able appetite for gambling. These two parallels between LatinAmerican culture as presented in these two texts and United States culture, obviously givethe U.S. reader the ability to make the situations and pastimes presented in the bookrelevant to themselves.In Pedro Paramo , the plot is based around an extremely small and isolated townnamed Comala, in the midst of the Mexican landscape. This setting is often presented inLatin American literature because it is only there where small towns are isolated from eachother and the rest of the world because of barriers in the terrain and communication, aswell as tradition. The city of Comala, and isolated and desolate ghost city is notquestioned or uncommon when viewed in Latin American literature, however there is verylittle like this to be found in the United States. The United States reader would know thatthroughout the U.S. landmass even small distant cities are connected to the tangle ofcommunication, commerce and tourism that is America. It is because the U.S. reader hasnever been in an environment as isolated and completely separated from a mainstreamsociety as seen in Comala in Pedro Paramo, it is hard to really relate to that type ofsetting. This is one example of the vast differences between the two cultures thatinterferes with the readers ability to connect with the relevance of some of the material inLatin American literature.One more example that demonstrates the effect that the differences in the culturesof Latin American and the United States have on the readers ability to relate to the text, isthe role of a Patron in a community. Throughout both of the texts the Patron plays a veryimportant part. He is feared, he is respected and he is the corrupt owner of towns andtheir inhabitants. In the Latin American culture it is not considered to be a monopolistictype of situation, rather more of a community leader controlling the town. In a land offree enterprise and a place wh...
