{"id":21364,"date":"2025-04-04T12:01:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T16:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/?p=21364"},"modified":"2025-04-04T12:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T16:01:55","slug":"juan-rulfo-paso-del-norte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/short-stories\/juan-rulfo-paso-del-norte\/21364\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Rulfo: Paso del Norte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis<\/strong>: “Paso del Norte<\/em>” is a story by Juan Rulfo published in 1953 in the El llano en llamas<\/em> collection. It tells of a man’s determination to abandon his impoverished life in Mexico to seek better opportunities in El Norte<\/em>. Despite the risks and family opposition, his desperation to escape misery drives him to set out on a dangerous journey, symbolizing the universal struggle for survival and the search for a dignified life.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Juan<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Paso del Norte<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Juan Rulfo
(Full story)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going away, father; so I came to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd where\u2019re you going, if one may know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m goin\u2019 to El Norte.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy there? Don\u2019t you have your business here? Aren\u2019t you into selling pigs?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was. But not anymore. Don\u2019t bring in nuthin\u2019. Last week we didn\u2019t find enough to eat and the one before we only ate wild greens. We\u2019re hungry, father; you don\u2019t even smell \u2018em because you live good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that supposed to mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat we\u2019re hungry. You don\u2019t feel it. You sell your firecrackers and your skyrockets and your gunpowder and with all that you live okay. As long as there\u2019s events, the money pours in; but not for us, father. Nobody raises pigs these days. And if they raise \u2018em, they eat \u2018em. There\u2019s no money to buy \u2018em anyway. The business is over, father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd what the hell\u2019ll you do in El Norte?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, make money. You saw, Carmelo came back rich, even brought a gramophone and charges five cents a song. One price fits all, from a danz\u00f3n<\/em> to that Anderson singer who sings sad songs; the same fer everybody, and he makes good money and people even line up to listen. So you see; you just need to go and come back. So I\u2019m goin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd what\u2019ll you do with your wife and kids?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s why I\u2019m coming to tell you, so you can take care of \u2018em.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd who do you think I am, yer nanny? If ya go, let God take care of \u2018em. I ain\u2019t gonna raise no kids again, having raised you and your sister, may she rest in peace, that was more\u2019n enough for me. From now on I don\u2019t wanna have no more responsibilities. And like the saying goes: \u2018If the bell doesn\u2019t ring it\u2019s because there\u2019s no clapper.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t figure out what to say, father, doesn\u2019t sound familiar to me. What did I get outta you raisin\u2019 me? Nuthin\u2019 but hard work. You brought me into the world just so I could find my way around it in whatever way I could. You didn\u2019t even teach me the fireworks trade, maybe so I wouldn\u2019t be competition for you. You put me in underwear and a shirt and threw me into the street to learn how to live on my own and pretty much threw me outta the house with nuthin\u2019 to my name. Now look where we ended up: we\u2019re starving to death. Your daughter-in-law and grandkids and me, your son, all your descendants so to speak, we\u2019re about to kick the bucket and fall down dead. And what makes me mad is that it\u2019s \u2018cause we\u2019re hungry. Think that\u2019s legal? Think that\u2019s fair?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat the hell do I care? Why\u2019dja get married? You left home and didn\u2019t even ask my permission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou say that because Tr\u00e1nsito never seemed like a good woman to you. You looked down on her whenever I brought her \u2018round, and, remember, you didn\u2019t even turn \u2018round to look at her the first time she came: \u2018Look, pap\u00e1<\/em>, this is the girl I\u2019m fixin\u2019 to get hitched up with.\u2019 You just started making up proverbs, like you knew her inside and out, as if she was a street woman. And you said a bunch of things even I didn\u2019t understand. That\u2019s why I didn\u2019t even bring her \u2018round anymore. So you shouldn\u2019t hold any grudge against me. Now I only want you to take care of her, because I\u2019m serious about going. There\u2019s nothing left to do here, or any other way to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose are rumors. You work to eat and eat to live. You should learn from my wisdom. I\u2019m old but I have no complaints. Don\u2019t even talk to me about when I was a kid; I even had enough to pay for a woman every once in a while. When you work you get enough for everything and even a bit more for what the body needs. The problem is you\u2019re an idiot. And don\u2019t tell me you got that from me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I was born from you. And you should have shown me the best way, not just turned me out like a horse to pasture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou were already a grown-up when you left. Or were you thinking I would support you forever? Only lizards eat from the same larder till they die. Tell me you were lucky and knew a woman and had children; other people don\u2019t even have that in their lives, they\u2019ve come and gone like the water in a river, without eating or drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t even teach me to make up proverbs, even though you knew how. At least with that I would have had something to entertain people with like you do. And the day I asked you to, you said: \u2018Go sell eggs, it brings in more.