Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
Plot Type : Tragedy
Anticipation Stage
Our hero, Juan Preciado, never met his dad. He only knows that his name was Pedro Páramo, that he lived in Comala, and that he was a deadbeat sleazeball. His mother, on her deathbed, makes him promise that he will go to Comala, find Pedro Páramo, and make him pay through the nose for abandoning them. Juan Preciado takes off for Comala, a town he's never seen before, but has heard a lot about from his mom.
Dream Stage
Juan Preciado goes to Comala with a mule driver, Abundio, who seems to have his reservations about whether this whole plan is really such a good idea. Spoiler: It's most definitely not a good idea. Nevertheless, Juan watches Abundio ride out of town and goes looking for Eduviges, the woman who Abundio has told him has a room for rent. Everyone Juan talks to says they know him, that they knew his mother, and that they were expecting him. This is strange, since no one should have known that he was on his way…
Frustration Stage
Juan Preciado can't sleep because he hears screaming and voices in the night. People come and talk to him, then disappear. One woman leads him out into the street, talking to him about his mother, but she disappears too.
Juan is totally creeped out at this point, and ends up in a house with a strange couple who act like husband and wife (in all the ways) but are also, ickily enough, brother and sister. The brother seems suspicious of Juan, but the sister takes care of him.
Nightmare Stage
Juan really starts to lose it—the voices won't leave him alone no matter where he goes in the town. He starts to think that maybe everyone around him is (gulp) dead, and is terrified.
Destruction or Death Wish Stage
Juan Preciado goes to the town plaza to try to get help, but he only hears voices and doesn't see anyone. He finally dies of fright, and is buried with the other people of Comala. To make matters worse, he has to share a coffin with a crazy woman. Luckily being buried in the ground doesn't seem to be at all soundproof, and Juan can listen to all the other dead people talking about the past. In this way he learns the story of Pedro Páramo, his father.
Juan Preciado's story fits into the tragedy plot neatly, but so do the stories of every other character. No one gets a happy ending in the town of Comala. Every story that the ghostly whisperings are telling, including the story of Pedro Páramo himself, is tragic magic.