Buried Child Act 1, scene 1

This is the very beginning of the play. It starts with a rainfall - this is one of many symbols in the play. It means cleansing >> it is supposed to wash away the filth in the family.

Author - Sam Shepard's biography

Sam Shepard’s biography

Samuel Shepard Rogers was born on the 5th of November 1943 in Fort Sheridan, IL, USA. 
Since his dad was an army officer, and a Second World War bomber, he spent his childhood moving from base to base, until they have settled down on a farm in Duarte, CA.  After finishing the high school, Sam attended a college, he wanted to become an agricultural engineer, but he abandoned the school very soon. He abandoned the school because he fell in love with the book ‘Waiting for Godot’ and decided to become an actor.  So he joined a travelling theatre instead. Later on he also worked as a rock band drummer, stable hand, herdsman, orange picker, sheep shearer, bus boy and writer before becoming a playwright in New York in 1964.

Together with his band Holy Modal Rounders he recorded four discs of country-rock music in the end of the sixties. One of their songs was a part of the Easy Rider movie. The author is very accomplished person; in 1978 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Buried Child.

His acting career was pretty interesting as well. He took his first big role, Chuck the farmer,  in Days of Heaven. Although this was his first big role he was nominated for an Oscar Prize for it in 1983. In 2007 he acted in a movie called The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford together with Brad Pitt. While filming Frances, Sam fell in love with the protagonist Jessica Lange, who became his wife and they have two kids now.

Major themes

Major themes

Dear followers of my blog, today I would like to share the themes of the book with you. I think, Shepard is encouraging the reader to create their own meaning but I do think there are certain things that he purposefully included such as American dream and the disappointment about it, economic slowdown in 1970’s and the breakdown/failure of the traditional family structure.

The failure of the American dream

At first I’d like to say that this theme, or subtext, is more than typical for the author, you can find it in almost all his plays. In the beginning of the book the author introduces the reader to a typical American family. Nevertheless, later on we find out that the family is not perfect at all. As the parents live on a farm, they are hoping to have children who would take over their farm and take care of them when they get old. However when the kids, Tilden and Bradley, are born, they find out both of them are mentally disable, which causes that the whole American dream fails. Secondly, the character Halie buries a child, but keeps dreaming he would grow up to be a star. This reflects the helplessness of people.   The reader is certain of how, according to the author, an ideal family should look like thanks to Shelly, a character telling the audience.

1970’s economic slowdown

The situation of the family and the farm points out how poor the farms are. The author also mentions that the house is breaking down and that there are no money to plant the soil, therefore they don’t grow anything.

The failure of a traditional family structure

The incest is the most important part of this theme and it is also the critical moment of the story – the book is basically named after this. The mother and her son have a child, but it is murdered under weird circumstances. This, in my opinion, is the worst thing that can happen in a family. Another sign of a family breakdown is Dodge’s position in the family – instead of being the leading one he’s the bullied one.

Criticism

Chicago critics

vs. my thoughts

Each and every one of you might have a different opinion on this play. Some people can say that it was brutal, pointless and boring. Others view it as a perfect depiction of a family disruption and a life in general. Let me tell you what the critics from Chicago think of this play and later on I will share my thoughts as well.

According to Chicago critics, it was brutal, revolting and repugnant. I found on the internet an article about Buried Child. Some writer of a local newspapers trashed this play a big time. However, he was very opened with  no barriers and I have found some comments saying that he was right and blunt. Well, I cannot agree with them but we will get to that later. Apart from this "Chicago guy critics" I found another, more pleasant, information about the play. It was written by another writer from Chicago, but unlike this one, he had a point and he highly recommended the play. He was among the people who think of this play as a perfect depiction of a family disruption and a life in general. He explained how the author bluntly displayed what happens when you do a really bad think and you keep it a secret. Moreover, he even praised the author for making it so real, mysterious and for being able to cover the farm depression at the same time as well.

I must agree with the other guy who thought that it perfectly depicted family disturbance. You know it just happens and it is not uncommon nowadays either. So, I think that it is a good example of how not to live your life and how to learn from your mistakes.

Protagonist vs. Antagonist

What is the primary motivation of the protagonist & antagonist?

I wouldn't really say that the play has a protagonist and antagonist per say.

First of all, let me explain what protagonist and antagonist mean:
Protagonist >> the main character >> often referred to as "The hero"
Antagonist >> opposition against which the protagonist must contend >> often referred to as "The villain" 


Therefore, I am really not sure that this play does have a typical protagonist nor antagonist. Well, Dodge seems to be the protagonist of this play. He kept the farm alive, he took care of his family, he kept the big secret, etc. Although he is old and drinks alcohol and smokes a lot, he is kindhearted and actually a good person. As a matter of fact, yes, he is the protagonist of this play. He appears to be in the middle of everything as well as one of the most important characters. However, I cannot really say who is the antagonist. Maybe Tilden, the oldest son who had incestuous affair with his mother. After all, he was the one to kind of ruin their family. I'm not saying it was only his fault. Also the mother should be smarter. But, it seems to me that Tilden is the antagonist.

The critical thing that they have in common, is that it is a father and a son. Which is kind of crazy, because as I said protagonist is like a hero whereas antagonist is like a villain. Therefore I think it is a little bit crazy that father and son have such relationship. However, it is not uncommon. Another really messed up thing is that Tilden [son] had an affair with his mother [Halie]. This gives a reason to Tilden be the antagonist and Dodge [father] the protagonist. Another reason is that Tilde was supposed to be a football star. However, he ended up being almost arrested and banned from one state. To sum it up, he was expected to do big things in his life.

Major events

What major events happened so far?

Halie got pregnant

- First major event that happened is that Halie got pregnant. It happened so because she had an incestuous affair with her oldest son Tilden.

Farm is no longer prosperous
- Another thing that happened is that the farm was no longer prosperous as it used to be. This event had an impact on the family as well. Not as big as the fact that Halie [the mother] was pregnant with her own son.

Murder
- As I mentioned above, Halie was pregnant. When she gave a birth to the child, Tilden the father, wanted to take the baby out for a walk. He actually liked the baby. However, Dodge [Halie's husband] hated the idea that such abomination should be even alive, so he drowned it and then buried it in the backyard.


What do I expect to happen next? >>> I think that keeping such a big secret [the family told no one about the buried child] will destroy the family. They are already halfway there because of the fact that the farm is not as prosperous as it used to be.

Now & Then

Is the time period in which the play was set related to today's world??

My answer would have to be YES. Let me give you some reason why do I think so. Well, here we go.

1) Economic slowdown
- One of the themes of the play was economic slowdown, particularly farm depression. I think this fact relates to today's world, because as you know we are experiencing a crisis therefore I assume it is kind of relevant nowadays. People should know better. They should learn from the mistakes that this particular family in the play did in the past and they ought to avoid them.

2) Dysfunctional family/ies
- Another theme on which this book was based are the dysfunctions of family. At the very beginning, the author made us think that the family was perfect. Later on, we found out it isn't quite true. In my opinion, nowadays lots of families look like they are perfect on the first sight, but if you were to find out whether it's true or not, I think you would be really surprised how many families are disturbed. This is another point why I think that the play is relevant to today's world.

3) Secret/s
- The family in this play had a huge secret. They buried their child who was so called "abomination of nature", because it was a child of a mother and her son. After keeping it a secret, the family was not the same ever since. Nor were they happy. My point is, that nowadays many people have secrets which are eating them up but they are just too much of a cowards to come clean. I'm going to say it once again, they ought to learn from the mistakes of this particular family in this play.