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This is to certify that the
dissertation entitled
An American Odyssey: Kinship and
Cowboys in Sam Shepard's Drama

presented by

Rick E. Amidon

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph.D. degree in English

a

Major professor

Date 10—24—86

MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

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AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY: KINSHIP AND

COWBOYS IN SAM SHEPARD'S DRAMA

By

Rick E. Amidon

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of English

1986

 

Copyright by
RICK E. AMIDON

1986

 

 

Copyright by

RICK E. AMIDON

1986

 

 

 

 

 

In each of Set
constructive familj
purveyors of such f
son characters who
personal shortcomi

Artifacts of j

more often than n01

ABSTRACT

AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY: KINSHIP AND
COWBOYS IN SAM SHEPARD'S DRAMA

By

Rick E. Amidon

In each of Sam Shepard's major plays. the quest for a healthy and
constructive family unit is either defeated or severely upset. The
purveyors of such familial misfortune are, most commonly, father and/or
son characters who can never completely convalesce from their own
personal shortcomings.

Artifacts of popular American culture, Shepard's male characters
more often than not typically resemble the cowboy. if not in appearance
and frame of mind. then in patterns of value and ideology. I refer to
these characters as heroes, for their worthy attempts toward a func—
tional self and away from an alienated self are to be applauded. Their
constant failure to achieve harmony of self is a product of mimesis and
a source for further, widespread defeat within the family.

Replication of self is relevant in each full-length play. That
sons are facsimiles, if not copies of fathers is vital, for cowboys
themselves are secluded within one particular myth. and deviation from.

or even growth within that myth is impossible.

 

 

Shepard allow
American West, the
escapes away from
cowboy as a loner
becomes isolated i
never grows up to
His individual iso
tion, whose indepe

family vulnerable

Rick E. Amidon

Shepard allows his heroes to roam like cowboys within the vast
American West, the setting for most of the plays. Their frequent
escapes away from familial responsibility support the function of the
cowboy as a loner constantly seeking freedom. Thus, Shepard's hero
becomes isolated in time and space and. like the traditional cowboy. he
never grows up to accept adult responsibility and commitment to home.
His individual isolation becomes a microcosm for the family‘s isola—
tion, whose independence, yet lack of self-sufficiency, leaves the

family vulnerable to many strains.

 

 

For Denise

 

 

I would like
for sharing with m
dramatic literatur
enthusiasm in ever
process, and for d
Dr. Jon Baisch for
drama in a differe
dissertation and f
Dr. Barry Cross to
Jon Thorndike for
important friends]

Without whom I co

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the following people: Dr. Arthur Athanason
for sharing with me his thorough and intelligent understanding of
dramatic literature; Dr. Michael Steinberg for always showing such
enthusiasm in everything I do, for his honesty about the writing
process. and for directing a powerful stage production of True West;
DL Jon Baisch for directing my play and for helping me to look at
drama in a different light; Dr. Farley Richmond for reading my
dissertation and for an intelligent production of Summer and Smoke;
Dr. Barry Cross for encouraging me to deliver papers on Sam Shepard;
Jon Thorndike for knowing what he does about the West and for his
important friendship; and my family for their love and support. and
without whom I could not have written this particular study.

Special thanks go to Dr. Arnold E. Davidson for the valuable help
with my writing and for his keen, fresh insight into the West and the
Western.

Finally, the two people I owe deep appreciation to are Dr. Cathy N.
Davidson and Dr. Marcellette G. Williams, my director. Without their
help over the last three years, this project would not have been real—
ized. Their time, energy, expertise of literature and drama. positive
attitudes, and simple kindness have helped to make this road both pos-

sible and enjoyable. Since nearly my first step on campus, Dr. Davidson

iv

 

encouraged my writ
been many. too mar
me to Dr. William:

ism, inspiration,

encouraged my writing and has offered great interest. Her gifts have
been many. too many to mention here. but one of the best was introducing
me to Dr. Williams, for whose endless sincerity, advice. professional-

ism, inspiration, and great enthusiasm I am especially grateful.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION . .

Notes—Introdm

Chapter

I-m

Notes—-

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l
Notes—-Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter

I. CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Notes--Chapter I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

II. BURIED CHILD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Notes--Chapter II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

III. TRUE WEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Notes-~Chapter III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

IV. FOOL FOR LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Notes—-Chapter IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

V. PARIS, TEXAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Notes--Chapter V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Notes-—Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

WORKS CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

vi

 

 

Sam Shepard 1
his generation, sc
"brilliant and it:
go unchallenged t<
Sam Shepard's worl
W. edited by
directors, actors.

useful of the two

INTRODUCTION

i

Sam Shepard has been called the foremost American playwright of
his generation. so much so. in fact, that proposals offering him as
'hrilliant and irreverent."1 "important."2 and "imaginative"3 appear to
go unchallenged today. Yet presently only two critical appraisals of
Sam Shepard's work exist: American Dreams: The Imagination of Sam
Shepard. edited by Bonnie Marranca, is an anthology of commentary from
directors, actors, and general admirers of Shepard; the other. and more
useful of the two in a critical sense, is Ron Mottram's Inner Land—
scapes: The Theater of Sam Shepard. This too. however, yields little
but applause for Shepard's great body of drama. poetry, and prose.

Two other recently published books. more biographies than

appraisals, have appeared: Sam Shepard: The Life. the Loves, Behind

the Legend of a True American Original by Don Shewey, and Sam Shepard:

The Life and Work of an American Dreamer by Ellen Oumano. Each book
includes more photographs of Shepard than critical insight into the
plays.

The time has come to rescue Shepard from his admirers; from the
drama critics who have praised Shepard‘s imagination because they have
not known what else to do with it; and from the media Chasers who tend

to view Shepard first as an actor (whose reputation as a "literary

 

 

 

 

adventurer and his
[him] a unique com
as a plaYVright'
In short. cri
known quite what t
The sheer amount a
critical confusion
that Shepard is a (
date have been wri
have dismissed She
contributions to m
tesque. and in com
nonvoice. borrowin
lated by Beckett.

Other critics

adventurer and his screen image as an archetypal American male make
[him] a unique combination of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper"4), then
as a playwright.

In short. critics and followers of Shepard's career have never
known quite what to make of his work nor how to classify his plays.
The sheer amount of his writing is at least partly responsible for the
critical confusion, misjudgment. and unfamiliarity. Also important is
that Shepard is a contemporary writer whose most reputable works to
date have been written within the last ten years. Still, many critics
have dismissed Shepard as a major American playwright and regard his
contributions to modern theater as rambunctious. exploitative. gro-
tesque. and in some cases sensational. A few regard Shepard as a
nonvoice. borrowing too freely on the fund of theatrical ideas accumu—
lated by Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Handke, Pinter. and Albee.

Other critics, however. seem unable to produce fast enough the
adoration for Shepard's work: "As near perfect as makes no matter."5
cheered the New Yorker’s Edith Oliver in review of Fool for Love; and

the Post's Clive Barnes commented. "If you don%:like this play [Fool

 

for Love]. I don%.like you,"6 Ronald Hayman, too. has discovered

Shepard's imaginative control of language and acknowledges his own
appreciation of Shepard in Theatre and Anti-Theatre:

Shepard. in fact, has the best claim of any writer since
Beckett and Genet--both his seniors by about thirty-five
years--to being a poet of the theatre. He thinks penetrat~
ingly about current conditions in America, and he thinks in

theatrical terms.

 

 

 

 

So far, Shepard ha
and Hayman is error
as more of an anti
tional practices t
referential" and v

Clearly there
vork, but this sex
19113ng for his wr
structure. Richer
comes closest to d

Understanding of 5

Many of

 

So far. Shepard has impressed only a select few on the literary level.
and Hayman is among them. But even he regards the recalcitrant Shepard
as more of an anti-literary figure, one having to avert from tradi-
tional practices to something often "negative. destructive. even non—
referential" and violent in order to make a point.8
Clearly there is much controversy about the value of Shepard‘s
work. but this same dispute makes each new play provocative and chal-
lenging for his writing is as erratic in style as it is experimental in
structure. Richard Gilman. in the Introduction to the Seven Plays,
comes closest to defining the problem of universal appreciation and
understanding of Shepard's work. Gilman writes:
Many of his plays seem partial. capricious. arbitrarily
brought to an end and highly unstable. They spill over. they
leak. They change. chameleon—like. in self-protection as we
look at them. This is a source of the difficulty one has in
writing about them. as it's also a source of their original-
ity. Another difficulty is that we tend to look at all plays
for their single "meanings" or ruling ideas but find this
elusive in Shepard and find. moreover.9his plays coalescing,
merging into one another in our minds.
Shepard has written over forty plays, many of them unstructured
exercises in language and American vernacular. action. characteriza—
tion. and music. Most of the early plays written between the years of

1964 and 1973 are little more than fragments, incomplete at worst and

bemusing at best. but all are somehow original. In his Introduction to

The Unseen Hand and Other Plays. Shepard refers to such early works as

"a series of impulsive chronicles representing a chaotic. subjective
world,‘I10 admitting that at the moment of their writing. in the mid-

sixties when he was serving his Off—Off—Broadway apprenticeship. there

 

 

 

 

was never consider
“a bigger, longer.
distinct life of i‘
one-act structured
That Shepard :
sensibility is not
effectiveness of h
American culture.
Curse of the Starv
and Paris. Texas-u
homologous plays.
Shepard‘s drama is
than in less matur
tures and conventil
mas. both individu

he“ t0 Emphasize

he constantly seem

 

was never consideration given to "evolving a style"11 or progressing to

Na bigger. longer. 'more important' formfldz Each play. he adds. has a
distinct life of its own. concentrated and self-contained within its
one-act structure.l3

That Shepard is the apotheosis of a bona fide American literary
sensibility is not important. What is significant, however, is the
effectiveness of his work and its direct relationship to a recognizable
American culture. Using the five most recent and full-length plays-—
Curse of the Starving Class. Buried Child. True West, Fool for Love.
and Paris. Texas——and following with references to some of the earlier.
homologous plays, this study intends to assert that meaning in
Shepard's drama is not so elusive. In these particular works. more so
than in less mature ones. Shepard attempts clear. fairly linear struc—
tures and conventional characters with important and universal dilem-
mas. both individually and collectively as families. It is important
here to emphasize Shepard's imagination and versatility in theme. yet
he constantly seems committed to the perils of the American family.
Additionally. this study will survey Shepard's displaced heroes (or
cowboys), in the plays mentioned, who engage in desperate attempts away
from passivity and anonymity toward usefulness and self—discovery. but
who too often find their odysseys impeded by their family curses.

The study is divided into six parts: Chapter One concerns
Shepardls first full—length play. Curse of the Starving Class (1976).

the central images of the play, and Shepardds attempts at a naturalist

drama. In addition. it is in this play where one finds a maturing

 

 

 

 

playwright struggl
an art form: @1an
family victimized

who plot against 0
Chapter Three look;
(1981). and at the
limitless, and how
nation deal with Si
incest and love in
vidual loneliness

repairing the indi'
major (although ea
MW (19
(l976)--in which 0:
important related
P13Y5~ This chapt.

family and With tl

he 1
P ays %
a unit. In all th

playwright struggling to gain control of those images and of drama as
an art form; Chapter Two considers. by way of Buried Child (1979), the
family victimized by its own guilts and fantasies. and family members
who plot against one another for the sake of relieving their guilt:
Chapter Three looks at Shepard's most popular family play. True West
(1981). and at the Old West as illusion, the imagination as something
limitless. and how casualties of a family upset by illusion and imagi-
nation deal with self-identity; Chapter Four examines the theme of
incest and love in Fool for Love (1983); Chapter Five deals with indi-
vidual loneliness by way of Paris. Texas (1984). and with attempts at
repairing the individual's family; and the conclusion examines other
major (although earlier written) Shepard plays--Chicago (1965), The
Tooth of Crime (1972), Geography of a Horse Dreamer (1974). and Seduced
(1976)—-in which one may find the seeds of characters. themes, and
important related images which are later realized in the full-length
plays. This chapter also summarizes Shepardfis ultimate concern with

family and with the individual's grim condition within the family.

ii
When investigating the work of any one author. and indeed when
searching for relationships to aid in meaning, a certain amount of
constants--whether in theme, plot. character. or images--may exist.
Such is the case with Shepard and. as a result. the plays tend to (as
Gillman observes) merge "into one another in our minds!‘ For instance.

the plays Curse of the Starving Class. Buried Child, and True West form

a unit. In all three plays. Shepard examines the plight of the

 

 

 

individual within
search of a renais
something partial]
with The Rock Garc
threatening world.

Granted, it i
the conflict of th
fulfilling familia

1956. Arthur Mill;

individual within the emotionally malnourished American family in
search of a renaissance. a need for a definable past or at least for
something partially recognizable. A theme first introduced by Shepard
with The Rock Garden in 1964. his insensate families face a brutal.
threatening world.

Granted, it is axiomatic among contemporary American writers that
the conflict of the diminishing family and the desire for an intense.
fulfilling familial structure is inherent in American society. In
1956, Arthur Miller observed this fundamental significance in modern
drama in his essay entitled "The Family in Modern Drama":

Now I should like to make the bald statement that all plays
we call great, let alone those we call serious, are ulti-
mately involved with some aspect of a single problem. It is
this: How may a man make of the outside world a home? How
and in what ways must he strive to change and overcome within
himself and outside himself if he is to find the safety, the
surroundings of love, the ease of soul, the sense of identity
and honor which, evidently, all men have connected in their
memories with the idea of family? One ought to be suspicious
of any attempt to boil down all the great themes to a single
sentence. but this onemJHow does a man make of the outside
world a home?“-does beaf4watching as a clue to the inner
life of the great plays.

The degree to which American playwrights have taken up the subject of
family indicates an overwhelming concern for the well-being and
livelihood of the family. Tom Scanlin responds to the American drama
as, fundamentally and simultaneously, a domestic drama in his study

Family, Drama. and American Dreams. Scanlin observes:

American drama in the twentieth century has been strikingly
preoccupied with problems of family life. Its most character—
istic moments are realistic scenes of family strife and
squabble and bliss wherein conflicting themes of freedom and
security recur and are expressed as dilemmas of family

 

 

 

 

relatior
the subs
the gene

That Shepard is aw
views the subject
The exact role and
William W. Smith,

[The fan
seedbed

emotions
the kind
place; a
nature 0
family i
wedofi
of a com
because

distorts
is given

relations and personal psychology. It is both the form and
the substance of our dramatists‘ obsession which I link to
the general familialism of our culture.15

That Shepard is aware of drama as an index to family life. and that he
views the subject of the family as a universal significance. is worthy.
The exact role and importance of the family may best be described by
William W. Smith, Jr., and Raymond F. Coward:

[The family is] a unit of interacting persons. the source and
seedbed of human personality. the wellspring of affection,
emotional support, and lifelong security. Families determine
the kinds of persons who grow up in any generation. time or
place; and the kinds of persons they become determine the
nature of their community. nation, or world. The nuclear
family is one of the most fragile of all human relationships.
overloaded with tensions, stresses, frustrations. and fatigue
of a complex and changing world. It is vulnerable in part
because persons enter it with unrealistic expectations and
distorted goals and with less preparation or orientation than
is given for a driver‘s or hunter's license.l6

In Shepardfs drama. the challenge which the changing. "fragile." and
"overloaded" family presents to notions of the harmony of self—
sufficient individuals is evident. In the family trilogy. Shepard
reaches the height of his aesthetic achievement thus far, creating
dramatic actions which embody with devastating sincerity his vision of
endless family isolation. It is as if Shepard equates the drama or
condition of the family with the universal condition of the individual.
It is not by coincidence that so many modern American plays should

be situated within the household. Nor is it by coincidence that
Shepard's plays should be set there. States Miller:

The man or woman who sits down to write a play. or who enters

a theater to watch one, brings with him in each case a common

life experience which is not suspended merely because he has

turned writer or become part of an audience. We-—all of us—-
have a role anteceding all others: we are first sons.

 

daughter
this giv
were rec
consciou
of Frien
and many
gained c
ourselve
subjecti
more "re
relation
is the v
and a £0
relation
conseque

Indeed Shepard is
But all of those '
foremost Shepard 1

most of his plays

daughters, sisters. brothers. No play can possibly alter
this given role. The concept of Father. Mother, and so on

were received by us unawares before the time we were
conscious of ourselves as selves. In contrast. the concept
of Friend. Teacher. Employee. Boss. Colleague. Supervisor.
and many other social relations came to us long after we
gained consciousness of ourselves, and are therefore outside
ourselves. They are thus in an objective rather than a
subjective category. In any case. what we feel is always
more "real" to us than what we know, and we feel the family
relation while we only know the social one. Thus the former
is the very apotheosis of the real and has an inevitability
and a foundation indisputably actual, while the social
relation is always relatively mutable. accidental, and
consequently of a profoundly arbitrary nature to us.17

Indeed Shepard is an actor. a drummer, a director. a poet, a writer.
But all of those "selves," as Miller puts it. are results. First and

foremost Shepard is a son, and it is ostensibly from this vein that

most of his plays are written.

iii
In an age where separation, if not disintegration of family has
dominated and helped to redefine the role of father and son (in
literature and in life), Shepard has come forth as the chief

contemporary dramatist to explore the casualties of this defeated

relationship. Mimesis. or sons resembling fathers through imitation

(intentional or not), is another constant in Shepardfs drama. That a
psychological. emotional. physical, and linguistic bond inextricably
links sons to fathers. frequently referred to as the hero's "curse,"
suggests Shepardls fusing of facile mystery and naturalistic theater.
Man is often confronted by distorted images of himself with, as Martin

Esslin points out in his text Theatre of the Absurd:

the deep
mirrors
endless
torted 1
upon fan
nightmar

Mimesis, usuz
duplicating. but,
Imagination: Mim
densing way of re}

not an imitation <

 

Play. sons more th
ance and action. y
toward that reseml
select to emulate

subconsciously in

Curse of the Starv
\

Patterns himself 5
ramorseful YECOlle

So astonished is h‘

 

 

the despair and loneliness of man caught in the hall of
mirrors of the human condition. inexorably trapped by an
endless progression of images that are merely his own dis-
torted reflection——lies covering lies. fantasies battening
upon fantasigs. nightmares nourished by nightmares within
nightmares.

Mimesis. usually translated as "imitation." is not a simple
duplicating, but. as Uri Rapp observes in his article "Simulation and
Imagination: Mimesis as Play." it is a "selecting. emphasizing. con—
densing way of representation. which might rather be called 'emulationH
not an imitation of nature. but a competition with it."19 In each
play. sons more than remotely resemble their fathers. both in appear—
ance and action, yet there is an obvious animosity in their attitudes
toward that resemblance. Additionally. and as Rapp suggests. the sons
select to emulate negative characteristics of their fathers while
subconsciously in competition with their biological makers. Wesley in
Curse of the Starving Class. for instance. physically and spiritually

patterns himself after his father Weston at the play‘s end. despite his
remorseful recollection of Weston's drunken harassment of his mother.
So astonished is he by the trap of heredity. and by the emulation which
results. Wesley at one point in this Oedipal gesture recognizes his
retrograde. asking his mother'flow come Ihn going backwards?"20 Wesley
responds to his own question by draping himself in his father's

attire. while he and mother Ella become situated and comfortable within
their new roles as companions. Progenitorily. Ella then mistakenly

refers to Wesley as "Weston." as be appropriately recites the same

words that earlier his father divined about eagles (here representing

 

people with knowlt
(a metaphor for t
Mimesis betW
Dodge fears and di
play. until wife 1
becomes clear tha‘
with family membe
sitting catatonic:
passively), has mt
Bradley. The "lik
reciprocal animos:
expressed between
their lives when ‘
existence consists
Stupid things to
D°d86 Claims son ]

he is bitter becat

10

people with knowledge and power) praying upon the poor. immobile cats
(a metaphor for the family itselfL
Mimesis between father and son(s) is also clear in Buried Child.
Dodge fears and disowns amputee son Bradley at the beginning of the
play. until wife Halie must remind Dodge that Bradley is his own. It
becomes clear that Dodgefls handicap. or his inability to communicate
with family members (he often drinks or sleeps through family events.
sitting catatonically in front of the tv set. receiving messages only
passively), has manifested itself in the person of the crippled
Bradley. The "like father. like son" adage in this play results in a
reciprocal animosity between fathers and sons. a hate not unlike that
expressed between Eugene CVNeill's fathers and sons. At the point in
their lives when the play opens. Dodge's recreation and present
existence consists of. according to Halie. "thinking up mean. evil.
stupid things to say about [his] own flesh and blood!"21 For instance.
Dodge claims son Bradley was "born in a goddamn hog wallow" (23), and
he is bitter because none of his sons apparently amounted to much:
Tilden, recently returned home. has been "kicked out of New Mexico and
[does not] want to get kicked out of Illinois" (23); ex-prodigal son
Ansel. murdered on his wedding night in a motel room. made the mistake,
says mother Halie, of marrying "into the Catholics. The Mob" where
"Catholic women are the devil incarnate" (21); and dismembered son
Bradley amputated his leg in a self-inflicted chain-saw accident.
perhaps in an attempt to physically disassociate himself with his

stubborn father.

