This is a statement that accurately describes the novel written by Juan Rulfo, Pedro Paramo. When a reader completes Juan Rulfo's novel, they find out that it is not just a simple story about a young man that carries out the last dying wish of his mother by finding his father who turned him and his mother away, but an example of complex characters representing the psychological principles within people and society. Many of the major characters in Juan Rulfo's novel fall naturally into Freud's three psychic energy systems, the id, ego, and superego, which together function as a whole. This paper attempts to establish the premise that together the character in Pedro Paramo each represent one of the above mentioned psychic energy systems. Together all of these different characters construct a multifaceted piece of literature.
In Freudian terms, the id represents the original system of personality; a person at birth is all id. The id is the primary source of psychic energy and the base of instincts. It lacks organization and is blind, insistent, and demanding. Ruled by the principle of pleasure, the id is illogical, amoral and driven to fulfill the instinctual needs of the whole. The id is the spoiled brat of personality. It does not think but only wishes or acts. The id is largely unconscious, or out of awareness. The above paragraph precisely describes the character of Pedro Paramo. In the entirety of the text he is described as one that cares for nobody but himself. In the beginning of the text, Eduviges recalls the day that Juan Preciado and his mother left Media Luna. She tells Juan Preciado about when she asks Pedro Paramo about the fate of his wife and son, he replies, "Let God look after them" (19). The importance that Pedro put on his own son is shown within his statement. The fact that he only married the mother of Juan Preciado for financial gain is not as ruthless as the lack of emotion or attachment to his own son, Paternity of a son a factor that, historically, has been of importance to men to further their name or lineage, was of no value to Pedro.