Pedro Paramo -- The Stranger; The Seeds of Curiosity

Juan already begins distancing himself from his father beginning from the very first sentence. By using an appositive comma to include the clause "a man named Pedro Paramo," (Rulfo 3) the sentence went from being about Juan's father, a family member, to about a random man; a stranger in his current life.

Interestingly enough, Juan never meant to go to Comala. After all, Juan did state "She was near death; and I would have promised her anything" (Rulfo 3). This is an interesting thought, as people are quite comfortable promising things to people near-death, since they may never need to fulfill their promises. This conversation with his mother planted seeds in Juan's mind, though. What started as a slight curiosity grew into a trip to Comala, one which he never intended to take originally. Unfortunately for him, though, curiosity will end up killing the cat in the case.