 

This conflicl
to deviate from tf
renounces the “1181
often the central
much time and spa
characters never 1
relationships wit?
question Vince. "H
since their ident:

Memories. to
are often outside
Vince's girlfriend
nition takes plao

his alleged home

SHELLY:
YOU eve:

VINCE:

SHELLY:
not you

Here, ShePard has
is Simply to elic

something" (41). ‘

in Lee and AUStin

The past p1

““39 0f Vitality

11

This conflicting relationship where the contumacious son attempts
to deviate from the father's ways. and where the father condemns and
renounces the ungrateful son until no reconciliation is possible, is
often the central dilemma in Shepard% drama. And throughout his work,
much time and space is devoted to establishing identities. Male
characters never seem to be quite certain about their respective
relationships with one another. Aging Dodge asks his grandson—in—
question Vince. "How am I supposed to remember [how long it has been
since their identities were last defined] if you don't remember?" (35).

Memories. too. are often distorted and peripheral characters. who
are often outsiders. try to get the facts straight. In Buried Child,
Vinceds girlfriend Shelly, frightened by the notion that little recog-
nition takes place. offers the following when she returns with him to
his alleged home for a visit:

SHELLY: (to VINCE) Maybe you've got the wrong house. Did
you ever think of that? Maybe this is the wrong address!

VINCE: It’s not the wrong address! I recognize the yard.

SHELLY: Yeah but do you recognize the people? He says he's
not your grandfather. (36)

Here. Shepard has forged a conflict whereupon the quest of hero Vince
is simply to elicit accuracy in memory: "Am I in a time warp or
something" (41), Vince wonders. The same approach is used by Shepard
in Lee and Austin's conflict in True West. where the past becomes a
remonstration back and forth by the brothers.

The past plays tricks on Shepard's characters. yet there is a

Sense of vitality and urgency behind Vince's words. 'T've got to help

 

 

him" (36) ”him" I
remember who he i
Present. there is
or to "catCh “1"“
roles.

Because immE
another in 93Gb pl
of an inar‘tiClllat
ever one encounte
acters resemble t
classify the play
bers of one's own
other? "I though
wake of conflict
viously employed
names and with t1
graphical and jou
themes, descripti

explains his obse

12

him" (36) Chin" referring here both to Dodge and later to TildenL
remember who he is and what his relationship to Vince is. At the
present. there is little on Vincefls part to fill in the past six years.
or to "catch up." His intent is to re—establish roots and to clarify
roles.

Because immediate family members appear as strangers to one
another in each play in the trilogy, the impression this may give is
of an inarticulate dramatist who dispels realism. Since Ibsen. when—
ever one encounters a play in which the situation. language. and char-
acters resemble those of contemporary. everyday life. one tends to
classify the play as "realisticfl' But how realistic is it when mem—
bers of one's own family have not even a vague recollection of each
other? "I thought everybody knew each otherN'(37). Shelly says at the
wake of conflict in Buried Child. Shepard is pursuing a notion pre-
viously employed in his writing. He has always been fascinated with
names and with the association of names with people. In his autobio—
graphical and journal-like Motel Chronicles, which contains many
themes, descriptions. and characters evident in his drama, Shepard
explains his obsession with mimesis:

My name came down through seven generations of men with the
same name each naming the first son the same name as the
father then the mothers nick-naming the sons so as not to
confuse them with the fathers when hearing their names called
in the open air while working side by side in the waist-high
heat. The sons came to believe their names were the nick-
names they heard floating across these fields and answering
to these names building ideas of who they were around the
sound never dreaming their real legal name was lying in wait
for them written on some paper in Chicago and that name would
be the name they'd prefingith "Mrfl'and that name would be
the name they‘d die with.

 

 

Here, Shepard res
physical link and
Shelly reacts to
as Shelly puts it
Shepard main
bound so tightly ‘
bind, or to at lee
they. as individu
Tilden “slowly ma'
figure Halie, Cor
end. Halie has In:

Confused himSelf V

W

13

Here. Shepard responds to the same emotional, spiritual, and often
physical link and confusion between father and son (or grandson) which
Shelly reacts to in Buried Child. Vince. Tilden. and Dodge are beyond.
as Shelly puts it. knowing "each other"; instead, they age each other.

Shepard maintains in many of the works where fathers and sons are
bound so tightly by heredity. that try as they may to depart from that
bind, or to at least affirm their own identities, mimesis rules and
they, as individuals, fail. This explains why, in Buried Child. son
Tilden "slowly makes his way up the stairs" (72) toward wife-mother
figure Halie, corpse in arms. ascending as a father might at the day's
end. Halie has mistaken Tilden as husband Dodge, just as Tilden has
confused himself with his father.

Buried Child's Vince, too, is a typical Shepard son—figure,
condemned to be placed in constant dissension with his grandfather
Dodge and his father Tilden. Since all of Shepardls fathers are
lethargic. alcoholic, and degenerative. sons try as best as they can to
avoid duplication. but, ultimately, they always fall victim. The
father's predominant features are also present in the sons. This is
evident in Vince's account of the preceding night when, confused and
beleaguered by the family‘s apparent ignorance, he drove to the Iowa
border. The following morning Vince reasons through his actions:

I drove all night ... I could see myself in the windshield.
My face. My eyes. I studied my face . . . as though I was
looking at another man. As though I could see his whole face
behind him ... and then his face changed. His face became
his father's face. Same bones. Same eyes. Same nose. Same

breath. And his father‘s face changed to his grandfather's
face. And it went on like that. Changing. Clear on back to

 

 

faces I'
followed

Here, Vince aperi
father Tilden reve
from the familY's
grandfather's farm
grim future exists

The "curse" o
w as well,
qualities of his 5
through the person

the screenplay to

14

faces I'd never seen before but sill recognized.. .. I

followed by family clear into Iowa. (70—71)
Here, Vince experiences the same acknowledgment that earlier his
father Tilden reveals: his identity is fixed. and there is no escape
from the family's "curse" or past. And when Vince later inherits his
grandfather‘s farm, the implication is that no escape from the family's
grim future exists either.

The "curse" of mimesis is implacably uttered from father to son in

True West as well, for Austin and Lee each inadmittedly possesses
qualities of his gratuitous father who never appears, yet who speaks
through the person of Austin and Lee. Lee's actual purpose in selling
the screenplay to Hollywood producer Saul Kimmer is to get his father
out of financial "hockfl'and to "get him settled down some p1acefl23 A
drunken Austin then reveals the following:

AUSTIN: I don%.want him out here! IWe had it with him! I

went all the way out there [the desert]! I gave him money

and all he did was play Al Jolsen records and spit at me!
(39—40)

An important pause follows Austinls report and the Al Jolsen relic is
not to be taken lightly. Music is for the father something permanent.
something unchanging and constant, play after play. The lyrics provide
a soundtrack to the father's solitary life and help him to cope with a
deserted and failed existence. The autobiographical similarities
between Lee and Austin's father and Shepard's own are clear. Shepard
writes in Motel Chronicles that his father kept "a record collection in
cardboard boxes lined up along his bedroom wall collecting New Mexican

dust. His prize is an original Al Jolsen 78 with the jacket taped and

 

 

even the tape is :
The ritual of mus
survival. somethi1
ciated with famil
Ultimately, .
to be (like their
because, as Lee 8
to. of course, mor
ening and 11mm
in an entry descr:
sion. "My father
with people."25 I

admits that "nobo.

15

even the tape is ripped. .. he's Convinced it's worth a grand."24

The ritual of music is for the father in True West. then. a means of
survival, something which distracts him from the responsibilities asso—
ciated with family and reality.

Ultimately. Austin and Lee compete with each other in their aims
to be (like their fathers) reclusive. to disappear into the desert
because. as Lee states. "I canlt make it here!" (49). "Here" refers
to, of course, modern society. that which Austin. too, finds threat-
ening and limiting. Once again Shepard draws from his journals where.
in an entry describing his actual father. he states by way of conclu-
sion. "My father lives alone in the desert. He says he doesnft fit
with peoplefla5 It is near the end of True West. however, when Austin
admits that "nobody can disappear" (41). implying that even total
mimesis of the father will not gain him complete freedom from social
responsibility. At the play's end when both Austin and Lee compete for
the right to join his father in the desert. it becomes obvious that
each has completely recast himself into images of his laconic father.

In no play of Shepardls does one envision an image or reflection
of one‘s self as in Fool for Love where son Eddie. in his carelessness
and sexual promiscuity, duplicates the Old Mania (or his father's)
nature. Even in this play. where Shepard is credited for creating his
first multidimensional woman character in May. the fact that she is

Eddie's half-sister suggests that his attraction to her and away from

 

 

 

 

her is spawned by
father) whiCh he
Finally. in .
unlike their irre
treated his wife
Additionally. Tra
suggesting. of co
the young Hunter
It is clear,
idea that even th.
that they possess
Within a family w
taneously present
Lee briefly live ‘
May believe inter1

ment; and Travis

16

her is spawned by the projection or image of himself (and of his
father) which he sees in May.

Finally. in Paris. Texas. sons Travis and Walt compete to be
unlike their irresponsible father. himself a dishonorable figure who
treated his wife with little more respect than Travis treats his
Additionally. Travis views his son. Hunter. as a former acquaintance,
suggesting. of course, that the cycle of mimesis is incomplete until
the young Hunter cones of age.

It is clear. then. that Shepard puts emphasis in each play on the
idea that even though his heroes are momentarily fooled into believing
that they possess their own identities (Wesley attempts to make peace
within a family where. ironically enough. members are never all simul-
taneously present; Tilden thinks he can be self-supporting; Austin and
Lee briefly live the facade of the Hollywood screenwriter; Eddie and
May believe intermittently that their commitments might become perma—
nent; and Travis hopes to be a normal. responsible father). they con-
stantly fall short. Perhaps Shepard's obsession with mimesis is best

put into words by Wesley‘s sister Ella in Curse. who must clarify to

 

her brother what he neither sees nor completely understands:

ELLA: Do you know what this is? It's a curse. I can feel
it. It's invisible but it's there. It comes onto us like
nighttime. Every day I can feel it. Every day I can see it
coming. And it always comes. Repeats itself. It comes even
when you do everything to stop it from coming. Even when you
try to change it. And it goes back. Deep. It goes back and
back to tiny little cells and genes. To atoms. To tiny
little swimming things making up their minds without us.
Plotting in the womb. Before that even. In the air. We're
surrounded with it. It's bigger than government even. It
goes forward too. We spread it. We pass it on. We inherit

 

 

 

 

it and p
and on 1

In other worc‘
names as outsiders
realize that their
the names they 1iv
be their father‘s.

monologue, there i

The last maj4
response to the di
is 8 universal one
literary protagoni

Blanche Du Bois.

To begin, tht

work must first 1)!

17
it and pass it down. and then pass it down again. It goes on
and on like that without us. (174-75)

In other words, individuals become comfortable within their nick—
names as outsiders or independents rather than as relation until they
realize that their diminutives as free-agents are temporary and that
the names they live in oppression with. and eventually die with, will
be their father’s. and not their own. And as Ella implies in her

monologue. there is no escape.

iv

The last major constant in Shepard’s drama reflects his hero's
response to the dilemma of homelessness and rootlessness. This dilemma
is a universal one, the conditions of which have threatened American
literary protagonists from (YNeill's Anna Christie to Williams's
Blanche Du Bois.

To begin. the term “hero" as it is used in regard to Shepard's
work must first be clarified. Shepard rejects the Aristotelian
concept of the protagonist as the personification of a good.
knowledgeable, and courageous humanity. Many aspects of Aristotle's
system of ethics. Arthur Miller observes. are obsolete today. Instead.
the personification of man in the twentieth century, writes Miller.
must be rooted in an open system of values appropriate to a democratic
society.26 Tennessee Williams adds that the most urgent moral problem
of the twentieth-century man is to avoid extinction: "to beat the game

"27

of being against non-being, is the way Williams phrases it.

 

 

One of the W
Jackson. which ha
that embodied in I

. . . cl!
have, 111
differel

of the i
a recort

a trans

Because

of acti<

and eth:

plation

The threat 0:
cowboy-like chara
first place is at
West. and the cow
within this mythi
other words, accm

mobile if not tra:

their lack of a s1

18

One of the most dramatic changes. according to Esther Merle
Jackson, which has affected the idea of the hero in modern drama is
that embodied in the science of psychology. Jackson further declares:

.. .classic ideals of"goodness,""nobilityfl‘and"courage"
have. under psychological scrutiny, assumed a significantly
different aspect. Equally affecting [the changes in the idea
of the hero] has been the political history of modern Europe:
a record of suffering. wars. and conflicts which have exacted
a tremendous physical. spiritual, and psychological toll.
Because of a new sense of historical crisis. the hero. a man
of action, has grown less appealing as an image of present
and ethifgl aspirations . . . a man of reflection and contem-
plation.

The threat of extinction.is an appropriate dilemma for Sheparws
cowboy-like characters, for their existence as authentic beings in the
first place is at best questionable. Shepard uses the model of the
West, and the cowboy‘s static--as Jackson might phrase it--existence
within this mythic territory. as a microcosm for the universe. In
other words, according to Shepard, people--like the cowboys—-are
mobile if not transient figures. handcuffed to their loneliness due to
their lack of a stable, well-rooted home. As a result. Shepardfs hero
reflects. he contemplates. He is a man of inaction. for action has
proved pointless. Additionally. Shepardfs use of the cowboy as a
vehicle to portray his hero is unique and appealing to American drama

and its audiences. for as Walt Whitman writes. "the best literature is

always the result of something far greater than itself--not the hero,

but the portrait of the hero."29

Shepard's hero typically does not represent great strength or
ability. nor is he a man admired for his achievements and qualities.

Ultimately. he resembles Jacksonls hero more so than Aristotle's. Yet

 

his quest to av
game of being a

The heroes
themselves part
usually chaotic.
consolation and
my sexual 3de
are often impote
or another. beco:
Confines of an u
haw-“8 been the t
in Buried Child.

\

who flee their p,

EDGE:

 

They

, in one way

Finally. if they escape the

TILDEN: I drove all day long sometimes.
Way out across the desert.
Past palm trees.
through it.

would look around and I w
and drive!

more.

Across the desert.
I drove past towns. Anywhere.
Lightning. Anything. I would drive

ough it and I would stop and I

ould drive on. I would get back in

' There was nothing I loved
better than driving. (46—47)

Tilden eventually returns home when he

becomes a reduction of his former self who can no longer find the

ApprOP-

and returns
to his childhood prison (like Tilden) only to commit himself as inmate

within the home. Similar to cowboy-figures Weston. Austin. Lee. Eddie,

 

and Travis, both '.
mind, superciliou
nor articulate.
Shepard's he:
spiritually or be
losing their home

well as in F001 f1

 

dramatic action.

accidentally home
poverty and apath
disintegration. '
members mourn pla

individuals, 810m

20

and Travis, both Tilden and son Vince travel without destination in
mind, superciliously toward something that they can neither pinpoint
nor articulate.
Shepard's heroes are almost always homeless (either literally or
spiritually or both), are always escaping from home. or are in risk of
losing their homes. This dilemma. present in the family-trilogy as
well as in Fool for Love and Paris. Texas. is commonly the impetus for
dramatic action. The families, like the heroes themselves. are not
accidentally homeless. In Curse of the Starving Class, for instance.
poverty and apathy on the family's part lead to the family's gradual
disintegration. This division is so complete that by the play's end.
members mourn plaintively. yet manage to survive as twentieth-century
individuals, alone and lonely. rather than as a twentieth-century
family. Weston, who has simulated his own father's guise as a
deserter. speaks in terms similar to those which his son. Wesley.
speaks of him:
WESTON: You know I watched my old man move around. I
watched him move through rooms. I watched him drive trac-
tors. watched him watch baseball. watched him keeping out of
the way of things. Out of the way of my mother. Away from
my brothers. Watched him on the sidelines. Nobody saw him
but me. Everybody was right there. but nobody saw him but
me. He lived apart. Right in the midst of things and he
lived apart. Nobody saw that. (169)

The impulse to escape. to live "apart." and to be done with home and

the dilemmas of family life is typically a feature of Shepardls hero.

He tries increasingly to remove himself from human contact until, in

the end. he wishes to be lost to everyone.

 

The twentiet

century of the ho:
tion between hero
C_la_s§ all family 1
The kitchen. an o]
the play takes pl.
their hunger for .
of Weston's self-j
finally succumbs
course. his extra:
Certainly th.
drama, but Shepar.
nudes: age than 1
for t°° long, his

circumstances by

21

The twentieth century has been called by Charles Wright "the
century of the homeless man."30 and in Shepard's drama this disaffilia—

tion between hero and the home is evident. In Curse of the Starving

Class all family members make attempts to keep possession of the house.

 

The kitchen. an obvious symbol for their hunger. is where the action of
the play takes place. and the characters' excessive appetites reflect
their hunger for love. familial security. and home. After a lifetime
of Weston%;self—indulgence. son Wesley (in another set of mimesis)
finally succumbs to the ravages of his own gluttony. suggesting. of
course. his extreme and unsatisfied hunger for home.

Certainly the predicament of being homeless is not new in American
drama. but Shepard might argue it is more rampant in the present.
nuclear age than ever before. And the predicament worsens. Estranged
for too long. his heroes (as mentioned earlier) further impair their
circumstances by detaching themselves from society. They become. in a
sense. displaced. The "displaced person" normally refers to one who
has been forced from one's own country (especially as a result of war)
and left homeless elsewhere In Sheparws devaluation of contemporary
American life, the term "displaced person" transcends to embrace his
home-grown heroes (often at war with their families. their fathers, and
themselves) who have been coerced. in one way or another. away from
their religious, metaphysical. and physical roots.

Simone Weil, in The Need for Roots, remarks that "the need to feel
rooted ... takes first of all the form of a hunger for property."31

and this motif reverberates through much of Shepard‘s drama. namely in

 

 

 

W
and W'
physical property
healthy and flat“
takes place in. 55
that ownership of
SETTLED DOWN! TH:
TO THIS SPOT! I (

With their a
fathers have few
which are never w
the family-trilog
Shepard's metaphor

they have failed 1

22

Curse of the Starving Class. Buried Child. True West. Fool for Love.

and Paris. Texas. And although Weil suggests that this need for
physical property is "a real hunger with them [the homeless}. and a
healthy and natural one."32 one senses the spiritual destruction which
takes place in. say. Curse of the Starving Class when Weston. realizing
that ownership of home eludes him. cries out. W . . THIS IS WHERE I
SETTLED DOWN! THIS IS WHERE THE LINE ENDED! RIGHT HERE! I MIGRATED
TO THIS SPOT! I GOT NWHERE TO GO! THIS IS IT" (194).

