother heard that call? 'Dona Doloritas, this is cold. It won't do.' How many times? And even though she was used to the worst of times, those shy eyes of hers grew hard." (9.29-30)
When Dolores goes to live with her new husband Pedro Páramo, she quickly learns that she hates her position as a housemaid, er, wife.
Quote #2
"She loved her sister more than she did me. I guess she's happy there. Besides, I was getting fed up with her. I have no intention of asking about her, if that's what's worrying you." (9.41)
Pedro's jealousy that Dolores feels love for anyone besides him (including her own sister!) causes him to send her away. He's kind of a baby like that.
Quote #3
"You are sure he was the one, aren't you?"
"I'm not positive, Uncle. No. I never saw his face. He surprised me at night, and it was dark."
"Then how did you know it was Miguel Páramo?"
"Because he said so: 'It's Miguel Páramo, Ana. Don't be afraid.' That was what he said."
"But you knew he was responsible for your father's death, didn't you?"
"Yes, Uncle."
"So what did you do to make him leave?"
"I didn't do anything." (14.8-15)
When Miguel Páramo rapes Ana, her uncle questions her as to what her role in the attack was. This reveals the expectations he has for her as a young woman who must both demurely maintain her virginity but also fight against her attacker. Way to victim-blame, Father.
Quote #4
She always served her fellowman. She gave them everything she had. She even gave them sons. All of them. And took the infants to their fathers to be recognized. But none of them wanted to. Then she told them, "In that case, I'll be the father as well, even though fate chose me to be the mother." (16.5)
When Eduviges' baby daddies aren't willing to take responsibility for their children, her answer is that she will fulfill both parental roles, since both are considered necessary in her mind.
Quote #5
"Well, like I told you, don Fulgor," Toribio Aldrete had said. "There's no one can doubt your manhood, but I'm f***in' well fed up with that s***-ass son of your patrón."
He remembered. It was the last thing he heard with all his wits about him. Later, he had acted like a coward, yelling, "Power behind me, you say? 'S'at right?" (18.10-11)
Fulgor, Pedro's right-hand man, uses force and violence to shore up his manhood, which he is quite insecure about. However, hiding behind Pedro, he always ends up doubting it even more when he acts cowardly in order to maintain power.
Quote #6
And here he was being treated like an equal. How about that! Fulgor followed with long strides, slapping his whip against his leg. He'll soon learn that I'm the man who knows what's what. (19.4)
For Fulgor to be considered an equal by Pedro makes him feel like a man—his gender identity is tied up in his position in society.
Quote #7
He could see it, as easy if it were already done. And what does a woman matter, after all. (20.4)
Dolores is a pawn in Pedro's economic game, and Fulgor admires the way he plays her. No one sentence sums up the misogyny rampant in Comala like "And what does a woman matter, after all."
Quote #8
"And what if my father has a fit and dies? As old as he is… I'd never forgive myself if something happened to him because of me. I'm the only one he has to see that he takes care of himself. There's no one else. Why are you in such a hurry to steal me from him? Wait just a little longer. It won't be long till he dies." (27.2)
Chona, one of the townspeople, is torn between her duty as a good daughter who takes care of her father, and a good wife who will obediently go with her soon-to-be husband. She's unable to fulfill both family roles satisfactorily.
Quote #9
"Just think of it as something I did, Fulgor. The boy couldn't have done a thing like that; he doesn't have the guts yet to kill a man. That takes balls this big." And he held his hands apart as if he was measuring a squash. (37.33)
Pedro considers crime to be something that men commit, and connects the size of his testicles to his capacity for violence. This shows the kind of actions that society expects of men in the novel.
Quote #10
"Never mind about tomorrow. I'll look into the San Juans. Both of them came?"
"Yes. Him and his wife. But how did you know?"
"Wasn't it his daughter?"
"Well, the way he treats her, she seems more like his wife." (43.11-14)
Susana, by taking care of and living with her father after her mother's death, takes on the role of his wife. Pedro is incapable of sharing her with her father partly because the expectations for women as caretakers are so demanding that it is impossible for them to care for both a father and a husband at the same time.