\u2019 And at first I sold eggs and then chickens and then pigs and, I have to say, it wasn\u2019t bad, if I say so myself. But money runs out; children come and they soak it up like water and there\u2019s nothing left for the business and no one gives you credit. Like I said, last week we ate greens, and this week, well, not even that. That\u2019s why I\u2019m leaving. And I\u2019m sad to go, father, even if you won\u2019t believe it, because I love my children, not like you who just raised them and then ran them out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou should learn one thing, son: in each new nest, one must leave an egg. When old age gives you wings, you\u2019ll learn how to live, you\u2019ll know that children leave you, that they aren\u2019t grateful; they even eat up your memories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just some old proverb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe, but it\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t forgotten you, as you can see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou come looking for me when you need something. If you were all right, you would forget about me. Since your mother died, I\u2019ve felt alone; when your sister died, more alone; when you left, I realized I was alone forever. Now you come and want to stir up my feelings again; but what you don\u2019t know is that it\u2019s much more difficult to revive a dead man than it is to give life to a live one. Learn something. Being on the road teaches you a lot. Scrub yourself with your own scrub brush, that\u2019s what you should do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen you won\u2019t take care of them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust leave them there, no one dies of hunger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTell me if you\u2019ll take them on, I don\u2019t want to leave without being sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow many are there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell just three boys and two girls and your daughter-in-law, who\u2019s like a teenager.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScrewing around again, you mean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was her first husband. She was new. She\u2019s a good woman. Be kind to her, father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd when will you be back?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSoon, father. As soon as I put together some money I\u2019m coming back. I\u2019ll pay you double whatever you spend on them. Feed them, that\u2019s all I\u2019m asking you to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the ranches the people were coming down to the villages; the people from the villages left for the cities. In the cities the people got lost; they dissolved into the people. \u201cDo you know where they\u2019ll give me work?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, go to Ciud\u00e1 Ju\u00e1rez. I\u2019ll take you across for two hundred pesos. Look up so-and-so and tell him I sent you. But just don\u2019t tell anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll right, se\u00f1or, I\u2019ll bring it tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSe\u00f1or, here\u2019s the two hundred pesos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay. I\u2019m gonna give you a little note for our friend in Ciud\u00e1 Ju\u00e1rez. You don\u2019t lose it. He takes you across the border and you\u2019re lucky you even have a contract. Here\u2019s the address and phone number so you can find him right away. No, you\u2019re not going to Texas. You ever hear of Oregon? Well, tell him you want to go to Oregon. To pick apples, that\u2019s it, nothing to do with cotton. I can see you\u2019re a smart guy. When you get there, you see Fernandez. You don\u2019t know him? Well, ask for him. And if you don\u2019t wanna pick apples, you go lay railroad ties. It pays more and lasts longer. You\u2019ll come back with lots of dollars. You don\u2019t lose the card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cFather, they killed us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUs. While crossing the river. They peppered us with bullets until they killed us all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver there, in El Paso del Norte, while they shined the lights on us, while we were crossing the river.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I never found out, father. Remember Estanislado? He was the guy who came with me to go over there. He told me the ins and outs of how things worked and first we went to Mexico City and from there to El Paso. And we were crossing the river when they shot us with Mausers. I came back because he said: \u2018Get me out of here, paisano<\/em>, don\u2019t leave me.\u2019 And then he was already belly up, his body full of holes, his muscles gone. I dragged him out the best I could, tugging on him, keeping to the side of the lights shining in search of us. I said to him: \u2018Are you alive?\u2019 and he answered me: \u2018Get me out of here, paisano<\/em>.\u2019 And then he said to me: \u2018They got me.\u2019 I had one arm broken from a gunshot, and the bone had come out where the elbow pops up. So I held him with my good hand and said to him: \u2018Hold on tight to here.\u2019 And he died on me on the bank, in front of the lights from a place called Ojinaga, still on this side, among the bulrushes that went on combing the river as if nothing had happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lifted him onto the bank and talked to him: \u2018Are you still alive?\u2019 And he didn\u2019t answer me. I fought to revive Estanislado until dawn; I rubbed him and massaged his lungs so he would breathe, but he didn\u2019t even let out a peep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe immigration guy came up to me in the afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Hey, you, what are you doing here?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Well, I\u2019m taking care of this dead guy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Did you kill him?