Motifs in Chapter 1 of Pedro Paramo

In chapter 1 of Pedro Paramo, the author uses a motif of death to begin to explain the reasoning for the characters travels. The narrator is on a journey to find his father, a promise he made to his mother on her death bed to appease her for the time being but eventually it became a necessity to fulfill her dying wish. "From promising so often I kept repeating the promise . . ." (Rulfo, 3) Despite the insincerity behind the original promise, the author uses promises as another motif. He even states that he, "never meant to keep my promise." But it was because the promise had already been made, especially to a person that wasn't alive to make sure that their wishes aren't forgotten. The promise weighs on him, repeating it even after he knows his mother will no longer understand and he is forced to pull "my hands free of her death grip." (Rulfo 3). While Juan never intended to visit to visit his father, a man who is portrayed as a bad man based on the way Juan's mother wants him to make his father "pay, son, for all those years he put us out of his mind." (Rulfo, 3). The fact that she died and all she could think of was to have her son get payback against his father, foreshadow's that the man is truly evil and the book will show us a portrayal of the man.