Response to Buried Child

Buried Child by Sam Shephard is a play that revels in its darkness, sense of confinement, and challenges societal expectations of what family is meant to be. The death of the American Dream is a clear and present theme in this shocking play and this is embodied in a different manner in each of the characters. It’s important to recognize the setting of the play, which is an Illinois farmhouse in complete disrepair, in the 1970’s, an era of American history noted for the socioeconomic decline of much of rural America as well as a backdrop of general discontent and “malaise”. Throughout the play, references to a lack of crops and a general notion of poverty are actively present. This context is emphasized in not only the physical house that the play is occurring in – where we see knickknacks strewn everywhere, a seriously old couch, and other worn-down furniture – but in the fundamental flaws in the characters as well as what they stand for. We can see the fall of what is traditional American morality centered around a father figure and tight-knit family. Dodge has abandoned his role as the patriarch of the family, rather he is simply an immobile, helpless figure which is something that is blatantly obvious from the beginning of the play to the end. Rather, the role is reversed and he is actively dependent on much of his family which can be seen in his sloth, bitterness, and desperation for more alcohol when Tilden ends up drinking his bottle while he’s asleep. Instead of being a major figure of the family, he appears more of an emotional drain, a rebuke of how people picture the father when they see a stereotype of the American dream.

This betrayal is also obvious in one of the major plot arcs of the play, which is Hallie’s incestuous encounter with Tilden, her son as well as the killing of their subsequent baby by Dodge. She betrays the notion of the caring mother, which appears to have had severe emotional repercussions on Tilden, who himself appears to be mentally delayed. Bradley, Tilden’s brother and Hallie and Dodge’s son, is also seen as a dark figure, someone who has lost use of a foot, and appears to be an aggressive and angry bully. Hallie beckons this end of the American Dream, by reminiscing about it, which I believe is symbolized in her constant recalling of her dead son, Ansel, who she often talks about creating a monument for. I believe she so badly wants to leave her current reality, she longs for any distraction or thought of a better time. The notion of morality in religiosity in the context of a generalization of America is also shattered which we can see in Father Dewis having an affair with a married woman, and then in the heat of a great domestic struggle, fails to provide any significant or any guidance whatsoever. Even Vince and his girlfriend Shelley, who appear to be individuals that appealed to the audience’s need for some level of optimism in the play, are sucked into the doom of the fall of Dodge’s household. Throughout the course of their time there, they separated and Vince himself appears to have resigned himself to a position at the broken home, giving up, perhaps a symbol that this fall of the American Dream as can be seen by the shattering of this household, is like a tree whose roots can still hold down the branches that reach out furthest.