Losers In Urbanization:A Study Of Sam Shepard’s Family Trilogy

Sam Shepard (1943-), the winner of a Pulitzer Prize in drama for his Buried Child (1978) and of nearly a dozen Obie Awards for theatrical achievements in New York’s Off-Off-Broadway district, takes an important role in the history of American theatre. He has gradually formed his own style by a series of experiments. So far much research work has been done on Sam Shepard’s family plays from the perspectives of family relationships, American dreams and postmodernism and so on.This thesis, taking the history of American urbanization as its background, explores the impacts of American urbanization in the 20th century on people’s life. Focusing on the imagines of losers, the thesis reveals the contradictory relationship between ideal and reality, between human beings and between cities and suburbs.American urbanization enters into its mature period in the 1920s. After that, it steps into a new stage of suburbanization. From the 19th century to the early 20th century, big cities are nicknamed as paradises which lure many people to move in.While in the middle of the 20th century, suburbs become the heaven for the rich.Taking the process of American urbanization as a historical background, the thesis firstly studies the change of some major characters’ mind in the process of urbanization, and meanwhile attempts to reveal their illusion for both the cities and suburbs. As for the cities: Ella, in Curse of the Starving Class, regards Europe as a paradise. She is eager to sell the house and imagines to settle there. Halie, in Buried Child, always indulges herself into her memory of the romantic meeting with a man in Florida. She admires the amazing life in cities. Lee, in True West, who admires his brother’s wonderful life in the city, works hard to change his fate. In the middle of the 20th century, city centers become crowded. Thus, suburbs are taken as paradise by the rich. Under this situation, some characters in the family trilogy are thirsty to get out of their original living environment and realize their dreams. Ellis in Curse of the Starving Class fancies buying Weston’s house and changes it into a restaurant, selling steak to passers-by. In Buried Child, Shelly, with an amazing vision, comes to the farm nearby the suburb. And the younger brother, Austin, in True West, coming from city, conceives of a beautiful picture of the west in his mother’s suburb house.However, all these dreams are shattered before the reality. They become the victims of urbanization.The thesis then discusses the alienated relationship. Alienation exists in family.Ella and Weston in Curse of the Starving Class, Halie and Dodge in Buried Child, and the mother and the absent father in True West are seemingly living together harmoniously. But actually they have difficulties in communication and understanding as husband and wife. Weston and Wesley, Ella and Emma in Curse of the Starving Class, Dodge and his two sons Tilden and Bradley in Buried Child, as well as the absent father and Austin in True West have got the same problem. The parent-child relationship is considerable strained. In addition, the family trilogy reflects the alienation in cities and suburbs. Thus, the thesis reveals alienation exists in both families and so-called paradises.In the following part,the thesis analyzes characters’ behaviors and the change of their thinking, revealing the main reasons for them to be victims. The further development of urbanization damages nuclear family. Due to the fathers’ absence, the mothers go out of house and take financial responsibilities to support the family; the education of children is less emphasized, which contributes to the crimes of them;family is no longer a place which provides protection for family members. Besides the damage of nuclear family, urbanization leads to a great gap of wealth. The rich live a luxurious life while the poor hardly can support their families. In addition, the further development of urbanization causes the degeneration of morality. Disloyalty to marriage, rape, violence, incest and stealing exist in the family trilogy. Characters inevitably become victims of these problems.In the final part, the thesis explores from the perspective of writing technique, to invest how the playwright expresses the theme through narration. Specifically, the author analyzes how readers’ expectation is destroyed in Curse of the Starving Class,how unreliable narration is used in Buried Child and how True West affects readers’thinking by incomplete narrative progression. Accordingly, the thesis reveals how the playwright successfully constructs the images of losers.In summary, the thesis, centering on the theme of losers in urbanization, explores Sam Shepard’s family trilogy from the following aspects: imagined paradises,alienated "Utopia",victims in urbanization and writing techniques. With aforementioned analyses,the thesis contends that American urbanization throughout the 20th century has a great impact on people and their lives. Characters in Shepard’s family trilogy try to escape from reality and walk into their imagined paradises.However, the reality makes them disillusioned, resulting in the breakdown of families,alienation between people and the degeneration of morality. But with regard to the successful portrayal of those losers, the playwright’s unique way of narrative plays a vital role.