An Archetypal Analysis Of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child

Sam Shepard(1943-)is one of the most important and prolific contemporary American playwrights,whose masterpiece Buried Child portrays the fragmentation and dysfunction of a modern American family.Studies on Buried Child mainly focus on its autobiographical elements,realistic techniques and postmodern features,while the archetypes embedded in the play have been largely ignored.This thesis,based on Archetypal criticism theories,strives to take a detailed examination of the mythological and biblical archetypes wrapped in the text from the aspects of its characters,plots and images,aiming to explore Shepard’s understanding about the original sin subject,redemption subject and rebirth subject in modern culture background.In Buried Child,the archetypes that have roots in universal human experiences thousands of years ago have been re-staged by Shepard,the eternal theme of “humanity” having been presented to readers and audiences in a new way.Just like the family in the play that gives in to the weakness of human nature and chooses to bury its sins and thus destroys its capacity to be a loving,communicative family unit,human beings also have a tendency to bury their sins and wind up as good guys.However,as Vince’s replacement of Dodge and the final exposure of the buried child make clear,Shepard has also put forward a way for redemption: the difficult,painful,and uncertain path of full disclosure is the only way to spiritual rebirth.By introducing the archetypal elements,Shepard associates the modern American family story with ancient myths,whose combination irradiates unique artistic charms.And in this way,Shepard arouses the readers’ and audiences’ collective historical memories,providing them with special aesthetic experience in the perfect combination of modernity and classicality.