With their alcoholic. lackadaisical personalities. Shepard's
fathers have few priorities. They live in their pasts. or "curses."
which are never well-defined. Appropriately. each primary father in
the family-trilogy lives. or has attempted to live. in the desert.
Shepardfs metaphor for spiritual and emotional futility. Even though
they have failed to provide suitable homes for their families. they do

not lack for sense of responsibility. Weston. for instance, returns

home in Curse of the Starving Class in an attempt to make amends and to
contribute to the well-being of the family:

WESTON: So I came back here. and the first thing I did was I
took all my clothes off and walked around here naked . . .
tried to get the feeling of it really being me in my own
house. It was like peeling off a whole person. A whole
stranger. Then I walked straight in and made myself a hot
bath. Hot as I could stand it. Just sank down into it and
let it sink deep into the skin.. .. Then I got out and took
a shave.. .. Then I startedxnakin'coffee and found myself
coming back to my life after a long time a' being away. (186—

87)

Here. Weston's plea to reunite family is met with son Wesley's simple.
yet stark look into the refrigerator. followed by the statement. "I'm

starving" (187). Clearly what Wesley reacts to is the longevity of

 

 

 

familial barrennes
fulfilled a vital.
Weston cannot er
developed over the
that "THERE'S NO P“
USED UP!" (158). O!
will not be actual
All of Shepar
fathers who neglec
Yet the burden on
Fathers. especiall
part because of a
tures. And like S?
escape. They are
remain simply beca
fathers in Shepard
to be the most neu
sible. Indeed. con
inhibited and mm

type of solace in

23

familial barrenness. for he cannot recall when last his father had
fulfilled a vital. nurturing role. A new perspective on life. even now
Weston cannot provide an adequate home. The hunger the family has
developed over the years cannot be satisfied. and when Weston states
that "THERE'S NO MORE MIRACLESI NO MIRACLES TODAY! THEY'VE BEEN ALL

USED UP!" (158). one suspects that his responsibility to the family
will not be actualized after all.

All of Shepard's full—length plays to date contain within them
fathers who neglect or forfeit responsibility and/or duty to family.
Yet the burden on them is not always invisible or unredeemable.
Fathers. especially. in F001 for Love and in Paris. Texas function in
part because of a need to repair familial damage caused by their depar-
tures. And like Shepard's heroes. his fathers often feel the need to
escape. They are not nearly as stoic as. say, O'Neill's who often
remain simply because they are too stubborn to withdraw. Generally.
fathers in Shepard‘s drama escape to the desert because they feel those
to be the most neutral premises available where objectivity is pos-
sible. Indeed. compounded pressures of contemporary American life have
inhibited and intimidated them into leaving. but they have discovered a
type of solace in their new surroundings. This solace. however tem-
porary or imagined. establishes for them a means of survival and
sanity. Protagonists search for freedom and long for security. that
which they could not locate within the household. but which seems
possible in remote seclusion. In Shepard's plays. two things may

happen: he may escape from the family and its oppression in order to

 

 

live in poverty (
M, the 0]
or he may be dest
without security

Poverty is e

1
l desperate plight

tion:

\ of the Starving C
i
w

24

live in poverty (Weston in Curse of the Starving Class. the Old Man in

True West. the Old Man in F001 for Love. and Travis in Paris. Texas).

or he may be destroyed by the oppression of his family. yet still live

without security (Tilden in Buried Child and Austin in True West).
Poverty is a constant in Shepard's angry. bitter protests of the

desperate plight of the middle (or "starving") class. Weston in Curse

 

of the Starving Class best describes his own downfall as a victimiza-
tion:

WESTON: I was in hock up to my elbows. See. I always
figured on the future. I banked on it. . . . It couldn't get
worse. so I figured it'd just get better. I figured that's
why everyone wants you to buy things. Buy refrigerators.
Buy cars. houses. lots. invest. They wouldn't be so generous
if they didn't figure you had it comin‘ in. . . . They all
want you to borrow anyhow. Banks. car lots. investors. The
whole thing's geared to invisible money. You never hear the
sound of change anymore. It's all plastic shuffling back and
forth . . . so I figured if that's the case. why not take
advantage of it? Why not go in debt for a few grand if all
it is is numbers? (195)

Likewise. Buried Child's Dodge is poor. Lee and Austin's father in
True West "begs the government . . . some pension plan he remembers in
the back of his head" (41). and Paris. Texas's Travis lives in utter
destitution. At the story‘s start. Travis crosses the desert. alone
and disoriented. Shepard describes him as follows:
He is wearing a cheap Mexican suit. a red baseball cap and
sandals with bandages wrapped around them. His clothes are
covered with dust,"I and soaked with sweat. He has been walking
for a long time. 3
Despite his occasional sense of communal liability (he does return home

in one last attempt at reconciliation). Travis is far too poor to

redeem the family’s economic situation. His "hunger for property." as

 

 

Weil indicates. w:
obtain land.

In many of t
is central to cha:
M. the orchar
focal point and 51
apathy or letharg;
and maintain, alb.
800d's it [his fa:
tosses wooden deb:
and enraged fathe
W
axe Striking a tr
laSt lines—mpow ‘
ness that "life h

M: like Chekh

brief moment of a

25

Weil indicates. will never be satisfied. for he has not the means to
obtain land.

In many of the plays. land is the crucial conflict at hand and it
is central to character motivation and plot. In Curse of the Starving

Class. the orchard—inrquestion, like Chekhov‘s cherry orchard. is the

 

focal point and setting for the play. The family risks losing. due to
apathy or lethargy or both. the land their families worked to obtain
and maintain. albeit poorly. But even father Weston wonders "What
goodfs it [his farm] doing?" (167). In a Chekhovian mimic. son Wesley
tosses wooden debris (pieces of the door broken down by his drunken
and enraged father) into a wheelbarrow. It is as if Shepard's Curse of
the Starving Class picks up where Chekhov's "the muffled sound of the
axe striking a tree"34 left off. Ironic. too. is that one of Wesley's
last lines~-"How come Ifin going backwards"—-echoes Firs's final aware-
ness that "life has gone by as if I had never lived."35 The family in
92552. like Chekhov's Ranevskays. has been swept into oblivion in the
brief moment of a sale.

The ownership of property is also crucial in the other major
plays: Dodge's last will and testament in Buried Child suggests that
once the issue and problem of disposing of one’s property is settled.
one has the freedom to die; in True West brothers Lee and Austin return
to their childhood home for a brief. emotionally charged visit. Here.
home becomes a neutral battleground for the brothers. and since each is
an equal heir. neither one has the edge; and in F001 for Love. land or

home is the goal of the two lovers. Eddie and May. It is "a piece of

 

ground in Wyoming
coerce May into It
[at the
been th
trailer:
Have a ‘
That Eddie consid.
suggests conflict:
a stable home; fi
establishment of
the story, the le1
Broadway Bar just
chaser while talk
reconvene with Ja
following a few.

year-old son with

a true wasteland,

26

ground in Wyoming"36 that Eddie ultimately uses as a bargaining tool to
coerce May into returning with him. Pleads Eddie:
[at the bathroom door] May. I got everything worked out. I
been thinkin' about this for weeks. Ihn gonna‘ move the

trailer. Build a little pipe corral to keep the horses.
Have a big vegetable garden. Some chickens maybe. (23)

That Eddie considers settling down only "for weeks“ and no longer
suggests conflicting priorities with May. who longs for the security of
a stable home; finally. in Paris. Texas. the need for land and for the
establishment of roots acts as the crux for dramatic action. Late in
the story. the lethargic and maladjusted hero Travis stands in the
Broadway Bar just outside of Houston, drinking a beer and a whiskey
chaser while talking with his son Hunter after a failed attempt to
reconvene with Jane (Travis's estranged wife and mother to Hunter)
following a four-year absence. Travis futilely presents his eight-
year-old son with a frayed photograph of a vacant lot in Paris. Texas.
a true wasteland. dry and underdeveloped. which Travis purchased "in
the mail--a long time ago" (26). and for reasons he cannot presently
recall:

TRAVIS: I thought we might live there some day.

HUNTER: Where?

TRAVIS: Paris . . . Texas.

HUNTER: Where's that?

TRAVIS: Close to the Red River. Do you like it? (83)
There is a temperamental shrink on Hunter‘s part as he doubtfully eyes

the photo. Finally. he replies. "You mean we'd live on all that dirt?"

 

 

 

(83)- At this I903.L
Shepard. "TRAVIS '
counter. It flutl
ing imagination. 1

home.

In all of th‘

tion: (1) charac1

Starving Class. 3

the heartiest of 1
Buried Child; (3)
in True West; (4)

(5) transients wa:

27

(83). At this point occurs the true climax of the story. Writes
Shepard. "TRAVIS flicks the picture of his piece of land from the
counter. It flutters to the ground" (84% Victimized by an unrelent-

ing imagination. Travis finally accepts his failure as a provider of

home.

v

In all of the plays. Shepard strives to resist dramatic conven—

tion: (1) characters constantly gorge themselves in Curse of the
Starving Class. a practice which sooner or later would satisfy even
the heartiest of appetites; (2) child corpses are resurrected in
Buried Child; (3) derelicts author legible and profitable screenplays
in True West; (4) fathers come back from the dead in Fool for Love; and
(5) transients wander endlessly (and Christlike) in deserts. subsisting
on the minimum necessary to sustain life in Paris. Texas.

The importance of these motifs in the respective plays works this
way: (1) the empty refrigerator in Curse of the Starving Class. and the
family‘s subsequent emotional and spiritual hunger. is a sign of the
Tates' deep—rooted starvation; (2) in Buried Child. the buried child
signifies the family's incommunicability and separation. The corpse.

an image for the family itself. rests in isolation and disability;
(3) the possibility of Lee's authoring a marketable screenplay in
True West is as questionable as the West itself. Neither Lee's
product. nor the West of contemporary America. according to Shepard,
measures up to their respective expectations; (4) dominant in the

grown son Eddie. in F001 for Love. are the fears and antagonisms that

 

help determine hi'
Old Man's presenc‘
been dead (or in 1
nature have alrea
search in the bar:
attempts at being
M.

The meaning
controlling idea ‘
chapters. the not
figure—the cowboy
Yet what keeps Sa
bizarre yet apt it
of the Oedipal st
cence implied by
father appearing
a small motel roc
Thmugh such imag

distinctively his

28

help determine his similarity with his father. or the Old Man. The
Old Man's presence on stage. despite the fact that he has allegedly
been dead (or in hiding) for years. suggests that the seeds of his
nature have already begun to germinate in Eddie; and (5) Travis's

search in the barren desert. a 19805 wasteland. signifies his futile

attempts at being a productive. worthy father in the screenplay Paris.

Texas.

 

The meaning of Shepard's family plays lies not in any one
controlling idea or vision. But as one will see in the following
chapters. the motifs of kinship. the metaphor of the solitary male
figure-—the cowboy-persist and emerge perpetually from play to play.
Yet what keeps Sam Shepard's drama vital is a whole constellation of
bizarre yet apt images and metaphors that uniquely express his vision
of the Oedipal struggle: the empty refrigerator. the family's evanes-
cence implied by the buried child. the articulate castoff. the absent
father appearing (and visible only to his son. not to his daughter) in
a small motel room. and the leper-like father on a picaresque quest.
Through such images. Shepard brings forth an America that is both

distinctively his own and quintessentially ours.

 

1See the sham
Shepard: Seven PI

2Ron Mottram
Press, 1984) vii.

3Ronald Haym
University Press,

4Don Shewey.

5See Lawrenc
Detroit Free Pres
\—

6DeVine 6B.
7Hayman 163-
8Hayman xi-x

9RiChard Gil
York: Bantam. 198

10

58111 Shepard
York:

Bantam. 19s

llshepardo In

lzshepardo In

NOTES-—INTRODUCTION
1See the short publicity notices on the book jacket of Sam
Shepard: Seven Plays (New York: Bantam. 1981).

2Ron Mottram. Inner Landscapes (Columbia: University of Missouri
Press. 1984) vii.

3Ronald Hayman. Theatre and Anti-Theatre (New York: Oxford
University Press. 1979) 164.

“Don Shewey. Sam Shepard (New York: Dell. 1985) 12.

5See Lawrence DeVine. "Maverick Playwright in New York Canyon."
Detroit Free Press 31 Aug. 1983: 6B.

6DeVine 6B.
7Hayman 163-64.
8Hayman xi-xii.

9Richard Gilman. Introduction to Sam Shepard: Seven Plays (New
York: Bantam. 1981) xvi.

10Sam Shepard. Introduction to The Unseen Hand and Other Plays (New
York: Bantam. 1986) ix.

11Shepard. Intro.. Unseen Hand ix.
12Shepard. Intro.. Unseen Hand ix.

13Shepard. Intro.. Unseen Hand ix.

1“Arthur Miller. "The Family in Modern Drama." Atlantic Monthly
197 (April 1956) 36-37.

15Tom Scanlin. Family. Drama. and American Dreams (Westport:
Greenwood. 1978) 4.

16viniom M. Smith. Jr.. and Raymond F. Coward. "I'he Family in

Rural Society: Images of the Future." The Family in Rural Society
(Boulder: Westview. 1981) 221.

29

 

17Miller 39-1

18Martin Ess
1961) 167.

1911a Rapp. ‘

in Contemporary T
mins. 1984) 142.

203m Shepar
Bantam, 1981) 198‘
appear as page nu:

21Sam Shepar
Urizen, 1979) 24.

will appear as pa

2233p Shepar
1982) 49.

23Sam Shepar
Hereafter ref eren

numbers in parent

24Shepard. M
25Shepard, M
26Arthur M11
Viking. 1957) 3-1

27Termessee

tion to The Rose
1976) 131.\

28E5ter Merl
dison: Univers

29
1138.

(Ma

Walt Whit:

3
Ud 0Charles W:
n ers' n

lde, T191}

31Sim
82. “e We:

321Jail 82.

30

17Miller 39—40.

Martin Esslin.

The Theatre of the Absurd (New York: Doubleday.
1961) 167.

Uri Rapp. "Simulation and Imagination:
in Contem ora Theo

mins. 1984) 142.
20

Mimesis as Play." Mimesis
. ed. Mihai Spariosu (Philadelphia: John Benja-

Sam Shepard. Curse of the Starvin Class. Seven Pla s (New York:
Bantam, 1981) 198. Hereafter references to Curse in this study will
appear as page numbers in parentheses within the text itself.

21Sam Shepard. Buried Child. Seduced, Suicide in BE (New York:
. R . .
Urizen. 1979) 24. Hereafter references to Buried Child in this study
will appear as page numbers in parentheses within the text itself.

22Sam Shepard. Motel Chronicles (San Francisco: City Lights Books.
1982) 49.

23

Sam Shepard. True West. Seven Plays (New York: Bantam. 1981) 39.
Hereafter references to True West in this study will appear as page

numbers in parentheses within the text itself.

24Shepard. Motel Chronicles 55.

25Shepard. Motel Chronicles 55.

26Arthur Miller, Introduction to the Collected Plays (New York:
Viking, 1957) 8-12.

Tennessee Williams. "The Timeless World of a Play." Introduc-

tion to The Rose Tattoo. Three By Tennessee Williams (New York: Signet.
1976) 131.

28Ester Merle Jackson. The Broken World of Tennessee Williams
______________________________________

(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1965) 70-71.

29Walt Whitman. Complete Poetgy and Prose (New York: Viking, 1982)
1138.

30Charles Wright. "Men's Municipal Shelter: Life Under the

Underside." The Village Voice 20 June 1968: 20. 22.

lSimone Weil. The Need for Roots (New York: Van Rees Press. 1952)
82.

32Wei1 82.

 

    

594.

”mellow 5

368m Shape
1983) 22. reread

appear as page mil

 

31

33Sam Shepard, Paris. Texas (Berlin: Road Moves. 1984) 7.
Hereafter references to Paris. Texas in this study will appear as page
numbers in parentheses within the text itself.

34Anton Chekhov. The Chergy Orchard (New York: Viking Press. 1947)
594.

35Chekhov 594.
36Sam Shepard. Fool for Love (San Francisco: City Lights Books.

1983) 22. Hereafter references to Fool for Love in this study will
appear as page numbers in parentheses within the text itsalf.

 

Yes, f
though
his de
with i
father
before
itself

I keep
Body I
Who's

Arms 1:
Rolled
Hair d<
I'm en(

QiAPTER I
CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS

Yes, fatality and curse on the South and on our family as
though because some ancestor of ours had elected to establish
his descent in a land primed for fatality and already cursed
with it. even if it had not rather been our family. our
father's progenitors. who had incurred the curse long years
before and had been coerced by Heaven into establishing
itself in the land and the time already cursed.

--William Faulkner
Absalom. Absalom!

I keep waking up in whoever's
Body I was last with

Who's this

Arms like a Viking

Rolled bull muscles

Hair down to here

I'm enough of a stranger as it is.

--Sam Shepard
Hawk Moon. p. 27

In Curse of the Starving Class. Shepard commemorates a culture

that he knew as a child. Different from that of Faulkner's Yoknapataw-
pha County. Shepard's landscape mirrors the manners. or lack of man-
ners. and conventions (rather absurdities) of a family not unlike

Faulkner's. Curse marks an important shift for Shepard from plays

 

dealing with biologically confused and rootless characters to those who

have homes complete with a set of parents. although the set is not

always together, yet who have been deprived of love since infancy.

32

Unlike many play1
spiritual decay

We]
Edvard Albee's 11
scends that level

standing. Curse

 

to be a member 01
sible son trappe<
escape its listlr
Primitive. Relai
self-gratificatit

Underlying 1
eagle, and food.
mood of the play‘
Various ramifica.
t0 the Curse, it
1“ drama in day.
this PartiCular 1
tion, '

IS cursed

°f imagery that y

and Emu a.

When the p11
door which Was d1

locked out of tht

33

Unlike many plays which investigate only to criticize the moral and
spiritual decay of the American family-~Eugene CVNeill's Long Day's

Journey Into Night. Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. and

Emward Albee's The American Dream come to mind---Shepard's Curse tran—

 

scends that level and makes its way toward another sphere of under-

standing. Curse can be seen jointly as an exploration of what it means

 

to be a member of an American family, and what it means to be a sen-
sible son trapped in an eccentric. pathetic family and unprepared to
escape its listlessness. The environment of the family is fatal.
primitive. Relationships between members are based on tempers. lies.
self—gratification. and indulgence.

Underlying the plot are three central images: the orchard. an
eagle. and food. These images create tension and build to the final
mood of the play. This mood is compounded by the curse itself and its
various ramifications. When looking at the images and their relation
to the curse. it is vital to see how Shepard strives toward a natural-
ist drama in developing his characters. In short. the family itself.
this particular family and in Shepard's world the family as institu—
tion. is cursed. a curse underscored in this play by a vivid sequence

of imagery that surrounds the main characters. Weston. Ella. Wesley.

and Emma.

i
When the play opens. son Wesley gathers the remains of the front
door which was destroyed the night before by his drunken father who was

locked out of the house by his wife Ella. claiming she called the

 

police because sh
it becomes clear
orchard. the tra«
place. once and i
that she will on
Castles. Buildin
that she, and not
obtain the money
While the w
(daughter Emma, 1
fishing, short—o]
publishing novel;
necessary repair:
rebirth and resur
manifests itself
who force the fax
of the frontier,
obtained from th<
WESLEY
EMMA:

WESLEY
lOSing

34

police because she did not recognize her attacker. Early on. however.
it becomes clear that Ellals plan is to sell "the house. the land. the
orchard. the tractor. the stock" (145) in order to "get out of this
place. once and for all" (143). But the idealistic Ella. who imagines
that she will one day travel Europe with its "High art. Paintings.
Castles. Buildings. Fancy food" (144). never takes measures to insure
that she. and not her sullen. erratic. and recently fired husband will
obtain the money from the land.

While the women of the family long to escape from the home
(daughter Emma. too. dreams of one day leaving the farm for deep-sea
fishing. shortrorder cooking. repairing four-wheel-drive engines. and
publishing novels on the side). the men yearn to stay put. to make the
necessary repairs (Wesley has finished the new door. a symbol of
rebirth and resurrection). and to challenge the world outside. which
manifests itself in the persons of lawyer Taylor and Sergeant Malcom
who force the family from its land. Taylor motivates the destruction
of the frontier. for he hopes to build a shopping center on the land
obtained from the Tates:

WESLEY: He [Taylor] works for an agency. Land development.

