A Psychoanalytic Approach To Sam Shepard's Family Plays: Curse Of The Starving Class & Buried Child

As the only Ainerican playwright Who has succeeded in cfying forward fromthe l960s a concem with the haional and the power of the Anage, Sam Shepardis preoccuPied with the personal and interpersonal dilernmas of the cOnemPorarydisordered self and his replltation has mainly been established by his famousboly plays. In this thesis the author tries to view tWo of ShePard's maor familyplays, namly Curse of the Starving Cless and Burnd Child from the standPointof three contrasting psychoanalytic aPproaches. l. EmPloying a broadly OediPalperspective and following certain ideas of Klein and Lacan, this thesis analyzesthe interpersonal relationshiP within the fandly and tries to locate the roots of thesons' inability to resolve their OediPus comPlex in the breakdown of patemalauthority in society and boly 2. EmPloying Jung's theory of archetyPal criticism,the thesis examines the archetyPal syInbols in the two plays and concludes thatShepard uses the dysfimctional family as a metaPhor for the dysfimctionalAmerican society and therefore, like the fandly members in the play to make thesociety burgeoning, the Ainerican people have no choice bllt to accePt their originand roots. 3. EmPloying the psychoanalytic aPproach of psychobiographyintendttently, the thesis studies the connections that exist between the life of theplaywrigh and his fandly plays and concludes that (l) the father-son conflicts theplaywright portrays reflect his own relationshiP with his father (2) the focalcharacters' denial-accePtance pattem is obtained through his own exPerience.lThis thesis contains no talerial which has been accePted for the award of anyother degree of diploma in any institUtions of higher leaming and that, to the bestof my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material Previously publishedor written by another person, except When due reference is made in the text of thethesis.