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018No, mi sargento<\/em>,\u2019 I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018I\u2019m no sergeant. Who did it, then?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince I saw him in uniform and with those little eaglets, I figured he was from the army, and since he was carrying a huge pistol, I didn\u2019t even doubt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe kept on asking me: \u2018So who did it, eh?\u2019 And he kept asking and asking until he grabbed me by the hair and I didn\u2019t lay a hand on him and I didn\u2019t defend myself, because of the damaged elbow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said to him: \u2018Don\u2019t hit me, I have only one arm.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then he stopped hitting me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018What happened? Tell me,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018Well they cleared us out last night. We were real happy, whistling and whistling, happy to already be on our way to the other side when right in the middle of the water the shooting started. And there was no way to get out of it. This guy and I were the only ones who managed to get out and only partly, because look, his body is long gone.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018And who were the ones who plugged you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018Well, we didn\u2019t even see them. They only turned their lights on us, and bang, bang, we hear the rifles go, until I feel my elbow twist around and I hear this guy here tell me: \u201cGet me out of the water, paisano<\/em>.\u201d But it wouldn\u2019t have done us any good to have seen them.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018Then it must have been the Apaches.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018What Apaches?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018Well, that\u2019s what they call some guys who live on the other side.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018But aren\u2019t they Texans on the other side?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Yes, but it\u2019s so full of Apaches you have no idea. I\u2019m going to call them in Ojinaga so they pick up your friend, and you get ready to go back home. Where\u2019re you from? You shouldn\u2019t have left the place. You have any money?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018I took a little from the dead guy. We\u2019ll see if it\u2019s enough.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2018I have a fund for repatriates. I\u2019ll give you enough for a ticket; but if I see you around here again, I\u2019ll make you regret it. I don\u2019t like seeing the same face twice. Come on, go!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd I came back and here I am, father, to tell you about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou deserve that for being a sucker and a fool. And wait till you go by your house; you\u2019ll see what you ended up getting by going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid something bad happen? Did one of the kids die?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTr\u00e1nsito left you for a mule driver. You said she was extra good, right? Your kids are asleep in the back. And you better start looking for some-where to spend the night, because I sold your house to reimburse my expenses. And you come out owing me thirty pesos, the cost of the title.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll right, father, I\u2019m not about to mess with you. Maybe tomorrow I\u2019ll find some job around here to pay you everything I owe. In what direction did you say the mule driver went with Tr\u00e1nsito?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver that way maybe. I wasn\u2019t really paying attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen I\u2019ll be right back, I\u2019m going to get her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo which way\u2019re you goin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver that way, father, where you said she went.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE END<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Paso del Norte” is a story by Juan Rulfo published in 1953 in the El llano en llamas collection. It tells of a man’s determination to abandon his impoverished life in Mexico to seek better opportunities in El Norte. Despite the risks and family opposition, his desperation to escape misery drives him to set out on a dangerous journey, symbolizing the universal struggle for survival and the search for a dignified life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[717,612],"class_list":["post-21364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-stories","tag-juan-rulfo-en","tag-mexico-en","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":559,"label":"Short stories"}],"post_tag":[{"value":717,"label":"Juan Rulfo"},{"value":612,"label":"Mexico"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/lecturia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Juan-Rulfo-Paso-del-Norte.jpg",1024,1024,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Juan Pablo Guevara","author_link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/author\/spartakku\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":559,"name":"Short stories","slug":"short-stories","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":559,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":419,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":559,"category_count":419,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Short stories","category_nicename":"short-stories","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":717,"name":"Juan Rulfo","slug":"juan-rulfo-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":717,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":11,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":612,"name":"Mexico","slug":"mexico-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":612,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":16,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}