EMMA: So what?

WESLEY: So it means more than losing a house. It means
losing a country. (163)

Like Chekhov's orchard. the image may be associated with the
family's past. although not with the present and future. Shepard's

orchard remains silent and stable. never—changing. Seldom do

 

 

characters other
of the outward be
tiveness typified
and the orchard i
of youth. In fee
by the Tates. Br
discussed in Act
words, if Chekho

Shepard's orchard

forlorn Weston:

WESTON
as nic.
it's pe
at tha1
actual]
actual:

gave mm
It is ironic that
Chaos within the
his overcoat, bar

Poverty which wi

shave. sober. am

tim‘ Weston ul1

35

characters other than Weston mention the orchard. and one never knows
of the outward beauty it has or has not retained or of its unproduc-
tiveness typified by the family's lethargy. No recipes have been lost.
and the orchard is not identified with innocence nor with the happiness
of youth. In fact. its past is for the most part concealed and ignored
by the Tates. But it is Weston's important walk through the orchard,
discussed in Act Three. which initiates his moral progress. In other
words, if Chekhov's orchard initiates only passivity in his Ranevskays.
Shepard's orchard has succeeded in inspiring. albeit briefly. the
forlorn Weston:
WESTON: I didnft feel like the owner of a piece a' property
as nice as this.. .. Not that it‘s fancy or anything. but
it's peaceful . .. it's real peaceful up here. Especially
at that time a' the morning. Then it struck me that I
actually was the owner. That somehow it was me and I was
actually the one walking on my own peace of land. And that
gave me a great feeling. (186)
It is ironic that the peacefulness of the orchard contrasts with the
chaos within the house. In consequence of his speech. Weston scraps
his overcoat. baseball cap, and tennis shoes. all symbols of moral
poverty which will emerge again in Paris. Texas. He is impelled to
shave. sober. and clean the house. and he senses promise in his situa-
tion. Weston ultimately finds a brief sense of security in the orchard
surrounding him.
Where the garden full of rocks. complete with its aesthetic
beauty. is the Manls reward for hard. productive labor in The Rock

Garden. the orchard is to be recognized as Wesley's inheritance in

Curse. Each. however. is ungainly. devoid of life (neither bears real

 

fruit). and ultim
fact. may no long
keep this factor
contains within 1'
harvest of fruit
remains irrelevat
Weston failed to
unavailing. Even
regarding the fut

WESLEY:

EMMA:

36

fruit). and ultimately useless to its owners. The barren orchard. in
fact. may no longer legally belong to the Tates. Shepard wishes to

keep this factor ambiguous. yet nonetheless relevant. Since Curse

 

contains within it no confirmation one way or the other regarding the
harvest of fruit from the orchard, Wesley's inheritance of the land
remains irrelevant. What is pertinent is the implication that since
Weston failed to reap fruit from his soil. so will Wesley‘s attempts be
unavailing. Even before his apparent metamorphosis. Wesley's attitude
regarding the future of the land is not promising:

WESLEY: There‘ll be bulldozers crashing through the orchard.

EMMA: We could occupy it. Dad's got a gun.

WESLEY: It's a Jap gun.

EMMA: It works. I saw him shoot a peacock with it once.

WESLEY: A peacock?

EMMA: Blasted it to smithereens. It was sitting right out
there in the sycamore tree. (164)

Here. Wesley's attention concerning the orchard and his family's future
is momentarily diverted by Emma's subconscious account of father
Westonfs animalistic nature. When Emma.first meets Taylor, she warns
him about her father's "terrible temper" and that he "almost killed"
the last person he caught with mother Ella (152). Yet, ironically
enough. in the following passage Emma does not realize that she refers
to her father when she speaks of antagonists. and her desire to flee
intolerable home conditions is clear. Wesley reveals that he longs to
experience life off the farm. but his actions prove otherwise. His

aspirations are only a cover~up:

 

 

EMMA:
WESLEY
EMMA:
WESLEY:
EMMA:
the wh<
place.
WESLEY

EMMA:

WESLEY

WESLEY

WESLEY

WESLEY

37

EMMA: [after a long pause] You think they'll ever come back?

WESLEY: Who?

EMMA: Our parents.

WESLEY: You mean ever?

EMMA: Yeah. Maybe theyfll never come back. and weql have

the whole place to ourselves. We could do a lot with this

place.

WESLEY: I'm not staying here forever.

EMMA: Where are you going?

WESLEY: I don't know. Alaska. maybe.

EMMA: Alaska?

WESLEY: Sure. Why not?

EMMA: What's in Alaska?

WESLEY: The frontier.

EMMA: Are you crazy. It's all frozen and full of rapers.

WESLEY: It's full of possibilities. It‘s undiscovered.

EMMA: Who wants to discover a bunch of ice? (164)
This passage is ironic for two reasons. Primarily. it is at this point
in the discussion of primitiveness--Alaska. the frontier. rapers--that
father Weston chooses to make his second appearance in the play. but
this time he is considerably drunker than his first appearance.
Appropriately. virgin Emma (who has just experienced her first period)
is clearly aware of and apprehensive about her father's noble savage-
ness and prepares to flee the room for her own safety; second. Wesley

expresses for the first time in the play his desire to leave home in

order to pursue an unconstrained life. In a sense. he has given up

 

hope for the orct
Yet, although Em:
"frontiers." Wesl
then encourages 1
here. And we're
which represents
home—and establ:
his keen transiti
brutal. noble sa

The theme 0:

“Wm

collective and n

era: in ShepardlE

 

38

hope for the orchard and for the home. and he wishes to start over.
Yet. although Emma is successful in her attempts to explore new
"frontiers." Wesley is constantly stifled. Contradictorily. Wesley
then encourages his father not to sell the place because "it's just
here. And we're on it. And we wouldn't be if it got sold" (167).
which represents in its fundamental plea for the necessity of land--not
home--and established roots one of Wesley's first statements marking

his keen transition from the sensible. yet resistless son to the

brutal. noble savage father-figure.

The theme of dispossession in Curse is strikingly similar to that

 

of The Cherry Orchard. But if the dispossession in Chekhov's play is
collective and total. involving a whole way of life and the end of an
era. in Shepard's the dispossession is an internal conflict for the
household. The lament for a dying world comes from the lips of those
(like Weston and Wesley) who believe they have everything to lose. In
their ignorance. they fail to envision the loss of land as an opportu-
nity to embark upon a new age where everything might possibly be
gained. Only the women (Emma and Ella) see this. and even then only
daughter Emma can successfully pursue it.

The loss of land and familial environment collectively dooms the
family. but that doom also transcends the unit to the individual.
Solidarity destroyed. they cannot even share harmoniously in their
self—dispossession: father Weston not only confronts a battle to keep
his estate. but he also faces legal complications. alcoholism. an

uncontrollable temper. and lethargy; mother Ella has been unfaithful.

 

to both her hush;
family unit; daug
of not any real
neither the abili
life. Alienatio:
The implies
that of Chekhov':
in Weston a new 1
desire. if not t
in his drunken 3.
his pathetic con.
cal condition en}
baptismal refere
EIS Associationun
ity of his farm
family, a role h:
RepresSed by the
inability t0 man.

tion to the Pred

WESTON
I coul
everytj
be the
kept t
figure
hittin
turned

“hem.
(195)

 

39

to both her husband and her farm. losing her stronghold as head of the
family unit; daughter Emma is victim of too many radical ambitions and
of not any real talents: and son Wesley. goalless and apathetic. has
neither the ability to reason nor the courage to attempt a successful
life. Alienation on all of their parts is the result.

The implication provided by the orchard image is indeed similar to
that of Chekhov's. but it also enables the playwright Shepard to reveal
in Weston a new depth and dimension for introspection. He has the
desire. if not the capacity. to endure the obstacles of poverty. Even
in his drunken stupor. his outrage reveals pride (if not victory) in
his pathetic condition. So encouraged is he at this point. his physi—
cal condition enhanced too by probably his first bath in weeks-—a clear
baptismal reference--that he even considers "joining up with the 'Grow-
ers Association"‘(187). which would in effect increase the productiv—
ity of his farm and reestablish his identity as a provider for his
family. a role he has been negligent at for who knows just how long.
Repressed by the static circumstances of his overall inferiority and
inability to manage his farm. Weston expresses to son Wesley his reac-
tion to the predicament as follows:

WESTON: I just went off for a little while. Now and then.
I couldn‘t stand it here. I couldn't stand the idea that
everything would stay the same. That every morning it would
be the same. I kept looking for it out there somewhere. I
kept trying to piece it togethen The jumps I coulan
figure out the jumps. From being born. to having kids. to
hittin' bars. to this. It all turned on me somehow. It all

turned around on me. I kept looking for it out there some-

where. And all the time it was right inside this house.
(195)

 

Not only is the c
routine. somewhat
tration in making
play: child. ado
alcoholic. Westo
means to be a fan
tions and financi
Weston been oblit
middle age couple
symbolized by the
Offers him meanir
°f SignificanCe.
Battling we.
the commitment n
drinking and othe
allow him freedom

the family. If h

 

40

Not only is the chronology of Weston's life. or at least of his
routine, somewhat justified in this passage. but so too is his frus—
tration in making sense of the multitude of roles a man is expected to
play: child. adolescent. Air Force pilot. father. husband. and finally
alcoholic. Weston has somewhere along the journey forgotten what it
means to be a family member and a father. All of the social obliga-
tions and financial commitments associated with parenthood have for
Weston been obliterated through time by maturity. war. marriage. and
middle age coupled with poverty. Weston clearly feels the uselessness
symbolized by the orchard. Beyond his family he has little which
offers him meaning. Certainly his migratory life gives him no pattern
of significance.

Battling Weston at the same time is the impulse to be free from
the commitment to family. Indeed this freedom would allow for his
drinking and other escapades to go without scrutiny. but it would also
allow him freedom from embarrassment as an insufficient caretaker of
the family. If he were a more successful homemaker. the tendency to
escape would not be so great. His story of the eagle which swooped
down in an attempt to grab lamb testes while. obligingly. he tossed
some onto the roof of the shed. reveals his inner need to be free.
Each time the eagle swooped, Weston cheered him on with an "icy
feeling" in his backbone. a sensation that he had not experienced since
the first time he "went up in a 3-48" airplane. States Weston:

. . . and every time I cut a lamb I'd throw thOSe balls up
on top a' the shed roof. And every time he'd come down like

the Cannonball Express. And every time I got that feeling.
(184)

 

The story. overh
internal conflic
up" (185). he Bu]
an unmarried. in
riate. for Waste
“swoops." or as
home each time ‘
Weston's co
fies with her 111
plot. In Ella's
from the sky not

herself). While

ELLA:
The c:
drop I
falls

 

41

The story. overheard by son Wesley, clearly illustrates Weston's
internal conflict. Despite his claim to stay. to fix "the whole place
up" (185). he subconsciously desires the same freedom that he knew as
an unmarried. independent Air Force pilot. The metaphor is approp-
riate. for Weston's brief visits home are to be viewed only as
"swoops." or as rests between flights. Like the eagle. Weston comes
home each time "like the Cannonball Express."

Weston's conflict crystallizes later when Ella, who also identi-
fies with her husband's "eagle tale." expresses a slight variation of
plot. In Ella's story (also aired to son Wesley). the eagle descends
from the sky not after lamb testes but instead after a cat (or Ella
herself). While the cat grasps the eagle's talons. a battle ensues:

ELLA: . .. they fight like crazy in the middle of the sky.
The cat's tearing his chest out. and the eagle‘s trying to
drop him. but the cat won't let go because he knows if he
falls he'll die. . . . (201)
This obviously also explains Weston% dilemma. He would like to be
free from his family (or the cat); in fact. as Ella suggests he (the
eagle) would like to "drop" them. but he cannot. The family will not
let go because without the father they will die. And when Weston
leaves the household, the death process begins. Son Wesley. the real
casualty (he is. in a sense. the one being "dropped"), has now listened
to both sides of the story. His confusion compounded by the modified
accounts. one matter is certain: the family at the play‘s end

resembles most. metaphorically speaking. the details of his mother's

story.

Ultimately.
it to his benefi
returns to in _T_r
believes that in
chokes. clean th
clear image of t
after by Wesley'
partially define
tial value of fa
his momentary re

time. concrete 5

WESTOh‘
I went
clothe
8' you
time I
that p
Clothe

42

Ultimately. Weston cannot discover the father role. or interpret
it to his benefit. a characteristic of Shepard's writing which he
returns to in True West. Fool for Love. and Paris. Texas. Weston
believes that in his attempts to stock the refrigerator with arti-
chokes. clean the family laundry. and bring the lamb back to health-~a
clear image of temporary well-being. only to be aborted shortly there-
after by Wesley's slaughtering of the lamb for food-he can at least
partially define his identity. Instinctively. Weston senses the poten—
tial value of family. although that value is vague and motionless. In
his momentary redemption he expresses. one must believe for the first
time. concrete sentiments regarding his family:

WESTON: Then I started doing the laundry. All the laundry.
I went around the house and found all the piles of dirty
clothes I could get my hands on. Emma's. Ella's. even some
a' yours [Wesley's]. Found everybody's clothes. And every
time I bent down to pick up somebody's clothes I could feel
that person like they were right there in the room. Like the
clothes were still attached to the person they belonged to.
And I felt like I knew every single one of you. Every one.
Like I knew you through the flesh and blood. Like our bodies
were connected and we could never escape that. But I didn’t
feel like escaping. I felt like it was a good thing. It was
good to be connected by blood like that. That a family
wasn‘t just a social thing. It was an animal thing. It was
a reason of nature that we were all together under the same
roof. Not that we had to be but that we were supposed to be.
And I started feeling glad about it. I started feeling full
of hope. (187)

Here. Weston clearly attempts to fulfill the responsibility he has so
absent-mindedly neglected. It is appropriate that the inhibited Weston.
who later claims he is "not a public person" (191). verbalizes his

sentiments before Wesley regarding the family's clothing since that

quality is in it
the naive and pr
Clothing. 1
the more it is w
offerings of lov
of the family's
Certainly they a
in material term
represent securi
necessities, a v
condition. prese
members. The ha
and this is what

pOintn both West

their long~suppI

43

quality is in its physicality something visible. It is something that
the naive and primitive Weston can visualize and understand.

Clothing. like family members. becomes common or at least routine
the more it is worn. Transparent qualities like emotions. honesty.
offerings of love. trust. and forgiveness (none of which is indicative
of the family's present) are to Weston undiscernible and unobvious.
Certainly they are not remembered. Wealth is understood by Weston only
in material terms: clothing. artichokes, ham and eggs. These items
represent security for the family and the fear of being without the
necessities. a very viable and realistic fear in their current
condition. presents more than a physical starvation for the family
members. The hunger is as emotional and spiritual as it is physical.
and this is what neither Weston nor mother Ella recognizes. At this
point. both Weston and Ella have in their own ways set out to satisfy
their long—suppressed appetite for life's basic needs: love and food.

As Curse progresses, Wesley's appetite grows to unrealistic

 

proportions. a reflection suggesting that a creature. not unlike

father Weston. and not a person is being made. The raiding of the

refrigerator in the final act is described by Shepard as follows:
(WESTON moves cautiously. away from WESLEY to stage right.

WESLEY keeps eating. throwing half—eaten food to one side and

then digging into more. He groans slightly as he eatsJ
(192)

Here. the creator--Weston-—can no longer control or contain his
creation—-son Wesley--and this Frankenstein incarnate also resembles a
rape scene where. upon will. Wesley will not be denied food nor his

mother (shortly to be wife~figure) Ella's pillow until his hunger is

satisfied and hi
precedes his fat
Wesley to fully
violence rather
need first exist
‘ Indeed one'l
‘ with enough food
1 and Ella. But 0
reaction to cris
Spiritually bale
sound environmer
Weston clearly t

as Ella cannot c

44

satisfied and his instincts appeased. Wesley's retaliation barely
precedes his father's departure. Timing is important. for in order for
Wesley to fully assume his father's role as victimizer and curator of
violence rather than as the victim he has for so long been. a vacancy
need first exist.

Indeed one's principal concern must be with providing the family
with enough food to satisfy daily hunger. as are the concerns of Weston
and Ella. But one can only speculate what might have been the family's
reaction to crises had the parents provided a more emotionally and
spiritually balanced environment for Wesley and Emma to live in. a
sound environment where roles were well-defined and enhanced by love.
Weston clearly does not acknowledge what it means to be a father just
as Ella cannot comprehend what it means to be a mother. She is pro-
miscuous. plotting. and dishonest. The intent of her conniving is not
necessarily to improve the financial and social conditions of children

Wesley and Emma. but to enhance her own personal well-being.

. a

11

As the result of Weston and Emma's incorrigible and disreputable
existence. son Wesley and daughter Emma are in a sense valueless
casualties who recognize neither their roles as family members nor
their roles as individuals outside the family unit. It is almost as if
delinquent Emma. arrested for possession of firearms and malicious
vandalism. and who ultimately succeeds in running away. has been sacri—

ficed at the expense of Weston and Ella's familial mismanagement and

 

corruptibility.

bility (or credi
WESTON
ELLA:

WESTON
drunk

ELLA:
WESTON
ELLA:
ing an
tions.
WESTON
ELLA:

WESTON

45

corruptibility. And to compound matters. Weston takes full responsi-
bility (or credit) for his childrenfs subsequent predicaments:
WESTON: So where you been? Off with that fancy lawyer?

ELLA: I‘ve been to jail. like I said.

WESTON: Come on. What. on a visit? They throw you in the
drunk tank? Out with it.

ELLA: I was visiting your daughter.
WESTON: Oh. yeah? What they nab her for?

ELLA: Possession of firearms. Malicious vandalism. Break-

ing and entering. Assault. Violation of equestrian regula—
tions. You name it.

WESTON: Well. she always was a fireball.
ELLA: Part of her inheritance. right?
WESTON: Right. Direct descendent.

ELLA: Well. I'm glad you've found a way of turning shame
into a source of pride.

WESTON: What's shameful about it? Takes courage to get

charged with all that stuff. It's not everyone her age who

can run up a list of credits like that. (189)
Appropriately, Ella accuses the destructive Emma of being Weston's
daughter and not her own. The cycle of inheritance complete. both Emma
and Wesley have adopted Weston's mannerisms. idiom. attitudes. and
instincts for trouble. Weston's breaking down of the screen door (Emma
claims he has "got a terrible temper") is part of the family trait.
States Emma. tempers (like curses) run "in the family. His father was

just like him. And his father before him." Patented and transmitted.

this sense of violence results in Wesley's slaughtering of the lamb and

in Emma's attack of the Alibi Club.

Emmas word
is the “poison."
eration to the n
fathers "poison.
Wesley:

WESTON
WESLEY
WESTON
you re
it?

WESLEY

WESTON
scares

WESLEY

 

46

Emma's words are important. for submerged in all of Shepard'S'work

is the "poison." as Wesley puts it. that is transmitted from one gen-

eration to the next. Finally and completely a casualty of his own

father's "poison." Weston attempts to trace back to his roots for son

Wesley:

WESTON: . . . Look at my outlook. You don't envy it. right?

WESLEY: No.

WESTON: That's because it's full of poison. Infected. And
you recognize poison. right? You recognize it when you see
it?

WESLEY: Yes.

WESTON: Yes. you do. I can see that you do. My poison
scares you.

WESLEY: Doesn't scare me.
WESTON: No?

WESLEY: No.

WESTON: Good. You're growing up. I never saw my old man's
poison until I was much older than you. Much older. And
then you know how I recognized it?

WESLEY: How:
WESTON: Because I saw myself infected with it. That‘s how.

I saw me carrying it around. His poison in my body. You
think that's fair?

WESLEY: I don't know.

WESTON: Well. what do you think? You think I asked for it?

WESLEY: No.
WESTON: So it's unfair. right?
WESLEY: It's just the way it happened.

