Pedro Páramo

by

Juan Rulfo

Donis is one of the two naked people living in an abandoned house in Comala whom Juan Preciado meets in the middle of the novel, shortly before his death. Donis is matter-of-fact and unsentimental; while Donis’s sister (who is also his wife) cares for Juan, he spends most of his time out and about in Comala, looking for a lost calf. He disappears one night while looking for the calf: apparently, he uses Juan’s arrival as an excuse to abandon his sister and Comala forever. But he soon shows up to find Juan dead in the town’s central plaza. A kind of inverted Adam and Eve story, Donis’s incestuous relationship with his sister is evidence of the moral depravity that befalls Comala due to Pedro Páramo’s rule.

Donis Quotes in Pedro Páramo

The Pedro Páramo quotes below are all either spoken by Donis or refer to Donis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Death, Hope, and Despair Theme Icon
).
Fragments 24-36, Pages 41-61 Quotes

“Look at my face!”
It was an ordinary face.
“What is it you want me to see?”
“Don’t you see my sin? Don’t you see those purplish spots? Like impetigo? I’m covered with them. And that’s only on the outside; inside, I’m a sea of mud.”

Related Characters: Juan Preciado (speaker), Donis’s Sister/Wife (speaker), Donis
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Pedro Páramo LitChart as a printable PDF.
Pedro Páramo PDF

Donis Quotes in Pedro Páramo

The Pedro Páramo quotes below are all either spoken by Donis or refer to Donis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Death, Hope, and Despair Theme Icon
).
Fragments 24-36, Pages 41-61 Quotes

“Look at my face!”
It was an ordinary face.
“What is it you want me to see?”
“Don’t you see my sin? Don’t you see those purplish spots? Like impetigo? I’m covered with them. And that’s only on the outside; inside, I’m a sea of mud.”

Related Characters: Juan Preciado (speaker), Donis’s Sister/Wife (speaker), Donis
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis: