Significant Silence in Elena Garro's Los perros

Elena Garro's one-act play Los perros (1958) confronts the difficult issue of sexual violence in rural Mexico, a problem that persists today. The characters struggle with the social reality of rape, alluding to the threat of sexual violence while avoiding addressing it directly. While words are granted an almost magical power in Los perros, the various silences present are of great symbolic significance, at times becoming more significant than the words spoken. Silence speaks; and the discursive importance of silence in this powerful piece of theater is central to its message, signifying the inability to capture the physical horror of rape through language while simultaneously underscoring the importance of opening a public dialogue about sexual violence in Mexico. This paper explores the depths of the silences present in Los perros—their significance, their suggestiveness, their origins and their discursive power.