WESTON: I didn't ask for it. but I got it. (168)

By the play's enc
himself (just lii
his uniting with
generations.
Weston's "p<
possessive indiv:
my, he backs
overcome apathy
mounts-~"I'hey'11
escape is all th

To say that

of war and/ or the
the misfortune i
he is ignorant 0:
him With bewilde
mistakes. sellin
hundred dOIIar-s
ndried up land ix
miles from the I

overshadow sOme

 

47

By the play's end. it is clear that son Wesley carries the poison in
himself (just like the lamb has contracted maggots). and by implication
his uniting with mother Ella is destined to pass it on to future
generations.

Weston's "poison" evinces itself in many ways: lacking in the
possessive individualism of. say. Albee's Peter and Jerry in The Zoo
Sgggy. he backs down from the territorial combat: his strategy to
overcome apathy is defeated by domestic humiliation; and when pressure
mounts—-"They'll be coming for you here" (195). Wesley warns him—-
escape is all that will apparently satisfy.

To say that Westonds misfortune. or "curse." comes about because
of war and/or the inability to commit himself to family is true. but
the misfortune is more fundamental. Weston is inconvenienced because
he is ignorant of what "family" means; its scheme is often received by
him with bewilderment or incomprehension. His two major financial
mistakes. selling his home to "Alibi Club" owner Ellis for fifteen
hundred dollars and-prior to the play's action--purchasing from Taylor
“dried up land in the middle of the desert with no water and a hundred
miles from the nearest gas pump." along with his invective language.
overshadow some of his more subtle. yet paramount actions. His land
was undoubtedly sold to repay a debt to Ellis and his "Alibi Club"
where Weston. drunk and in a stupor at the time of signing the house

over to Ellis, frequently spends his time. However. the land
purchased from Taylor without Westonfs prior inspection can be seen as

a gesture on his part. though ignorant. to improve the family's living

 

 

condition. Alth<
it was an invests
the family in a
One may fee
confront their v:
miscommunicatior
a major dilemma
tive and unobtru
her. to offer 1i1
Plot against one
ing one's own si‘
Wesley devours s
the "poison'k-bo
Word "Curse" in
tability 0f gene

self-destructive

48

condition. Although a gamble. and not by any means an intelligent one.
it was an investment which Weston firmly hoped would financially better
the family in a time of crisis.

One may feel that the history of the family's willingness to
confront their violence. their lethargy. their poverty. and their
miscommunication. and to consider moral alternatives to the problem is
a major dilemma in the play. And it is reasonably easy for an objec—
tive and unobtrusive outsider. namely the reader or the audience mem-
ber. to offer little sympathy for the family in which members willfully
plot against one another in hopes of surviving at least. and of improv-
ing onefs own situation at best. This is evident early on when hungry
Wesley devours sister Emmafs 4-H demonstration chicken. The effect of
the "poison"~—both Weston's and his old man's’-is the "curseJ' The
word “curse" in the title of the play refers to mimesis. to the inevi—
tability of generation upon generation repeating the same willful and
self-destructive acts. The term "curse." or a prayer for harm to come
upon one--and in this case upon a fellow family member—-offers a very
unscrupulous implication in Shepardfs play. After his departure. the
curse of Weston is passed on to son Wesley who. finally seeing the
impossibility of averting the "curse." puts on his father's filthy old
clothes. saying "I could feel him coming in and me going out. Just
like the changing of the guards" (197). Wesley's adjustment complete.
he has found an identity. Indeed that identity is also his father‘s
and his father's before him. but no longer is Wesley ambiguous about

the role he must play. All he really need do is to be true to the

 

 

"curse," to abide
from it or modif
completely escap
proven.

Biology as 1
refers to many 01
generation. one 1
riences her firs1
changing. You d«
Ella fails to ack
Emma thoroughly
She °n1y frighteI
threatens her to

else. Indeed, i1

then this "CUISe

49

"curse." to abide by it and to obey it. and to not attempt an aversion
from it or modification of it. To do this would be to alter fate. to
completely escape. And that is not an alternative. as Weston has
proven.

Biology as destiny is indeed present in the play. yet the curse
refers to many other elements being transmitted from generation to
generation, one of which is menstruation. Early in the play Emma expe-
riences her first period. about which Ella states. "Your whole life is
changing. You don't want to live in ignorance do you?" (139). But
Ella fails to acknowledge her role as mother. and instead of educating
Emma thoroughly about this segment of her life and of her femaleness.
she only frightens her of the hazardous effects. and insensitively
threatens her to change her clothes. a suggestion to become someone
else. Indeed. if father's curse is transmitted from father to son.
then this "curse." menstruation. is transmitted from mother to daugh-
ter. But Shepardfs pessimistic view of the world, and certainly of the
family, leads him to overlook the fact that this female "curse" is a
misnomer. In this instance. it is not symbolic of death. but of life.
fertility and procreation. Emma. incidentally. is the one character
who threatens to run away, but only after the family‘s faith in not
belonging to the starving class. and in not dividing, is shattered.

The family's hunger for survival is in this scene at its most pervasive
point. and if there is any love between mother and daughter. it is

never evident. Emma's urge to rebel, neurotic traits arising out of

 

the adult pressm
tuated by threat.
In her pligl
drifted away fro
may flee the pr
spread its efft
Wesley. so that
ironic, too. tha1
name until Serg
that she is her
Weston's. Shep
family once met
one cannot but 1
Chief provider
hovever abbrev
before, and now
Here. neither h;
family Member,
aPProach a defi

proSl’essless an

50

the adult pressures imposed on her during adolescence. has been accen-
tuated by threats of the family's breakup.

In her plight for separation from the sullen Weston, Ella has
drifted away from the role of the familial liaison in the hope that she
may flee the premises. But her corrosive disillusion was bound to
spread its effects. its "curse." to be transmitted unto her son.
Wesley. so that the two would finally be trapped together. It is
ironic. too. that at first glance the family appears to be without last
name until Sergeant Malcom addresses Ella as “Mrs.'rate." suggesting

that she is head of the house. and the last name is hers and not

 

Weston's. Shepard is meticulous here. for when Weston abandons the
family once more and Wesley is recast as his father at the play's end.
one cannot but help acknowledge that Ella is to continue her reign as
chief provider and nourisher of the Tate household--h§5;household--
however abbreviated that may now be. Ella has humiliated Weston
before. and now (by reigning) she humiliates husband-substitute Wesley.
Here. neither has the slightest notion regarding what it means to be a
family member. what his or her particular role is to be. or how to
approach a definition of that role. They are back where they started.
progressless and communally defeated.

Although son Wesley assumes his father's position. both in atti—
tude and in appearance (the similarity in name is intentional). he is
the lone normal figure in the eccentric Tate household. Each Shepard
play appears to have at least one civilized. fairly well—adjusted and

rooted character. Wesley in Curse. like Vince in Buried Child. Austin

 

 

“or the most pai
Paris. Texas. is
of others begin 1
device of Sheparc
"dualogue" which
One recalling hi:
M a mosaic of g

WESLEY
Dad ca
ting..

door.
ing. I
for po
ing co
These stark, fra
generate in Wesl
sacrifice the la
sacrificed by we
Wesley is d
ab°ut eVents Whi
Williamsls Tom h

only destroy him

is limited to hi

51

(for the most part) in True West. Martin in F001 for Love. and Walt in

 

Paris. Texas, is fairly stable until the play develops and the actions
of others begin to affect him. His seemingly endless monologue (a
device of Shepard's which disconnects family members. unlike the
"dualogue" which might ordinarily suggest a connection of sorts) in Act
One recalling his father's violent attack upon his mother is comprised
of a mosaic of graphic and repulsive images:
WESLEY: . . . Foot kicking door. Man's voice. Dad's voice.
Dad calling Mom. No answer. Foot kicking. . . . Wood split-
ting. . . . Bottle crashing. Glass breaking. Fist through
door. Man cursing. Man going insane. Feet and hands tear—
ing. Hand smashing. . . . Woman screaming. Mom screaming
for police. Man throwing wood. Man throwing up. Mom call—
ing cops. Dad crashing away. (138)
These stark. fragmented thoughts--conveyed from the inside out--
generate in Wesley the hatred and fear which later impulse him to
sacrifice the lamb in Act Three. just as he has been. in a sense.
sacrificed by way of his parents' self-loathing.

Wesley is deceptively violent. He raises lambs and daydreams
about events which happen within the household. Like Tennessee
Williams's Tom Wingfield. Wesley longs to escape a family which can
only destroy him. Rather than fleeing to movie houses. however. Wesley
is limited to his father's property. He finds comfort in smelling
avocado blossoms. listening to coyotes. staring at model airplanes hung
"by all their thin metal wires" over his head.

Here. he obviously lives vicariously the Air Force life his father

experienced. But all of Wesley's means of escape are temporary and

fragile: avocado blossoms wilt and die. losing their fragrance;

 

coyotes travel.

and the model ai
wings" (137). Yr
Following his fa
obvious Oedipal

with his father.
(clearly represe

him. they become

blown
laying
P—39.

lying
overhe
ing.

feel t
like z
Tense.

52

coyotes travel. and their cries become quickly distant. then inaudible;
and the model airplanes age. with their "decals peeling off their
wings" (137). Yet Shepard extends the airplane image one step further.
Following his father‘s attack on his mother. Wesley (in a gesture with
obvious Oedipal implications) imagines himself to be suddenly at odds
with his father. Fabricating fantasy from fact. his model airplanes
(clearly representing those in which his father spent the war) turn on
him. they become his antagonists. States Wesley:
. . . floating. Swaying very quietly like they were being
blown by someone's breath. Cobwebs moving with them. Dust
laying on their wings. Decals peeling off their wings. My
P—39. My Messerschmitt. My Jap Zero. I could feel myself
lying far below there on my bed like I was on the ocean and
overhead they were on reconnaissance. Scouting me. Float-
ing. Taking pictures of the enemy. Me. the enemy. I could
feel the space around me like a big. black world. I listened
like an animal. My listening was afraid. Afraid of sound.
Tense. Like any second something could invade me. Some
foreigners. Something undescribable. Then I heard the
Packard coming up the hill. (137—38)
As in much of Shepard, Wesley explores the connections between love of
mother and hatred of father; confinement on the farm and freedom out—
side of the farm's boundaries; safety. security (on the farm and inside
the mother‘s womb). and socialization versus the danger. penetration.
and unsocialization outside.
Wesley's genesis as a person. from the womb-like environment 0U
could feel the space around me like a big. black world") to his present
condition. is traced in this sketch. Minus the lurid accounts of his

father's drunken assault the night before which punctuate the passage.

the following is a ciphering of Wesley's own birth. concealed in the

very same monologue:

 

 

WESLEY
myself
this 81
like it
all tht
feel m;
.. . f
could]
closing
trees I
back n
pull t
Him ju
Glass‘
ing V
. .. so
poundi
38)

This violent acct
Within Wesley's (
father-mother co
fairly normative
Objectivity is it

fistrust of his

53

WESLEY: I was lying there on my back.. .. I could feel
myself in my bed in my room in this house in this town in
this state in this country. I could feel this country close
like it was part of my bones. I could feel the presence of
all the people outside. at night. in the dark.. .. I could
feel myself lying far below . . . like I was on the ocean

.. . floating.. .. I listened like an animal.. .. Then I
could picture my dad.. .. I could feel the headlights
closing in. Cutting through the orchard. I could see the
trees being lit one after the other by the lights. then going
back to black. My heart was pounding .. . then I heard him
pull the brake. Lights go off. .. then a long silence.
Him just sitting .. . feet.. .. Heart pounding.. ..
Glass breaking.. .. Head smashing.. .. Whole body crash-
ing. Woman screaming. Mom screaming.. . . Man throwing up
... sound disappearing. No sound. No sight. Heart still
pounding. No sound. Mom crying soft. Soft crying. (137-
38)

This violent account of his own birth scene is subconsciously related
within Wesley‘s conscious effort to describe what might be a typical
father—mother conflict. typical of the Tate household. that is. As a
fairly normative figure. Wesley at first wishes not to take sides. but
objectivity is impossible. His actions and language reveal a blatant
distrust of his father. therefore setting up his eventual union at the
play's end with mother Ella. His desire to return to the womb of his
first nine months. where safety from the world outside was the rule and
not the exception, is too strong for him to resist.

With the exception of Wesley. normal characters are usually
spokesmen for the world outside in Shepard's plays. Wesley has been
sheltered and therefore his point of view is limited. He is doomed to
walk in his father's footsteps. both literally and figuratively.
because he knows of no other life. "I'm living here right up to the

point when I leave" (168). he informs his father. If sister Emma. on

 

 

the other hand. 1
a different one.
asserts. whereas
According to him
grew up here" an
Wesley recalls h
Wesley also feel
for he is left t<
accomplished. I
possible. to the
safety where the
of boring, monot
Indeed. the BOy'
father collapses
Way Of home-lea
this. like Weslc

Wesley's dressin

54

the other hand. is not headed for a better life. then she is headed for
a different one. one of crime. "The perfect self-employment" (197) she
asserts, whereas Wesley himself is omened to accept his destiny.
According to himself. he has become his father merely because he "just
grew up here" and he is part of his "offspring" (169). Without denial.
Wesley recalls his father's habits. his stories. and his character.
Wesley also feels as if he is regressing not in years. but in progress.
for he is left to persevere with no more than what father Weston had
accomplished. If he had his way. Wesley would regress as far back as
possible. to the womb. as indicated in his earlier speech. a place of
safety where the Boy in The Rock Garden longs to be after enduring years
of boring, monotonous speech on the parts of his mother and father.
Indeed. the Boy's pornographic outpouring. to the point of which his
father collapses and presumably dies. may be seen as an exercising. a
way of home-leaving. or growing up and departing from the nest. But
this. like Wesley's outpouring. also has Oedipal implications.

Wesley's dressing in his absent father‘s attire. too. may be inferred
as a "changing of the guards" (197) or as one assuming adult responsi-
bilities. but again with the Oedipal overtones—-here. son is matched

with mother—-the final meaning is to be ambiguous.

iii
Shepard's people are subjects for close analysis. or for a kind of
psychological dissection. In his analysis. he seems most interested in
the fundamental nature of man. what makes him function not so much as a

character of society but as a creature of the natural world. According

 

 

to the naturalis1
duction to Drama
Society
behavi(
behavi<
his ani
three 1
and se:
Given this. one 1
as a reaction to

human manner, bu
demands. One re.
easily subsist or

With respec
W Lee a
or the idea that
Whatever evil th
neighboring Civi

Cannibals. n2 Sta1

W

55

to the naturalist's perspective, Jordan Y. Miller in The Heath Intro-
duction to Drama observes:

Society has imposed upon the individual a certain pattern of
behavior made up of the customs and taboos of civilized
behavior. If that veneer is removed. man stands revealed in
his animalistic primitiveness, interested primarily in the
three urges of natural gratification: eating, evacuation.
and sex.

Given this. one may accept Wesley's savage behavior at the end of Curse

 

as a reaction to civilization. perhaps not in a dimensional. wholly
human manner. but appearing both strong and fragile as the situation
demands. One realizes that after Wesley's transformation. he could
easily subsist on Miller‘s three urges of "natural gratification."
With respect to Wesley (and later to Buried Child‘s Vince and
True West's Lee and Austin). Shepard is illustrating the noble savage,
or the idea that primitive human beings are naturally good and that
whatever evil they develop is the product of the corrupting action of
neighboring civilization and society. Montaigne. in his essay “0f

Cannibals."2 stated the basic concept in 1580. John Dryden's The

Conguest of Granada by the Spaniards (1671)3 and Aphra Behnls Oroonoko:

Or. the History of the Royal Slave (1688)4 both portrayed a noble

savage. but the greatest nobility came from Rousseau's Emile in 1762

 

where he declared "Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the
Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man."5
Rousseau further asserts that man. like Sheparfs hero.
forces one soil to nourish the products of another [note here
the Tates' dying orchard]. one tree to bear the fruit of

another [hence we have Ellals sexual union with Taylor and
with son Wesley, as well as daughter Emmafs sexual awareness].

 

 

. . . He
Wesleg

The concept
briand. and it b1
that Shepard is .
ing. for rarely :
is responsible f
particularly sel
operates as a pr
Primitivism (whe
instinctive). Lt

same question th

Wesley:

 

56

.. .He mutilates his dog [in Curse it is a lamb which
Wesley sacrifices]. . . . He turns everything upside down.

a o o

The concept of the noble savage was used extensively by Chateau—
briand. and it became a common element of Romanticism.7 But to suggest
that Shepard is accentuating Romantic concepts would be most mislead-
ing, for rarely is there any subjective emotional involvement. What he
is responsible for is creating a medley of Naturalism (he is never
particularly selective. preferring to reveal all). Realism (society
operates as a product of the men and women who are part of it). and
Primitivism (where characters' motivations and actions are most always
instinctive). Leslie Fiedler's question about Naturalism reflects the
same question that Shepard asks when drawing his characters Weston and
Wesley:

From the beginning of our literature. the question has been
posed: Is the "natural" a source of spontaneous goodness,
instinctive nobility, untutored piety? Or is it the breeding
ground of a black. demonic. destructive force hostile to our
salvation? Or is it the common spring of two conflicting
impulses. one pos1tive. one negative?
At the play‘s start. Wesley is essentially a positive force. yet he
becomes a negative one. Life vieWed by him becomes savage-like.
rudimentary and simple. Survival becomes of the utmost importance.
This is evident only toward the play‘s end when. finally. Wesley's
appetite (for food. for social withdrawal. and for copulation) has
become uncontrollable. Earlier he is the only family member who rarely
eats. who peers infrequently into the refrigerator. or who verbally

deemphasizes the significance of food supply. He does not engage in

discussions about sex. nor is escape a priority. Yet it is apparent in

 

the final act of
has influenced a
sense of his own

I star
baseba
I put
in me.
myself
out. .
Wesley's regress:
noble savage. is
daughter Emma mi
(or her allowanc.
her brother in f
too, that Wesley

“king repairs.

tive- Shepard d

57

the final act of the play that the eccentric. indeed primitive family
has influenced and recruited the normal son. Wesley tries to make
sense of his own transformation:
I started putting all his [Westcufs] clothes on. His
baseball cap. his tennis shoes, his overcoat. And every time
I put one thing on it seemed like a part of him was growing
in me. I could.feel him taking over me.. .. I could feel
myself retreating. I could feel him coming in and me going
out. o o - (196"97)
Wesley's regression into the form of his father. or the prototypical
noble savage. is complete when he is draped in his father‘s coat. Even
daughter Emma mistakes Wesley for her father when she requests money
(or her allowance) from him. but it dawns on her soon after that it is
her brother in father Weston's disguise. It is clear at this point.
too. that Wesley is no longer concerned with conventional chores like
making repairs. Instead. his concerns are more predatory. more primi—
tive. Shepard describes Wesley‘s actions as follows:
(WESLEY bends down and picks some scraps of food up off the
floor and eats them very slowly. He looks at the empty lamb

pen.. .. WESLEY seems dazed as he slowly chews the food.
. . .) (196)

His compulsion to gorge himself indicates his lack of security and his
complete loss of faith in not belonging to the starving class.

The tragic alienation of Weston and Wesley is revealed through
the strife between them and their primitive environments. and the
descent to pure animality becomes their sole alternative. Victims of
the lower class (the play might have been titled Curse of the Lower
Elggg). they have no place left to run. As their plights reveal the

vulnerability of man (lower. middle. or upper class). the legacy of

 

oppression which
more primitive.
(and other Shepa
animals rather ‘
nor their struct
their primordia‘
there is no com]

Any natura‘
ism, or of bein
is without exce
contents and hi;
Emerson's eXplo:
the tsystem has .
and rePl-lltSive i:
Sketches, Shepa
°f man. but 0.1
many Shepard he
appear, violenc

May

58

oppression which American life embodies. they become less human and
more primitive. Paradoxically. the more primitive Weston and Wesley
(and other Shepard heroes) become. the more apt they are to survive as
animals rather than as people. If they cannot master their families
nor their structured. civilian lives. than they seek to master at least
their primordial environments Unfortunately for Sheparfls heroes.
there is no compromise.

