Buried Child
A Pulitzer-winning play about a fractured American family.
Sam Shepard’s play *Buried Child* premiered in 1978 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the following year, propelling Shepard to national prominence as a playwright. The work examines the unraveling of the American nuclear family, reflecting themes of disappointment with American mythology and the American Dream, the rural economic struggles of the 1970s, and the erosion of traditional family structures and values. In 1979, Shepard also received the Obie Award for Playwriting. A Broadway production in 1996 earned five Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Play.
**Plot Summary**
**Act I** The play opens on a failed Illinois farm. Dodge, a man in his 70s, sits on a basement sofa, sneaking drinks from a hidden bottle—he is an alcoholic. His wife, Halie, in her 60s, yells from upstairs. They reminisce about their son Ansel, supposedly murdered by his wife on their wedding night. Another son, Bradley, an amputee, enters and forcefully cuts Dodge’s hair while he sleeps; Dodge wears a baseball cap to avoid this. Halie leaves for church in black, instructing their eldest son, Tilden, to watch over Dodge. Tilden arrives carrying corn he claims grew in the field. Dodge insists nothing has grown there since the Dust Bowl and accuses Tilden of stealing. They discuss Tilden’s past: he “got into trouble” in New Mexico and failed to start a new life, forcing him to flee. Tilden, evidently mentally unwell, shucks corn into a bucket. When Dodge falls asleep, Tilden covers him with husks before going outside in the rain. Bradley then returns and shaves Dodge’s head.
**Act II** Vince and his girlfriend Shelly arrive. Vince planned to visit his father Tilden in New Mexico but stopped at his grandparents’ house. Dodge does not recognize Vince, and Shelly thinks they have the wrong house. Tilden enters with carrots and also fails to recognize Vince. Vince tries to prove his identity; Shelly helps Tilden with the carrots. Dodge sends Vince to buy alcohol. While Vince is gone, Shelly questions Tilden, who says Vince looks familiar but he doesn’t know him. Tilden mentions a son he once had, whom Dodge killed and buried in the backyard—the text implies, but never states, that this child may have been conceived with Halie. Bradley returns, harasses Shelly by putting his hand in her mouth, takes her fur coat, places it over Dodge, and blacks out.
**Act III** Dodge
- First presented
- 1978
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama
- 1979
- Obie Award for Playwriting
- 1979
- Tony Award nominations (Broadway product
- 1996
- Genre
- Play
- Playwright
- Sam Shepard
Lore & Background
The play is set in an old farmhouse on a failed plot of land in Illinois. The characters include Dodge, an aging alcoholic patriarch in his 70s, and Halie, his wife in her mid-60s. Their sons are Tilden, in his late 40s and mentally unwell, and Bradley, an amputee in his early 40s. The plot follows the arrival of Vince, Tilden's son, and his girlfriend Shelly, who encounter a family that does not recognize Vince and harbors a dark secret: a buried child, implied to have been killed by Dodge and buried in the backyard. Some critics have interpreted the child as possibly conceived through an incestuous relationship between Halie and Tilden, though this is not stated explicitly in the play; an original 1978 New York Times review described the buried child simply as 'an unwanted child' with no mention of incest.
Reader's Guide
Buried Child is significant for its unflinching portrayal of the disintegration of the American nuclear family, reflecting broader societal disillusionment in the 1970s. The play uses the failed farm and its dysfunctional inhabitants to critique the American Dream, showing how expectations of prosperity, generational continuity, and moral guardianship have collapsed. The characters embody various forms of failure: Dodge as an ineffectual patriarch, Tilden and Bradley as handicapped sons unable to fulfill traditional roles, and Halie as a matriarch who escapes into fantasy. The buried child itself serves as a symbol of buried secrets and shame. The play's 1979 Pulitzer Prize and Obie Award, along with its 1996 Broadway production's five Tony Award nominations, underscore its lasting impact on American theater. Its themes of economic decline, family breakdown, and the loss of mythic ideals remain resonant.
Did You Know?
- Buried Child won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
- In 1979, Sam Shepard also won the Obie Award for Playwriting.
- The Broadway production was nominated for five Tony Awards in 1996, including Best Play.
- Some critics interpret the buried child as possibly resulting from an incestuous relationship between Halie and Tilden, though the play does not state this explicitly.
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