Damascio is a local man whom Pedro Páramo hires to lead a militia in Comala and protect his interests by fighting for various armed groups during the Mexican Revolution and Cristero War. Damasio’s nickname, “El Tilcuate,” refers to a notoriously vicious kind of black snake. His militia continually switches sides during the conflict, which reflects the way that, despite their varying ideals, the different groups that participated in the Mexican Revolution were motivated by money, power, and self-interest more than ideology or values. El Tilcuate eventually dies in the conflict, but Pedro Páramo hardly cares.
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Damasio (“El Tilcuate”) Character Timeline in Pedro Páramo
The timeline below shows where the character Damasio (“El Tilcuate”) appears in Pedro Páramo. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Fragments 47-59, Pages 86-108
...visit him as soon as possible, and then to visit La Consagración ranch and tell El Tilcuate that Pedro wants to talk with him.
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Fragment 53. After the revolutionaries leave, Pedro offers to turn El Tilcuate into the movement’s leader. El Tilcuate just has to find the 300 men, and Pedro...
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Fragment 56. The lawyer Gerardo Trujillo informs Pedro Páramo that El Tilcuate died the night before in a shootout between the revolutionaries and a group called the...
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Fragment 59. Pedro asks Damasio (El Tilcuate) about the battle he lost, but Damasio insists that his men just got rowdy and...
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Fragments 60-68, Pages 109-124
Fragment 65. El Tilcuate offers updates on the war: his militia joins various competing factions, like the ones led...
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