Unlike Eduviges, Damiana is a familiar figure to Juan, although her role as Juan’s childhood caretaker makes it clear that, like Eduviges, she is a foil for the mother he has lost. If Juan makes it to the Media Luna ranch, where Pedro Páramo used to live, it’s possible that he will be able to directly confront his father. When Damiana says that Eduviges is “wandering like a lost soul,” she means it literally: as the flashback Father Rentería has revealed, Eduviges is dead and her soul is stuck in Comala, unable to move on, perhaps because Father Rentería denied her the prayers she needed to get to heaven. It is easy to see Comala as representing purgatory—in which sinners await redemption and hope to eventually make it to heaven. Nevertheless, Comala’s people have largely given up this hope.