Any naturalist risks being accused of presenting mere sensational-
ism. or of being a "seeker of horrors"9 as Miller suggests. and Shepard
is without exception. Wesley's ravishment upon the refrigerator's
contents and his sacrificing of the lamb. together with Slater and

Emerson's explosion of the family Packard toward the end of Curse when

 

the system has conquered the weakened family. represent visually lurid
and repulsive imagery. As apparent in the earlier. sensationalistic

sketches. Shepard succeeds in Curse to inculcate the violent appetites

 

of man. but only in relationship to his apathy. To live in apathy. as
many Shepard heroes do. is to provoke violence. And cyclical as it may
appear. violence apparently breeds more apathy. According to Rollo

May.

When inward life dries up, when feeling decreases and apathy
increases. when one cannot affect or even genuinely touch
another person. violence flares up as a daimonic necessity

for contact. a mad drive forcing touch in the most direct way
possible.

In Curse. this state of alienation and personal anonymity is revealed

 

through Weston. Wesley, and Emma: in the midst of Weston's struggle to

retain his land. he falls asleep. stating "I am sleeping! I'm sleeping

 

 

right here. I'm
however. Weston
the family's imp
ment. as does E
"Violence .
form of the "cu
ciliation is be)
form. recognize
fl. most pro
Uncompromised b
reins over to s<
he is able to 1
noble savagenes
introverted her
Shepard's movem
Overtly Opposit
starving" Class
rather than inc‘

as usable obj ec

59

right here. I'm falling away" (172). When not in a state of apathy.
however. Weston is usually violent; Wesley's violence as a reaction to
the family‘s impoverishment (discussed earlier) supports May‘s argu—
ment. as does Emmafs attack of the Alibi Club.

"Violence . . . as a daimonic necessity for contact" is another
form of the "curse." that which is so potent that escape and/or recon-
ciliation is beyond question. And Shepard. true to the Naturalist
form. recognizes the improbability of offering particular solutions in

Curse. most probably because they do not exist for the Tate family.

 

Uncompromised by independence. Weston can—-only after he has turned the
reins over to son Wesley——retreat to a private protected world. where
he is able to lament his predicament but unable to alter it. Weston's
noble savageness established. the inner space of one of Shepard's
introverted heroes is closed off from external expression. Indeed
Shepard's movement as a playwright succeeds Naturalism. for he is
overtly oppositional in his stance toward the ruling or the "non—
starving" class. As a result. it is as if Shepard creates social types
rather than individual personae: "starving—class" people are portrayed
as usable objects. whose common characteristic is to manipulate (Ella
or Emma) or to be manipulated (Weston or WesleyL The social atmos-
phere, hardly may it be termed an ambiance. is rendered as grotesque.
yet this makes it possible to sympathize with the predicaments of any
(or all) of the protagonists. Therefore. Wesley represents a state of
being——the entire "starving class"—-rather than an individual member

who has fallen prey to the starving class

 

 

   

 

is surprisingly
sized the some

he has used him

destructive. (1

l

 

throughout the

erally. He is .

pletely represe

family.

60

Shepard's characters are often viewed as abstractions. but Wesley
is surprisingly human for an abstraction. Shepard has carefully empha-
sized the normality or the averageness of Wesley at the same time that
he has used him as a symbol for the family: detonating and self-
destructive. One finds it less a task in sympathizing with Wesley
throughout the play because he appears naked. figuratively and lit-
erally. He is honest. uncertain, and insensible. His figure com—

pletely represents the thwarted odyssey of the middle—class American

family.

 

    

 

 

1976) 26.

zflichel De
Selected Writing

3John Dryde
J. M. for Henry

I'Aphra Ami:
Royal Slave (Ten

5Jean-Jacqr
Books. 1979) 37.

6Rousseau 5

NOTES--CHAPTER I

1Jordan Miller. The Heath Introduction to Drama (Lexington: Heath.
1976) 26.

 

2Michel De Montaigne. "Of Cannibals" in Montaigne's Essays and
Selected Writings (New York: St. Martin's Press. 1963) 79—117.

3John Dryden. The Conguest of Granada by the Spaniards (London:
J. M. for Henry Herrington. 1687).

4Aphra Amis Behn. Aphra Behn's Oroonoko: Or. the History of the
Royal Slave (Tema: Ghana Pub. Corp.. 1977).

5Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile. trans. Allan Bloom (New York: Basic
Books. 1979) 37.

 

6Rousseau 37.

7See Francoise Chateaubriand. Atala. trans. Caleb Bingham
(Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1930).

 

8Leslie Fiedler. Love and Death in the American Novel (New York:
Meridian Books. 1960) 196.

9Mi11er 26 .

10Rollo May. Love and Will (New York: W. W. Norton. 1969) 30.

61

CHAPTER II

BURIED CHILD

Illinois green lush wet dripping corn bacon and tomatoes the
size of your fist fights across the table brother fights
father and wife fights father son fights sister brother
fights the priest makes his visit interrupts the ball game
sits down for a meal demanded just on account of his collar
upstairs Jesus bleeds from different positions on the walls
crosses nailed to rafters beams and plaster old radio
dixieland drums echo across the barn the Springer Spaniel has
her litter wet and licking milk from straw old hats and
halters paper clippings Truman Roosevelt Churchill trucks
rumble the bridge milk trucks gasoline and apple brandy for
the old man wet wooden porch screen watch and wind go by
neighbors picking up mail crows strut flap leave black
feathers on the lawn gravel sing of high electric wire
baseballs rotting in the leaves bats broke and mitts rubber
gloves wires growing through trees and Grandpa dies in his
slippers and Grandpa dies in his baseball cap and Grandpa

dies sitting up.
--Sam Shepard
Hawk Moon. p. 68
With Buried Child. the development in narrative begun in Curse of

the Starving Class continues. The fractured sketches of the early
plays are all but gone. and though language is still idiomatic and the
characters sensational (in the pejorative sense). the narratives them-
selves demonstrate a greater control of theme and character. This
evolution prompted critical acclaim and recognition.

Ron Mottram calls Buried Child "the antithesis of the Norman

Rockwell image of rural lifefld for it more obviously than Curse

 

62

 

 

 

 

 

 

play. set on adJI

I
has been the pri
Since the family;
essential to the

to past mistakes
clear) and. as t

the sake of reli
constructively <

familiar symbol

These images tr:
gates the hiera:
Shepard is able

Past events ha.

 

63

depicts the family victimized by its own guilts and fantasies. In
fact. the single-family focus of Buried Child carries Curse's violent.
chaotic family structure one step further. exhibiting greater precision
and consciously evoked design. It is Shepardfs quintessential family
play. set on a defunct Illinois farm. an overt parody of the form that
has been the principal staple of American drama since Eugene<TNeill.
Since the family is isolated. harmony in kinship is a nurturing factor
essential to the family's future. But relationships are estranged due
to past mistakes (the nature of which audiences can never be completely
clear) and. as the result. family members plot against one another for
the sake of relieving the guilt that they have never found a way of
constructively dealing with. Also, once again Shepard returns to
familiar symbols in this play in order to present relevant images.
These images transform into meaning. for ultimately Shepard investi-
gates the hierarchy of power within the family. and with Buried Child
Shepard is able to employ both the power struggle and the effects that

past events have on a particular rural family's fight to survive.

i
The family in Buried Child shares a festering secret. that is
that father Dodge-—in a frantic. jealous outrage--buried alive in the
backyard the child born to wife Halie and eldest son Tilden. All are
aware of the murder, which happened in the past (exactly how long ago
is vague) and has since—-1ike the past itself—-been psychologically
denied. or buried. by all but Tilden who was. one must assume. driven

at least partially insane by the event. Only Vince. grandson to Dodge

 

    

 

 

 

the secret. '-
Hanager of the

as follows:

The '1
world
subsi
close
That this sects
have a life of

writing. It is

thinking and co

 

64

and son to Tilden (it is never stated who mothered Vince) knows not of
the secret. which is described by John Glore. Associate Literary
Manager of the Arena Stage in Washington. DAL. in the production notes
as follows:

The single-celled creature (i.e" the secret) is also a whole
world unto itself. isolated and inbred. feeding on its own
substance. It uses the house like a crugtacean shell. to
close itself off from the world outSide.
That this secret. which surely has evolved into an obsession. should
have a life of its own is necessary in understanding much of Shepard‘s
writing. It is often the psyches of characters which inhibit them from
thinking and communicating clearly. and which prohibit them from react—
ing positively to their respective dilemmas.

As suggested earlier. bogus fathers in Shepardls plays are to be
held largely responsible for the retarded psyches of their sons.
Buried Child's father~son relationship is no exception. Tildenls
father Dodge is in a state of debility. Hence Tilden. often aimless.
is offered little direction. for his role model--like Curse's Weston
and Austin and Lee‘s father in True West--is lacking in his better
judgment. If Weston. like Austin and Lee's father. is physically
absent from the home. then Dodge is psychologically absent. His day
consists of viewing television. sitting on the couch. imbibing alcohol.
He may as well be literally absent from the family. for his contribu—
tions are too small to be noticed. Where Wesley. Austin. and Lee are

left violent or deviant as the result of having lazy fathers, Tilden is

left childish and self-absorbed. The chief difference, then. between

 

 

 

 

lated irreletit
ing secret.
Dodge. C01
Halie's off-eta
The first scene
do“ to the set
They often mus1
°°mmunicating <
D°d8e of not b.
“1° is later 3.
him With sciss

the Play is evfi

 

65

Tilden and other Shepard sons is that where Wesley. Austin. and Lee are
largely divided at the ends--bordering on good and bad. honesty and
dishonesty. creativity and artistic constipation. intelligence and
ignorance-—Tilden has been in a state of paralysis. one must believe.
since the death of his son. In fact. the immediate family (Dodge.
Halie. Tilden. and Bradley) appear as strangers to one another. iso-
lated irrelation boarding beneath the same roof because of the fester-
ing secret.

Dodge. coughing hysterically at the play's start. ignores wife
Halie's off-stage recommendation of medicine to relieve the hacking
The first scene.in fact. takes place with Halie upstairs. pontificating
down to the seated and spasmodic-coughing. television-watching Dodge.
They often must yell to each other because they are out of practice
communicating directly and intimately. At one point Halie accuses
Dodge of not being able to communicate with his amputee son Bradley.
who is later scheduled to cut his father‘s hair. Dodge does not trust
him with scissors near his head. though. and the primary conflict of
the play is evident: family members view each other first as strang-
ers and then. after Vince (whose long absence from the family spawns in
him curiosity or concern for their health and general welfare) arrives.
as enemies. Thomas Nash suggests that like Eliot's Gerontion. Dodge
awaits death as a release from the boredom of a hollow lifefi
Furthermore. Dodge is defeated. or pushed aside. by more ambitious (and

youthful) family members.

 

 

Weston.
|

the past. The c'

been planted sii1
remote in time .
the family that
YOunger Tilden

There

wavil
a w on
Like
down
didn'

66

The family's isolation from one another is intensified in Act One
by the appearance of the couplehs eldest son. Tilden. In Shepard's
stage directions, Tilden is referred to as "burned out and displaced"
(16). a feature not uncommon among other Shepard heroes. Like Curse's
Weston. True West's Old Man. and Paris. Texas's Travis. Tilden lives in
the past. The corn he carries in his arms. which Dodge says has not
been planted since 1935. is a symbol which illustrates that Tilden is
remote in time and space. This scene correlates with the photograph of
the family that later Vince's girlfriend Shelly notices. showing a
younger Tilden standing in the middle of a corn field. States Shelly:

There‘s a picture of a farm. A big farm. Wheat. Corn.

. . . All the kids are standing out in the corn. They're all

waving these big straw hats.. .. Thereusa baby. A baby in

a woman's arms. . . . She looks lost standing out there.

Like she doesn't know how she got there.. .. She's looking-

down at the baby like it was somebody elsés. Like it

didn't even belong to her. (54)
It is also appropriate that Shelly describes another picture of Mother
Halie holding Tilden's child and "standing in front of an apple tree"
(53). a clear reference to the original sin. but instead of disobeying
God. Halie disobeys husband Dodge. Their "garden" barren for over
forty years. Tilden has finally reaped a crop. just as he was the last
to produce life from Halie.

Act Two of the play begins with Vince‘s arrival. He is Shepard's
typical cowboy—figure. clad in jeans. Western boots. and a plaid shirt.
He also carries a saxophone. a metaphor used decades earlier by British

playwright John Osborne (in the form of a jazz trumpet) to musically

symbolize Jimmy Porter's anger. This act of Buried Child illustrates

    

MW: --
resemblance i4
himself is "nd
calls the “ii-01
sionate observq
myth. and dim
reai’lmr in it.
relative Vince

SHED

(TILJ
the

DODGi

67

a different type of character. for at this point the tone of the play
changes. Vince's arrival brings with it the curiosity enough to dig
down. to bring the past to surface until it is fully and painfully
exposed. Yet problems arise as mistaken identities begin to occur.
Dodge mistakes his grandson Vince for his son Tilden (the biological
resemblance is always a constant in Shepard). and then asserts that he
himself is "nobody's grandpa" (36). Shepard employs what Northrop Frye
calls the "ironic mode." a style that "begins in realism and dispas—
sionate observation. But as it does so. it moves steadily towards
myth. and dim outlines of sacrificial rituals and dying gods begin to
reappear in itflfi' Initially. neither Dodge nor Tilden recognizes
relative Vince:

SHELLY: You really don‘t recognize him? Either one of you?

(TILDEN turns around and stares at SHELLY'S hands as she cuts
the carrots)

DODGE: (watching t.v.) Recognize who?
SHELLY: Vince.

DODGE: What's to recognize?
(DODGE lights a cigarette, coughs slightly and stares at the

t.v.)

SHELLY: It'd be cruel if you recognized him and you didn't
tell him. Wouldn't be fair.

(DODGE just stares at t.v.. smoking) (44)
One's first reaction to Shepard's direction of plot is confusion. for
as Frye suggests the irony descends from realism towards myth. The
"dying god"——in this case Vince. for he apparently died for the family

years ago with his decision to abandon them-—has reappeared and the

 

   

 

 

gets it. But .
easier to disc
He says. l'I th:
about him. . . 1
face which Till
son.

Toward th!
later he does I
This forces She
is of course an
outsider, reprq
solve the mysn

reveal all. bu1

 

68

family must confront it and select whether to worship it or to casti-
gate it. But to make the transition from realism to myth slightly
easier to digest. Tilden finally offers to Shelly some sense of recall.
He says. "I thought I recognized him. I thought I recognized something
about him.. .. I thought I saw a face inside his face"(44). That
face which Tilden sees. of course. is his own for Vince is Tildenhs
son.

Toward the end of Act Two. Dodge entrusts his money to Vince (as
later he does his farm). in order to buy a bottle of whiskey for him.
This forces Shelly to remain behind to deal with the senile Dodge. who
is of course another "dying god," and the displaced Tilden. Shelly. an
outsider. represents the audience who wants--or believes it wants—~to
solve the mystery. During Vince‘s absence. she prompts Tilden to
reveal all. but what results is an impasse:

SHELLY: . . . We're having a conversation right now.

TILDEN: We are?

SHELLY: Yes. That's what we're doing. (45)
Tilden is so far removed from the societal communication practices that
he cannot even employ the basic ability that all humans. in theory.
have in common: the ability to offer and to understand conversation
Yet. he does understand that certain topics. those primarily dealing
with the family's secret. are off limits. But Shelly will not give in:

TILDEN: There's certain things I can't tell you either.

SHELLY: How come?

TILDEN: I don't know. Nobody's supposed to hear it.

 

 

 

 

 

Tilden. "We had
D0586]: [he] cc
Little baby. Do
f°r the outside
While realizing

Halfway it:

 

69

SHELLY: Well. you can tell me anything you want to.

TILDEN: I can?

SHELLY: Sure.

TEDEN: It might not be very nice.

SHELLY: That's all right. I've been around.

TILDEN: It might be awful. (45)
Gradually. as their conversation unfolds and Tilden's trust in Shelly
is enhanced. Tilden reveals part of the family's secret. States
Tilden. "We had a baby. He did" [here. he motions to a sleeping
Dodge]; [he] could pick it up with one hand. Put it in the other.
Little baby. Dodge killed it" (47). This allegation becomes too much
for the outsider Shelly. "Don't tell me anymore" (47) she screams.
while realizing that she has penetrated too far.

Halfway into Act Three. Vince finally returns to the farm. The
rain has stopped and morning has broken. But Vince is drunk and more
than slightly resembles his grandfather Dodge (that their names-~like
Curse's Weston and Wesley—-have the same number of letters is not
coincidental). Vince violently smashes bottles on the porch of the
house. and. ironically enough. this draws forth recognition from both
Halie. whose return just precedes Vince's. and Dodge.

As the play draws to a close. Dodge. in a verbal will. names
"Grandson Vincent"—rather than son Tilden--as his sole heir. This is
appropriate since Dodge's son coveted his wife. Vince crosses to Dodge

and finds that he is dead. and now the house is his. Similar to the

ending of Curse. and later to be seen in F001 for Love's ending. son-

 

 

 

   

 

 

positions hinse:
replaces the "(1]

Meanwhile.
“buried child."

describes the s

 

mnsi
knees ‘
hands ‘
starii

wrapp4

Again. and as I?
have appeared,

°f the play (del
mother-wife Hal
aPP‘éaramce: II,
Héll'be it's the
d°uble entendre
"5°11" bUried by

play's Profound

7O

figure impersonates father-figure: Vince lies on Dodge's sofa and he
positions himself like his late grandfather. In other words. Vince
replaces the "dying god."

Meanwhile. Tilden enters the house carrying the body of the
"buried child." which he has just dug out of the earth. Shepard
describes the scene as follows:

TILDEN appears from stage left. dripping with mud from the
knees down. His arms and hands are covered with mud. In his
hands he carries the corpse of a small child at chest level.
staring down at it. The corpse mainly consists of bones
wrapped in muddy. rotten cloth. (72)
Again. and as Frye suggests. the "sacrificial rituals and dying gods"
have appeared. Realism has indeed become myth. for in the last line
of the play (delivered as Tilden ascends the stairway toward his
mother-wife Halie). Halie makes a pun that explains the corpse's
appearance: N .. I've never seen a crop like this in my whole life.
Maybe it's the sun. Maybe that's it. Maybe it's the sun"(72). The
double entendre here is ambiguous: clearly the "sun" refers to Halie's
"son" buried by husband Dodge. but it also helps to clarify one of the
play‘s profound mysteries--who fathered the "buried child"? Obviously
Dodge felt he was. due to his age. incapable of conceiving; but Halie
seems to deny (or at least fails to confront) the guilt and remorse
associated with incest. Halie's choice of words. "maybe it's the sun."
however. reveals her own confusion about past events. It is not until

this final image of father (Tilden) ascending to mother (Halie) with

child that one can be certain of the events. And the fact that Halie

 

 

 

  

As indicac

is not exclusiv

 

cast in modern.
Desire Under th
Abbie is guilty
allegedly murde
evidence and a
"81 Place in t

Although I
m: Halie's
(24), is. in fa
dramatically p.
Plfiy's start at
their gentle, c
3“ 0f incest ‘
of a nonbeing 1

71

is upstairs. momentarily hidden from Tilden'S'view. suggests that she

is the last to know. or at least to remember. who fathered the child.

ii

As indicated earlier. family members as strangers and/or enemies
is not exclusively Shepardfs invention as a playwright, but was fore-
cast in modern American drama by Eugene(TNeill. most significantly in
Desire Under the Elms. It is ironic that in CVNeill's Desire mother
Abbie is guilty of destroying her child. where in Buried Child Dodge
allegedly murdered Halie and Tilden¥ child, who was for Dodge both
evidence and a reminder that he had been cuckolded. and that his cen—
tral place in the family had been threatened. if not usurped.

