In Juan Rulfo's Pedro Paramo, hope, or rather the lack of hope, is used to demonstrate that acceptance is an act of self-preservation and not defeat. Futile hope leads the novels' characters to despair that can only be resolved by abandoning the hope that sustains it. By examining how Pedro Paramo's characters respond to the maintenance or disillusionment of their hope, this essay will determine how this response illustrates the basic principles of absurdism present in the texts. Absurdism maintains that everything must be inevitably pointless. The same can be said of the hope that exists in Pedro Paramo. Although the people of Comala in Pedro Paramo seem to be permanently locked in purgatory, they "always try to be good so that [their] time in purgatory will be shortened" (Rulfo 60). A rigid Catholic culture has taught them that their life's purpose is to go to heaven. However, no one in Comala has a high chance of achieving salvation. “The city is located…at the very entrance to hell” and none of Comala’s residents are safe from sin. Even Father Rentira, the only man in Comala who can grant such salvation, “cannot continue to consecrate others when [he] [himself] [is] in sin” (Rulfo 71). Thus, paradise is inaccessible, even for the dead. So why don't the villagers give up? In life, they have not tried to change their sinful habits and in death, their restless spirits wander Comala "looking for living people to pray for [them]" (Rulfo 66). The hope of reaching heaven is so strong that it has firmly attached these people to the past, to their former lives that ended in what their religion considers ultimate failure. The novel also shows these people living through their memories in a circular progression of time. Rulfo shows...... middle of paper ......o Paramo and the Stranger. Dorotea manages to escape from her past life and, in doing so, spares herself the regret and disappointment of the villagers of Comala and Pedro Paramo. Although absurdism is not overtly mentioned in the book, the fact that Dorotea recognizes the insignificance of her life and what she thought was important, chooses to break her attachment to these worthless things and finds contentment in his situation as it is. the tone of his actions. Rulfo chooses to accentuate the hopelessness of his characters' situation to highlight a response different from all others. The rejection of hope gives Dorotea freedom in purgatory and frees her even though she is trapped in purgatory. Works cited by Rulfo, Juan and Margaret Sayers Peden. Pedro PaÌ ramo. New York: Grove Press, 1994. Print.