In an interview that took place in 1980, Juan Rulfo commented: Yes, there is a structure in Pedro Paramo but it is one constructed of silences, hanging threads, and truncated scenes, where everything happens simultaneously in a non-time. I tried to allow the reader the chance to collaborate with the author in filling in these spaces by himself (Benitez, 14).
One of the greatest challenges Rulfo poses to the reader is to construct Susana San Juan from the fragmentary sequences provided in the text, as much of her life is indeed made up of silences. How was the psyche of the pubescent Susana affected when her father lowered her into a cavern full of skeletons? Does this event, which takes on the significance of a primal scene, explain her later madness? The causes of Susana San Juan's breakdown are not methodically investigated in the text. With so few details provided, the reader who looks for the coherent development of her character is invited to write his or her own story to fill in the spaces Rulfo deliberately left blank. .
This lack of narrative may frustrate us as we reflect on the character of Susana San Juan, yet at the same time we are liberated by the text's refusal to enter into case-history minutiae. While the novel is rooted in place (rural Mexico) and history (there are references to the Cristeros uprisings of the 1920s), we do not read this ruptured, rapidly-shifting, non-lineal text primarily for its realism. Plot development and denouement are secondary concerns, and characters can be read as archetypes (for example, Juan Preciado as Telemachus on a search for his father). In the case of Susana San Juan, two archetypes prevail: the heavenly goddess, and the overtly sexual madwoman. These images of Susana in Pedro Paramo are focused on her body. It is portrayed as beatific in Pedro Paramo's vision, yet is seen thrashing in a violent erotic frenzy on her deathbed. At other moments in the novel, Susana's body provides her with great pleasure.