Although Abbie's presence is largely strong and maternal in
Desire. Halie's is less defined. She has "lunch with Father Dewis"
(24). is. in fact. absent throughout most of the play. and her most
dramatically potent lines are delivered from off-stage. both at the
play's start and at the play's end. Both figures. Abbie and Halie, in
their gentle. oppressed dispositions. commit the symbolically Oedipal
act of incest with their sons. Like most Shepard women. Halie is more
of a nonbeing than a being. a forgotten sexual instrument. a bearer of
incompetent and lethargic children. Husband Dodge is twenty years her
senior and his seignioral manner angers those who are not accustomed to
his acerbity. Throughout the play. Dodge rapidly deteriorates. both
physically and emotionally; at one point. Halie even suggests that he

take his own life: W .. I don't see why you just don't take a pill.

 

  
  

Christian. but
tion. and it is'
loose ends of 1

executing his 1

 

act. appears vi

ascends toward‘
through usufrm
Dodge failed to
amending the s:
played by Dodge
destruction of
Sterility Vhicl
shellY's depart

that lUStice h:

72

Be done with it once and for all. Put a stop to it.. .. It's not
Christian. but it works" (12% Tragedy is clear in the play's resolu—
tion. and it is at this point that Shepard brings together the various
loose ends of the play: Dodge expires unnoticed on the couch after
executing his last will and testament; Tilden. gone for the entire last
act. appears with the child corpse (his. we can only assume) and
ascends toward Halie who is upstairs--they are reunited in their love;
through usufruct. son Vince assumes the role of head of the house; as
Dodge failed to expiate his crime. Vince will now make his attempts at
amending the sin. And Vince partakes in all of the roles previously
played by Dodge: in assuming Dodge's identity. Vince also assumes the
destruction of his pride in manhood and he acknowledges the solitary
sterility which has up until this point been Dodge% (girlfriend
Shelly's departure supports this). In a sense. Dodge's death implies
that justice has been done. yet the "changing of the guards" in this
play. and on Vince's part. appears unjustified and unfair. an obliquity
that is uniquely Shepard's: the curse is passed on from father (Dodge)
to son (Vince's search for a father is a subplot of the play). which
makes them quite similar. in actions and in destiny. yet profoundly
alienated. in compassion and in resolve.

In contrast to CfiNeill's Desire. where Ephraim usurps what Eben
regards as his-—namely the land——Shepard's sons unwillingly and against
their wishes receive what is rightfully and by heredity theirs. whether

in the form of land. ignorance. or habit. and it is this inheritance

 

which ends thei:
also confirms t

In O'Neill'
reconciled to t
One must assume
one must assume
Tilden left for
reasons never d
up because he 51
finally surface
start to finish
"Tilden knew" (
home and. as Do
father (and per
”65$. father

OffsPring have

73

which ends their plights to be unlike their fathers; it is this which
also confirms their spiritual decay.

In CflNeill's Desire. new wife Abbie and step-son Eben are
reconciled to their fate. just as are Buried Child's Halie and Tilden.
One must assume that son Tilden fathered the "buried child." just as
one must assume that Dodge fathered Tilden and not Vince: years ago
Tilden left for New Mexico but was coerced into returning home for
reasons never disclosed; he escapes the premises when son Vince shows
up because he senses the truth of his past relationship with Halie will
finally surface; when Dodge begins to ventilate "the whole thing from
start to finish" (64). there is emphasis placed on Dodge's line.
"Tilden knew" (65); and, finally. at the play's end. Tilden returns
home and. as Dodge passes away. it is time for mother and biological
father (and perhaps true lover) to reunite. In both Buried Child and
Desire. father figures (Dodge and Ephraim) are out of the way. The
offspring have died as the result of selfish sacrifices on one person's
part to express love and forbearance. and lovers (Tilden and Halie in
Buried Child. Eben and Abbie in Desire) are ultimately prisoners. but
who required the succor that only each other could provide. In short.
in Buried Child Tilden and Halie are joined together upstairs in a
house they will never be able to leave. and in Desire Eben and Abbie
are taken to jail. Life has been killed and the young have been
destroyed. And. finally. the old (fathers Dodge and Ephraim) retire to

a solitary existence.

 

 

  
 

 

 

Harmony i
reasons. To bl
with one anoth

which no one o

 

sistent with 0
attempts to es
It is not cert:
his visits wo:
New Mexico. bu

fled the East

74

iii

Harmony in kinship is made impossible in Buried Child for two
reasons. To begin. family members experience estranged relationships
with one another because of the "buried child" episode in their lives
which no one can ever competently and completely ignore. and (con—
sistent with other Shepard-transients). family members escape. or make
attempts to escape. the homefront in search of improved environments.
It is not certain where Bradley resides. but the mere expectation of
his visits worries a paranoid Dodge. Tilden. of course. ran away to
New Mexico. but for reasons unknown was persuaded to leave. He has
fled the East for the West. which for him is a haven from failure and
personal tragedy.5 Vince went away to college. and allusions are made
of Ansel. who Halie claims "was the smartest probably" (20). leaving
home for the love of a "Catholic woman [who] are the Devil incarnate"
(21). Dodge even takes great pride in. after fifty-seven years. not
knowing "who the neighbors are" (17). Burdened by the inevitable
accretion of familial responsibilities. the family can no longer oper—
ate effectively. All desire for eventual correspondence and familial
intimacy has been smouldered by long distance. either literal or
figurative. This distance. however, is central to each character's
pathetic condition. for the escapee gains our sympathy by his
alienation and failure.6

Second. cooperation and accordance among family has been been made

unfeasible by the effort on certain individuals' parts to plot against

one another for the sake of not self—gratification and personal

advancement. bu
guilt. and (if
members of the
tension provide
from Henric Ibs
familial tribul
families they ;
culturally, mar
timeless.

One troubl
their functions
outside their \
and protect its
deceiving and 1
PlaCe to seek r
debt, Where 10
where life may
man's Plight a:
isOlation is m

fanlily- No 10

support, or e“

strangers if n

series of free

ConsiSten

Shepard‘s Char.

 

75

advancement. but for individual psychological semblance. relief from
guilt. and (if possible) tranquillity. Throughout Western drama,
members of the same family scheme against each other and this domestic
tension provides the primary conflict within the plays. Playwrights
from Henric Ibsen to Tennessee Williams have chosen to research the
familial tribulations of their respective periods. and although the
families they present are as different temperamentally as they are
culturally. many of the troubles they experience are universal and
timeless.

One trouble is that the families have misplaced, if not lost,
their functions as strongholds or as sanctuaries from the worlds
outside their windows. In theory the role of the family is to unite
and protect its members whenever an unkind, obtrusive. or potentially
deceiving and harmful society imposes on them. The family should be a
place to seek refuge from a world where wealth may be transformed into
debt. where love may be turned into a lesser form of companionship, and
where life may often be prematurely inverted into death. Shepard views
man's plight as a self-centered journey toward isolation. and that
isolation is now unfortunately rampant within and outside of the
family. No longer can the household provide the sanctity of love,
support. or even friendship. Visiting family members are treated as
strangers if not as intruders. A union no longer exists. but only a
series of free agents.

Consistent with characters present in many Western dramas,

Shepardls characters desire power and dominance within the family

 

  
 

for plotting a:
the same ”as i1
not to Dodge In
is wearing blad
in mourning. E

mourns the dea‘

 

Ansel. who may:
"would've seen

Hale and l
which now keep
actions and im
iveness since A

inertia:

 

 

76

system. The family members in Buried Child view survival as a motive
for plotting against each other. For Halie. Ansel's death affects her
the same "as if they'd all died" (20). the "all" of course referring
not to Dodge but to her sons. When she appears for the first time she
is wearing black. and one cannot help but wonder how long she has been
in mourning. Of course Halie mourns more than Ansel's death; she
mourns the death of her own spirituality. symbolized by her "hero" (20)
Ansel. who may or may not have actually lived, but who she is convinced
nwould've seen to it" that she was repaid for her nurturing efforts.
Hale and hearty only a decade ago, Dodge curses the conditions
which now keep him at home. Yet he isxxm totally oblivious to Halie%
actions and inactions. He attempts not to condemn her for her reclus—
iveness since Ansel's death, but to assure her that he acknowledges her
inertia:
DODGE: (to HALIE) Things keep happening while youfre
upstairs. ya know. The world doesn%:stop just because
you're upstairs. Corn keeps growing. Rain keeps raining.
HALIE: Ihn not unaware of the world around me! Thank you
very much. It so happens that I have an over-all view from
the upstairs. (22)
Here, the upstairs is for Halie a place of hiding where she manipulates
fantasies regarding her past and her possibly phantom-son Ansel at her
will; also. upstairs is where she overlooks her "buried chilws"
grave. Upstairs is safe, and presently devoid of her impotent husband

Dodge, who. in her own words, "sits here day and night. festering away!

Decomposing! Smelling up the house with your putrid body! Hacking

 

 

your head off t
stupid things t
Dodge has 3
wall, for Shell
Although Dodge
evidence of lif
life is deeply :
1947 Boston Red
ball game atten
also jealous of
Vince inquires
her. She won'1
Yet" (23). It i
Comes back to 1

ElSteWhere.

77

your head off till all hours of the morning! Thinking up mean. evil.
stupid things to say about your own flesh and blood" (23—24).

Dodge has yet to even see the pictures which hang on the bedroom
wall, for Shelly's description of them comes as a complete surprise.
Although Dodge claims he has no wish to die. there is very little
evidence of life within him. What little documentation there is of
life is deeply rooted in his past: he remembers. for instance. the
1947 Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees and fragments of a base—
ball game attended somewhere within that time frame (53). Dodge is
also jealous of Halie's energy and seemingly endless fertility. When
Vince inquires about her whereabouts. Dodge states. "Don't worry about
her. She won't be back for days. . . . There's life in the old girl
yet" (23). It is during the course of the play when Halie's spirit
comes back to life and she leaves the upstairs for a more active role
elsewhere.

Publicly denouncing sons Tilden and Bradley, Dodge's spirit is
resurrected (and then only somewhat) by Vince's girlfriend Shelly who
reminds Dodge of a younger Halie. (That the names--Halie and Shelly—-
should sound similar is again not coincidental.) Shepard is again
playing with identities here. Shelly is supposed to resemble Halie,
for she spends the night in Halie's room (and bed). and her hair is a
shade similar to Halie's. At one point, Shelly even divines: "I don't
know what it is. It's the house or something. Something familiar.
Like I know my way around here. Did you ever get that feeling?" (53).

In fact, Dodge's stare at her is prolonged enough for him to utter.

 

 

We. No. I m
newborn. be h
describes to

dumbfoundedly
Like it didn'
to view a fil
of Halie. He
when she reac
others will I
alone now! I
somebody wit]
me! Promisei
years ago, 3f
(and mother c

If Shell

78

"No. No, I never did" (53) suggesting that since the death of the
newborn. he has not felt at ease in the cursed home. When Shelly
describes to Dodge the picture of a younger Halie holding a child and
dumbfoundedly 'Qooking down at the baby like it was somebody else's.
Like it didn't even belong.. .." (54), Dodge revolts as if resisting
to view a film strip of his past. Shelly is to Dodge a representation
of Halie. He is less confused when in her presence. and at one point
when she readies to leave the house. Dodge (in a heavy whisper so that
others will not overhear) pleads with her to stay: "Donfirleave me
alone now! Promise me? Donft go off and leave me alone. I need
somebody with me. Tildenk gone now and I need someone. Donwzleave
me! Promise!" These are presumably the words Dodge used on Halie
years ago, after the "buried child" incident. when Tilden left the home
(and mother of his child) for a new——or different--life in New Mexico.
If Shelly represents a quasi-Halie figure who urges Dodge into
responding frankly. albeit hesitantly, she is also used by Shepard as a
device to expose vital information. Up until this point. the charac-
ters, tone. plot. and dialogue of the play are only sketchy at best,
highly ambiguous and deceiving at the least. Basically, the question
Shelly asks Dodge-—"What's happened to this family anyway?" (54)--is
the question readers and audiences alike are propelled to ask at this
juncture of the play. But as soon as Shelly agrees to stay with Dodge,
Halie returns home and with this confrontation matters begin to unfold.

Halie, like Emma in Curse, Mom in True West. and Jane in Paris. Texas.

 

has vacated the premises, suggesting, of course. that not even the

 

 

Davis. who is ‘

quest to get "a
late son. the 3
toward Catholi!
Ansel's death :‘
night with Fat‘
"slightly drun}
Ship is more i
And the pun wt
Course, that w
house-Dodge a
"“1 Denis. 1.5

At this I

techni‘lue hon

79

mother figure~—traditionally the last to submit to familial failure and
to retreat--can endure the tension synonymous with the family's fall.

It would be too easy for Shepard to crystallize the plot. Instead
he complicates matters. Halie has been off for "days" with Father
Dewis. who is ostensibly Halie's priest-friend who will aid her in her
quest to get "a monument. A statue. At least a plaque" (24) for her
late son. the "hero" Ansel. Yet Halie also states that she is wrathful
toward Catholics, or "the Mob." and she holds them responsible for
Ansel's death in the first place. The fact that Halie is away over-—
night with Father Dewis. and that they appear the next morning
"slightly drunk and feeling giddy" (56) may imply that their relation-
ship is more intense than a traditional priest/parishioner encounter.
And the pun which may be read into Dewis's title "Father" suggests. of
course, that where before there were only two possible fathers in the
house--Dodge and Tilden—-now there are three present: Dodge, Tilden.
and Dewis. Likewise. Halie has three lovers.

At this point, one must question the existence of Ansel. In a
technique borrowed undoubtedly from Albee, Shepard's forlorn and
emotionally starved parents have created a fictitious son-hero. killed
him, and immortalized him. Unlike sons Tilden and Bradley. Halie
imagines that Ansel "would've took care of us. . . . He was like that.
He was a hero" (20). Also ironic is that if the Catholics. with "all
those Italians . . . all that horrible black. greasy hair" (21),
according to Halie. where "even the priest [wears] a pistol" (21), are

held in such contempt. why. then, is Halie's closest companion a Roman

Catholic priest '
noted is that in
failed-recluse w
claims that "he'
alert son Bradle
Earlier Hal

with the propos‘
late son Ansel.
underachieved, 1
succeed have on

cover, for Shep

Upon Preparing

case) tells Vin

her. I don't k

80

Catholic priest with whom she has just spent the night? Also to be
noted is that imaginary son Ansel is only discussed when son Tilden. a
failed~recluse who is quiet and ambiguous about most things (Halie even
claims that "he's still a child" [24]) is present and E35. when the more
alert son Bradley or grandson Vince is home.

Earlier Halie states her intention is to approach Father Dewis
with the proposal of a statue. or "at least a plaque." memorializing
late son Ansel. This. obviously. is to help compensate for their
underachieved. disappointing sons who in their failed attempts to
succeed have only disgraced Halie and father Dodge. But this is all a
cover, for Shepard is implying that. as was the case in Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?. not even can an exorcism (of sorts) be a solution.
Upon preparing to leave the house. Dewis (Shepard's exorcist in this
case) tells Vince that Halie's "going to need someone. I can't help
her. I don't know what to do. . . " (71). Shepard's intent here is
clear: only family can help family, and a confrontation is inevitable.
But Vince denies anyone else's presence in the house (including
Halie's). and the confrontation never occurs. In this anti-climactic
scene. outside help (Dewis) was briefly available. but it was not
practical nor was it effective. As Dewis departs, Shepard indicates in
his stage directions that Vince "listens to him leaving" (71) so that
he may insure himself with certainty that the house is all his. One is
again reminded of Shepard's words in the poem "Illinois": "brother
fights father and wife fights father son fights sister brother fights

and priest makes his visit interrupts the ball game. . . . Grandpa dies

 

 

fitting up."7 Althc
there can be no sati

The family's p]
additional considers
the household-the w
vhore—nother-wife H
again. A strong ser
unprotected place in
uPohthem by fellow
ill-preparation in t
sordid family, Tild
attempts to become i

DODGE: (t
needing yc
DOthing we
living dow
to make 3
here for?

TILDEN: 1

DODGE: I

81

sitting up."7 Although Vince apparently reigns, at least temporarily.
there can be no satisfaction or glory in this type of victory.

The family's plotting against one another in Buried Child requires
additional consideration. Of those who at one time or another escape
the household—-the vagrant Tilden. the bitter antagonist Bradley,
whore-mother—wife Halie. and forgotten Vince—~all return home. again and
again. A strong sense of vulnerability is present and they all have an
unprotected place in their hearts which invites the cruelty imposed
upon them by fellow members. Shepard acknowledges this psychological
ill-preparation in them. yet proposes the alternative to even this
sordid family. Tilden represents one who could not survive in his
attempts to become independent of the family:

DODGE: (to TILDEN) You're a grown man. You shouldn't be
needing your parents at your age. It's un—natural. There's
nothing we can do for you now anyway. Couldn't you make a
living down there [New Mexico]? Couldnfizyou find some way
to make a living? Support yourself? What'd'ya come back

here for? You expect us to feed you forever?

TILDEN: I didn't know where else to go.

DODGE: I never went back to my parents. Never. Never even
had the urge. I was independent. Always independent.
Always found a way.

TILDEN: I didn't know what to do. I couldn't figure
anything out. (25)

The "urge" Dodge refers to means Tilderfls sexual "urge" or attraction
to mother—Halie, and it becomes clear later on that Tilden's motives
for returning are threefold: first. he literally could not provide for

himself; second. he was arrested and forced to leave the state of New

 

Mexico; third, he 11
deceased son. Tild1
Vince's homecox
educated, he is no 1
Dodge. He attacks.
from civilization t
infantile antics. w
approved situation
momeh He has 100
sufficient decency
enty:
VINCE: E
moving ar
something
true, I'm

carrots)
Plunge it

82

Mexico; third, he longed to be near the natural mother. Halie, of his
deceased son. Tilden's obligatory homecoming is indeed Oedipal.
Vince's homecoming. on the other hand. is less focused. Well-
educated. he is no more articulate than father Tilden nor grandfather
Dodge. He attacks. insults. and then assimilates. He has withdrawn
from civilization to a personal and private world, reverting to
infantile antics. while making the transformation from the socially
approved situation (college) to the claustrophobic domestic situation
(home). He has looked everywhere inside the household in search of
sufficient decency to make life minimally tolerable, but he has come up
empty:
VINCE: Boy! This is amazing. This is truly amazing. (keeps
moving around) What is this anyway? Am I in a time warp or
something? Have I committed an unpardonable offence? It's
true. Ihn not married. (SHELLY looks at him. then back to
carrots) But I'm also not divorced. I have been known to
plunge into sinful infatuation with the Alto Saxophone.

Sucking on number 5 reeds deep into the wee wee hours.

SHELLY: Vince, what are you doing that for? They don%
care about any of that. They just don't recognize you.
that's all.

VINCE: How could they not recognize me! How in hell could
they not recognize mel I'm their son! (41—42)

Later, after he has absorbed as nourishment the cultural tradition of
the family, Vince tells Shelly that the house is "off limits!" and that
"no man or woman has ever crossed the line and lived to tell the tale"
(68).

Vince, like other Shepard heroes, is suddenly transformed into a
defiant and scheming figure because he is "blood conscious."8 He is

conscious of what is. of what must be observed, acknowledged. lived

with. understood, an
essence becomes a tr
motivated by his wil
forgiven. His trans
from good to evil. i
Halie, too. In refe
in his sleep. He'd
voice. Like an ange
of the word "angel"
"Ansel“ is not irrei
and the same? Much
sense of memory (1i
sPeculate that Vine.
fittitious Ansel's .

family) for a world

83

with. understood, and. finally. even forgiven. And when Vince in
essence becomes a true family member. that is when his plotting is
motivated by his will to survive, he has in a sense given in and
forgiven. His transformation from one state of being to another. or
from good to evil. is also observed, acknowledged. and forgiven by
Halie. too. In reference to Vince. she reminisces: "He used to sing
in his sleep. He'd sing. In the middle of the night. The sweetest
voice. Like an angel" (69). She stops for a moment. The significance
of the word "angel" and its familiarity with her alleged late-son
"Ansel" is not irrelevant. Are Vince and the make-believe Ansel one
and the same? Much evidence suggests that they are. and that Halie's
sense of memory (like the entire family's) is distorted. One can only
speculate that Vince's departure for college was synonymous with the
fictitious Ansel's death. In any event, Vince left Halie (and the
family) for a world unknown and incomprehensible to them, so it is
natural that Vince's absence is regarded by Halie as a mysterious
disappearance. or something comparable to death. In addition. Halie
speaks of a younger Vince in terms similar to those spoken about Ansel:
HALIE: . . . I used to lie awake listening to it [the
singing]. I used to lie awake thinking it was all right if
I died. Because Vincent was an angel. A guardian angel.
He'd watch over us. He'd watch over all of us. (69)
These lines. Halie's last spoken while on stage. more than vaguely
resemble Halie's earlier claims that. if alive. Ansel "would've took

care of us." Ultimately, Vince was disowned by Dodge and Tilden when

he left the farm for the possibility of a better. if not different.

life. They resented
Halie's memory is re
make the necessary C
for by the time she
already transformed
an angelic. kind. a1

Once again. She
Dodge. The images a
matches. Appropriat
character can easily
angelic. moral. and
violent, perhaps sui
between. He has her
catastrophe. Shepar
his anger also grow.
That is what happen.
deliberately and em

The childlike inter.

