Blog #3: Buried Child and ‘night, Mother

Both Buried Child and ‘night, Mother depict a few intense social and political concerns from the time period the play was written as well as in today’s world. In Sam Shepard’s Buried Child there are many themes portrayed throughout the entire drama. Alcoholism is a main motif in the play, which continually causes discord between family members. The use of alcohol correlates with the hostile cold environment. For example when Tilden accuses Dodge of hiding whiskey under the sofa, Dodge becomes very defensive and responds, “I haven’t got anything under the sofa! Now mind your own damn business! Jesus God, you come into the house outa the middle of nowhere, haven’t heard or seen you in twenty years and suddenly you’re making accusations.” Obviously Shepard is suggesting a negative tone about the social issue of alcoholism. Throughout the entire play Dodge insists on having a “goddamn bottle” of whisky to drink. Again Shepard suggests the negative aura of alcoholism through Dodge’s character. Also Dodge’s persistent use of alcohol suggests his attempt to be numb to his families past. As shown, the author uses dialogue to support the negative impact of alcohol. Shepard also uses stagecraft such as props and sound to reiterate the concern for alcoholism. In the stage direction it state there should be the sound of bottles smashing against wall. This should be the actual smashing of bottle and not tape sound. With the use of these different effects help us imagine the actual actions of an alcoholic.

Norman’s ‘night, mother is entirely focused around an important social concern—suicide. Suicide will always be an issue due to the high pressures of society. I personally think the play is simply trying to bring more awareness to this devastating action. The two characters in the play, Mama and Jessie, have completely opposite standpoints on the issue of suicide. Jessie wants to be in a dark, quiet place, which she believe she will find when she is dead. Where as mama can’t even grasp the concept of death and fears all thought of suicide. Norma uses’ stagecraft to emphasize the importance of this issue. Not only was this a problem in the 80’s when this play was written, but suicide will never disappear. This play takes place in a relatively new house built way out on a country road…the house is more comfortable than messy….[the set] should simply indicate that they are very specific real people who happen to live in a particular part of the country. Heavy accents, which would further distance the audience from Jessie and Mama, are also wrong. The stagecraft provided in this particular stage direction proves us with a useful description about how the scene is supposed to look. The play is taking place in a relatively new house, which indirectly suggests that suicide will always be occurring even in modern times. The characters are dressed as ordinary people so the audience can directly relate to the actresses.