An Analysis Of Buried Child From The Perspective Of Trauma Theory

Sam Shepard(1943—)is a significant contemporary American playwright.He is the author of more than forty-five plays and the winner of Obie Awards thirteen times.In 1979,his masterpiece Buried Child was garlanded with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.Shepard shows great interest in exploring the American family and writes a series of plays about dysfunctional families.He writes about his personal experiences in his works.Buried Child which is considered a highly autobiographical play is one in his “family trilogy”.The play depicts the breakdown of an American nuclear family in which the family members are mired in the predicament caused by the horrible incest and the ensuing infanticide.Despite a lot of research on the play,few studies have been done from the perspective of trauma theory.Therefore,this thesis attempts to examine the characters’ trauma in the play and Shepard’s confrontation with his traumatic past.Through a close reading of the play,this thesis first makes a close examination of the characters’ traumatic symptoms.Then it probes into the causes of their traumatic symptoms from four aspects.Taking Shepard’s life experiences into consideration,the thesis analyzes his traumatic experiences and confrontation with his traumatic past.The process of writing the play is actually a process for Shepard to confront his trauma in his life.Through the description of the traumatized characters in Buried Child,Shepard comes to terms with his traumatic past and makes sense of it.The analysis of the play from the perspective of trauma theory will contribute to a deeper understanding of Shepard’s works.