Buried Child Questions and Answers
Buried Child
How does Sam Shepard use postmodernism in Buried Child?
Pastiche—Shepherd imitates and refers to a number of previous dramatic works. He take fragments of past myths and stories, plays, and elements of pop culture to create a suitably postmodern ironic...
Buried Child
In "Buried Child," what are the most prominent themes?
The most prominent themes in the play are disillusionment with the American Dream, the devastating impact of the past, and the link between hypocrisy and self-deception. Sam Shepard begins his play...
Buried Child
Who is Ansel?
In Sam Shepard's play Buried Child we witness the slow decomposition of the once-solid American Dream. We see this through the weaknesses of the characters, the progressive destitution of the...
Buried Child
How does Shepard rewrite the American Dream in Buried Child?
One of the directions that you might consider taking with Shepard's view of the American Dream is his suggestion that there is a need to confront reality within it. Shepard is not maligning the...
Buried Child
What time period does Sam Shepard's "Buried Child" take place? It does not say in the script at all. It was written...
Shepard's play, a striking metaphor about fertility, takes place in a very rural environment (probably the source of your classmates' impression), and is not imbedded in a social present that...
Buried Child
What are some key significant quotes from Buried Child by Sam Shepard?
Buried Child is the Pulitzer Prize winning success of counter-culture playwright Sam Shephard. Centered on a Midwestern family in the United States, it is a macabre examination of the dark secret...
Buried Child
What is the significance of the haircut at the end of Act 1?
Sam Shepherd's work Buried Child is a powerful three-act play about a broken American family. Dodge and Halie, the parents, are elderly. Dodge is in his 70s and Halie in her 60s. They have two...
Buried Child
Who is Shelly in 'buried child'
Shelly is Vince’s girlfriend. She and Vince are travelling from New Jersey and heading to Mexico to visit Vince’s father, Tilden. They make a stop-over at Dodge’s home and Shelly is disturbed by...
Buried Child
How is the theme of identity portrayed in Buried Child by Sam Shepard?
Sam Shepard's Buried Child won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 and set the tone for future meditations on the decay of rural America. The play explores themes of identity in several ways, from double...
Buried Child
Explain the writers' own point of view about the American dream in both Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and...
The American mythology of the American Dream clearly dominates the theme in the plays Death of a Salesman and Buried Child. In Death of a Salesman, the concept of the American Dream is explained...