Pedro Páramo Steaminess Rating

Exactly how steamy is this story?

PG-13

Things get hot and heavy in Comala, and while it's not exactly explicit, there are some farming metaphors that are pretty, uh, fertile.

Look at this one, for instance: "And that she slept cuddled close to him, inside his skin, lost in nothingness as she felt her flesh part like a furrow turned by a plow first burning, then warm and gentle, thrusting against her soft flesh, deeper, deeper until she cried out" (54.2).

Most of the sex is referred to in speech—Susana remembering her first husband or Donis' sister talking about the first time that he "took" her—or is implied. However, it's not hidden or euphemistic: It's clear that people in this novel are gettin' it on.

One important thing to note about sex in Pedro Páramo is the violence that often goes along with it. Miguel is known to be a rapist, and both he and Pedro get their girls either willingly or by force. This sexual violence reflects on almost all the relationships between characters, and especially on the relationships between men and women.