What we experience in this passage, especially in the last sentence, is an insight into the search for the true meaning of life and the unveiling of the "fog" that does not allow individuals to live life. . This “discovery” or unveiling of the unsaid has triggered a turning point in his life and Edmond wants Glenna to undergo the same process, but she is afraid and tells him: “Don’t hurt me. No, no, I can’t handle that” (Edmond: 77 years old). In short, Glenna is not prepared or does not want to let herself be enlightened by either the unsaid or the truth, because she knows that she could not handle that. The fact is that sometimes living in the dark as if we are not alive is less painful and less comfortable than living in the light. I think all plays come very close to saying something unacceptable about society, something very difficult for people to hear and internalize because it shakes the foundations of our existence. This is why we can postulate that “it is in the interstices between the broken pieces of his speech that the fate of Mamet’s humanity must be perceived”. (Piette: 174). Second, as I have already hinted, I will explore Mamet's use of language. As with Beckett and Pinter, there is a distrust of language as a vehicle of communication. We will build on this idea and explore how the atmosphere of anxiety that permeates his plays throughout can then be understood as the result of the ambivalent economic and social structures that lead to the disruption of language in his plays; in other words, to the total loss of the validity of language as an instrument of communication. This is summed up almost explicitly in Mamet's play, Oleanna: "JOHN (along with 'notes')...... middle of paper ......excess. Pauses and silences encourage others to fill in the gaps, but at the same time they also suggest the possibility of saying something very different. Thus, silence can function on several levels: as a means of omitting information that might make characters vulnerable, as a means of challenging other characters in a struggle for power, as a defense mechanism, or as a means of hiding what really. be said. A significant example of silence and pauses occurs in American Buffalo, when Teach claims that his only way to teach Grace and Ruthie how they should behave is to kill them: "TEACH So let them talk about it, then." No, I'm sorry, Don, I can't ignore this. They treat me like an asshole, they're assholes. Break. The only way to teach these people is to kill them. Pause.DON Do you want some coffee? (American buffalo: 11-12)