84

life. They resented the fact that he left them, in a sense. "buried."
Halie's memory is refreshed when she first sees Vince. but she cannot
make the necessary connection between Vince and her illusionary Ansel.
for by the time she is reunited with Vince. late in Act Three. he has
already transformed into a replica of Dodge. and Halie only remembers
an angelic. kind. and "guardian"-type person.

Once again. Shepard manipulates identities: Ansel is Vince is
Dodge. The images align and the number of letters in each name
matches. Appropriately. the progression (or moral regression) of
character can easily be traced. Ansel (or Vince) was. as Halie states.
angelic. moral. and generally positive. Dodge. on the other hand. is
violent, perhaps suicidal. and morally ill. Vince falls somewhere in
between. He has become ominous and is on the verge of potential
catastrophe. Shepard suggests here that as one grows. or evolves,
his anger also grows until it simply expunges his world. or negates it.
That is what happened late in life to Dodge. Anger is stimulated
deliberately and emptily as a way of creating a moment of vitality.

The childlike interdependence of Vince and. say. Tilden and Bradley.
emphasizes how essential is the most primitive rapport between humans
to. as Freedman points out. "achieve some moment. some semblance of
emotional aliveness in the vast lunar emptiness of endless living."9
Vince's plot to exploit the family's past quickly. and almost imper—
ceptibly. loses significance during the course of the play. yet this
(the "false" problem of the play. for family members are forever doomed

to ignore the truth of their pasts) does create a vitality that the

family has for so 11

changes: it is no I
but, rather. it is a
confront one anothe

their past.

Symbolically t
and ending of the s
Dewis is accompanie
produced a series of
childish as always.
a sleeping child is
who yells to Halie.
that blanket! That
infant-figure. Shel
making bouillon for
Bradley “slowly rec
Halie and whimpers

reprehensim Prim

85

family has for so long been without. Hence. the focus of the play

changes: it is no longer a matter of what has happened to this family.

 

but. rather. it is a matter of how this family will presently choose to
confront one another given the nature (again. this is secondary) of

their past.

iv

Symbolically the play is cyclical. Rain falls at the beginning
and ending of the story. but Halieusreturn to the house with Father
Dewis is accompanied by warm. sunny weather. For Halie. the rain has
produced a series of baptismal images: she returns home to find Dodge.
childish as always. cuddled up with his overcoat; also in the manner of
a sleeping child is the crippled (emotionally and physically) Bradley.
who yells to Halie. again childishly,'Cimme that blanket! Gimme back
that blanket! That's my blanket" (57). Present. too. is another
infant—figure. Shelly. who "plays house" with Halie's cup and saucer.
making bouillon for Dodge. Other childish gestures exist. for instance
Bradley "slowly recoils. lies back down on sofa. turns his back toward
Halie and whimpers softly" (58). directs Shepard. the result of Halie's
reprehension. Primarily. though. she reacts to father-figure Dewis in
a civilized. adult capacity despite being surrounded by children. Her
affair with Dewis is no secret to the family. but rather an event which
seems undermined and deemphasized because of apathy due to the buried
child. And when Halie throws the rose Father Dewis gave her toward
Dodge. landing squarely between his knees--near the groin—-it is as if

Halie. in her stare which follows. pays homage to the impotency of

 

 

 

Dodge. The rose becc
Dewis's and not Dodg‘
Dodge's confessi
is to be viewed as hi
opportuned to expel
DODGE: Set
boys were
looked lik
settled wi
Halie got
got pregna
We had enc
in the sam
It soon becomes obvi
than any of us. He‘
is the probable fath
dimmed "just like t
Buried Child's
\
engages in drink tht

retaliation. Primi‘

Tentacles animals!

86

Dodge. The rose becomes a phallic symbol. but of course the rose is
Dewis's and not Dodge's gift to Halie.

Dodge's confession. occurring from Shelly's constant inquisitions.
is to be viewed as his own temporary resurrection. For once he is
opportuned to expel the lies and secrets of the family:

DODGE: See. we were a well established family once. All the
boys were grown. .. . Me and Halie were pointed toward what
looked like the middle part of our life. Everything was
settled with us. All we had to do was ride it out. Then
Halie got pregnant again. Outa'the middle a' nowhere. she
got pregnant. We werenLt planning on havin' any more boys.
We had enough boys already. In fact. we hadn% been sleepin'
in the same bed for about six years. (64)
It soon becomes obvious that Tilden, "who knew." states Dodge. "better
than any of us. Hehi walk for miles with that kid in his arms" (65).
is the probable father of the child whom Dodge. out of jealousy.
drowned "just like the runt of a litter" (65).

Buried Child's token normal son turned noble savage, Vince.
engages in drink the whole previous night through. and then seeks
retaliation. Primitively. he claims the'lines have been penetrated!
Tentacles animals! Beasts from the deep" (67) are pursuing him and he
adheres to the porch where he will defend his space. Those "tentacles
animals" are. perhaps, demons of guilt which haunt Vince. for just
earlier he claims that he himself is the "murderer": 'T am a murderer!
Donft underestimate me for a minute! I'm the Midnight Strangler! I
devour whole families in a single gulpP‘(67). In other words. if

Vince is to symbolically transform into Dodge. then he must carry the

burden of murdering the child with him for the rest of his life.

 

Shepard suggeStS he:
ties. but one must
ghosts as well. A8
should come in the:
must be total, part
spirit of his late
Vince also eng
surprise. who in re
wasn't a mean bone
the perfect baby" (1
moments--and not ur
and surrenders his
DODGE: (

over the

It's been
mortgage.

Vince. then, as sume

onl followin his

execution of his w“

the dying D°dge. w}

87

Shepard suggests here that one cannot just inherit the physical quali-
ties. but one must also be willing to adopt the emotional and spiritual
ghosts as well. As Vince states. while still on the porch. "maybe I
should come in there and usurp your territory" (67). That usurpation
must be total. particularly if he is to defend his territory in the
spirit of his late grandfather.

Vince also engages in a series of violent acts. much to Halie's
surprise. who in reference to his former. angelic state. claims "There
wasn‘t a mean bone in his body. Everybody loved Vincent. . . . He was
the perfect baby" (68). It is at this point that Dodge. in his final
moments—-and not unlike Curse‘s Weston—-succumbs to the "enemy" Vince
and surrenders his fortress:

DODGE: (to VINCE) Go ahead! Take over the house! Take
over the whole goddamn house! You can have it! It's yours.
It‘s been a pain in the neck ever since the very first
mortgage. (69)
Vince. then. assumes the house (he has been plotting to obtain it
only following his metamorphosis into Dodge) granted to him in Dodge's
execution of his will. and the rose which he appropriately takes from
the dying Dodge. while smiling. verifies his victory: "(to SHELLY) I
just inherited a house. . . . I gotta carry on the line" (70). But
more than having his name on the house is involved when carrying "on
the line." Not only does Vince inherit Dodge's land. but he also
assuages Dodge in his role as tyrannical and introverted father-figure.
teasing Bradley with his disconnected wooden leg. finally tossing it

far beyond Bradley's reach. Ultimately. Vince also "carries on" all of

the animosity which Dodge felt toward his own children.

 

Dodge‘s expirati
respects to him--that
while placing the to;
death in the play. I-T
Act One, while falli1
company of son Tilde:
account of a baseball
ing a home-run ball <

DODGE: ..
had to fig!
They about
it up. (28

The image of fightir
in the presence of T
discovers-coveted D
you will. In other
adolescent Dodge of

to mean both a basal

does. strip adult Dc

”“86 falls asleep.

liquor from Dodge's

in “e [1“-
ars Just as I

M89 is "completel‘

Writes Shepard. Till

gratification in hi

t' .
line his best whisk

88

Dodge's expiration at the play's end. and Vince's subsequent last
respects to him--that is. the covering the deceased with the blanket
while placing the roses on his chest—~is to be seen as Dodge's third
death in the play. His first and figurative death occurs at the end of
Act One. while falling asleep for the first time in the play and in the
company of son Tilden who at the time is husking corn. In Dodge‘s
account of a baseball game seen as a child. he reminisces about catch-
ing a home-run ball only to have others attempt to rid him of it:

DODGE: .. .I was the first kid out there. First kid. I
had to fight hard for that ball. I wouldn% give it up.

They about tore the ears right off me. But I wouldn't give
it up. (28)

The image of fighting for one's possession. for one's pride and honor.
in the presence of Tilden is appropriate. for Tilden had-—one later
discovers-—coveted Dodge's wife, had torn “the ears right off" him. if
you will. In other words. as the children threatened to strip the
adolescent Dodge of his souvenir "ball." a bawdy pun on Shepardfs part
to mean both a baseball and an act of sex. Tilden threatens, and indeed
does. strip adult Dodge of his wife with whom he bears a child. As
Dodge falls asleep. Tilden stands quietly. ingests a healthy dose of
liquor from Dodge‘s bottle. and buries Dodge in the corn husks—-again
in "ears"--just as Dodge once buried Tildenh; offspring in soil. Once
Dodge is "completely covered in them [husks] except for his head" (28).
writes Shepard. Tilden stares at the corpse-scene (as if receiving some
gratification in his revenge). devours more of Dodge's property (this

time his best whiskey). and exits. It is at this point in the play

 

 

when Dodge is exhaust
left. his last asser1
Similarly. it is at t
is capable of paying

Dodge's second b
rabbit-fur coat over
Dodge with the blank«
Shelly—clearly a sy:
the Cyde is complet
C111“)! expression in
“Malina else) to hi
burial.

D°dge. who admi
(38)‘-his wife is cm
and all against his

has little control 0

89

when Dodge is exhausted of what spiritual virility he may have had
left. his last assertion consisting of the baseball—reverie monologue.
Similarly. it is at this point when Tilden pays what little respects he
is capable of paying to the cuckold who is his father.

Dodgefs second burial takes place when Bradley drops Shelly's
rabbit—fur coat over a sleeping Dodge. ending Act Two. After covering
Dodge with the blanket that he (in a Steinbeckian gesture) coerced from
Shelly-~clear1y a symbolic shroud—-for the last time at the play's end.
the cycle is complete: all three sons have paid their respects (a
clumsy expression in this case that would gladly be surrendered for
something else) to him. and indeed all have assisted somewhat in his
burial.

Dodge. who admits that "Every time I lay down something happens"
(38)—-his wife is coveted. his hair is cut. his farm is repossessed,
and all against his will--is. in a sense. another "buried childJ' He
has little control over circumstances which occur beneath his roof
Provided earlier were accounts of his infantile behavior. and in his
despise of family members his nature has regressed. finally. to a
degree similar to that of a child‘s. Overwhelmed by malaise. Dodge is
the center of his claustrophobic universe. and in his ignorance he
disregards others' actions and reactions toward him.

In Buried Child Shepard ascribes to what Frye calls the "point of
ritual death." an expression representative of the most ironic phase of
comedy. Although for the most part the play does not appear comic.

much of the absurdity results in a blend of satire and black humor.

 

 

And it clearly foil
the "point of ritua
even a hideous one
the end, and is "di
awakening from trig!
Dodge's death is in
Tilden and Halie (a
culprit in the murc
reasons never discu
becoming Dodge him
and one from which

Shepard. howev

90

And it clearly follows a particular comic pattern. According to Frye.
the "point of ritual death" features a plot in which the fear of death.
even a hideous one in some cases. hangs over the central character to
the end. and is "dispelled so quickly that one has almost the sense of
awakening from nightmare."10 Throughout Buried Child the threat of
Dodgekrdeath is impending And many family members have a motive:
Tilden and Halie (although she never admits it) hold him as lifelong
culprit in the murder of their child; Bradley hates his father for
reasons never discussed; and Vince is beleaguered by the threat of
becoming Dodge himself. an inheritance no one of sound mind would want.
and one from which he cannot avert.

Shepard. however. fails to surrender to this ironic phase of
comedy. Dodge is not "dispelled" from death as ordinarily happens.
Instead. he dies. and despite the fact that his death is a form of
spiritual and sexual rebirth for wife Halie and son Tilden. there is
not an eventual "happy ending)’ Sheparws mixing of genres. from
melodramatic to comic to American gothic and tragedy. is another ges-
ture on his part to escape traditional literary convention. Buried
Shild. then. may be viewed as a false comedy-melodrama-American tragedy
in the same sense that the family's reunion in the play may be seen as

a false sign of hope and redemption.

In Curse the risk of losing the estate intensifies the conflict.

 

In Buried Child misidentification. possession. and--to an extent--

obsession with the past intensify the resentment. Again in this play.

 

characters are not ce
to other family membt
network necessary to
well. if at all. tog

Part of the char
Shepard's maturity as
Shepard's dabbling it
incongruous images--
unnatural people. 0,
the world outside th

odologies of Curse a

 

plays show a keen pe

in rural society.

Rural families.

patriarchal units. a
making, Clearly We:

absent to participat

91

characters are not certain how they are to respond to situations or

to other family rnembers. Shepard's characters are without the emotional
network necessary to exist as family members. They do not communicate
well. if at all. together.

Part of the character development in Buried Child is explained by
Shepardfs maturity as a playwright. But the other part indicates
Shepard's dabbling into the surrealistic. or the fantastic. juxtaposing
incongruous images-—corn husks. roses. and dismembered wooden legs-with
unnatural people. Only early on is Vince a spokesman for reality or
the world outside their window. Regardless of the dramaturgical meth—

odologies of Curse and Buried Child, Sheparis ambitious. multimeaning

 

plays show a keen perception of the dynamics of power within the family
in rural society.

Rural families. according to Shepard. are too often stereotyped as
patriarchal units. where husband (father) dominates in all decision
making. Clearly Weston and Dodge are either too incompetent. drunk. or

absent to participate in this type of system. Male dominance in Curse.

 

Buried Child, and True West is contradicted and. finally. becomes myth.
In fact. as the result of rebellious sons (Wesley. Tilden, Bradley.
Vincent. Austin. and Lee). little paternal authority in these rural
situations exists. These homes are without the authority. guidance.
leadership. and experience necessary in order for them to be morally.
psychologically. and financially healthy units.

The Tates and the family in Buried Child (nameless because it could

be any family). as one might suspect. generally lack the authority

 

 

necessary in such ru
empathy. in social c
Only in moments of h
members capable of c
least for the most 1:
other personally and
who is apprehensive
You should be able t
Isolated as the
tightly bound and mu
enterPrise. whether
But what Shepard of:
inteSears lacking in
members are not on

are present on stagt

IsolatiOD.
DODGE: (.
corn) Wh‘
TILDEN
DODGE: Y
(TILDEN n
DODGE: y
TILDEN

92

necessary in such rural households. Likewise. they are lacking in
empathy, in social congruence among themselves. and in self-disclosure.
Only in moments of heated discussion—-and as the result of threats—~are
members capable of comununicating. Members co-reside physically. at
least for the most part. yet they could not be more alienated from each
other personally and socially. For instance, Halie must remind Dodge.
who is apprehensive about his son Bradley's visit. that "he's your son.
You should be able to talk to your son" (15).

Isolated as they are from other families, one might sense a
tightly bound and mutually dependent unit. working together on a common
enterprise, whether that enterprise is raising corn or raising children.
But what Shepard offers is an unprincipled unit comprised of mere
integers lacking in social skills. confidence. and autonomy. Family
members are not on stage together for too long. if at all, and if they
are present on stage for very long-as in Dodge's case-—they die.

Although geographically together. Halie. Dodge, and Tilden could
not be more remote. Dodge's denial of a crop yielded from land not
tilled for forty years indicates their miscommunication and personal
isolation:

DODGE: (Noticing TILDEN'S arms loaded with fresh ears of
corn) Where'd you get that?

TILDEN: Picked it.

DODGE: You picked all that?
(TILDEN nods)

DODGE: You expecting company?

TILDEN: No.

 

DoDGE: W1

TILDEN: I
DODGE: Tl
TILDEN: 'l
DODGE: T]
thirty f ii
(17)

Shortly following t1
about the probabili‘
which even she is 11
he produces a crop :
children from the h

The compatibil
ing. as shall be an
in their relative it
accessibility, used

Emma ‘
1n Curse and b

The sibl ings' isolaw

has not conduced to

 

93

DODGE: Where'd you pick it from?

TILDEN: Right out in back.

DODGE: There's nothing out there!

TILDEN: There's corn.

DODGE: There hasn't been corn out there since about nineteen

thirty five! That's the last time I planted corn out there!

(17)
Shortly following this, Dodge—~himself unsure--must ask wife Halie
about the probability of a viable crop of corn on their acreage. of
which even she is unaware. Tilden. who in fact gets his name because
he produces a crop from barren land. is also fertile enough to produce
children from the barren Halie. and Dodge resents this.

The compatibility of family members in Shepard%:plays is deceiv—

ing, as shall be examined in True West and in F001 for Love. However,
in their relative isolation rarely are family members. despite their

accessibility. used as confidants. Conversations between Wesley and

Emma in Curse and between Tilden and Bradley in Buried Child are few.

 

The siblings' isolation from society--and entrapment with each other——
has not conduced to bring them closer together. Rather, both Tilden

and Bradley communicate. oddly enough. through intruder—figure turned
temporary surrogate—mother-figure Shelly. Tilden. in the tradition of
Steinbeck's Lenny, coerces Shelly into keeping her arm outstretched so
that he may gently, yet obsessively. feel the fur of her coat. This

foreplay lasts until Shelly is compulsed to drop her arm, complaining,

"My arm was getting tired" (46). Tilden then possesses the fur coat.

 

 

 

strokes it, and Emil
sexual control. Tild
this point. son Brad:
of motherly Shelly,
his finger—an obvio
scene suggests the a
tual poverty.
Bradley, like T
sense of identity as
spicuous than that o
Dodge's influence, a:
rejecting. hostile,
benignly attracted t

with their expectat:

tables. states. "I'l

carrots. And I'll d
it through this" (3‘

The desire to c

B ' .
urred Child: Halie

 

94

strokes it, and smiles until ownership is his. Shortly after, beyond
sexual control, Tilden "bolts and runs off up stage left" (49). At
this point, son Bradley gratuitously resumes the figurative molestation
of motherly Shelly, bludgeoning her to open her mouth while he inserts
his finger-an obvious phallic symbol—-against her will. This rape
scene suggests the aggression resulting from his emotional and spiri—
tual poverty.

Bradley, like Tilden. suffers from serious disturbances in his
sense of identity as an adult. and his incapacity appears more con-
spicuous than that of others. Unable to emancipate themselves from
Dodgefls influence. and in their identification with the domineering.
rejecting. hostile, and aggressive father. Tilden and Bradley are
benignly attracted to the apparently submissive Shelly. who. consistent
with their expectations and Tildenls request for help preparing vege-
tables. states.'q'll stay and IUJ.cut the carrots. And IUJ.cook the
carrots. And I'll do whatever I have to do to survive. Just to make
it through this" (39).

The desire to control is rampant among the family members in
Buried Child: Halie, most central in this approach. wishes to control
the past by concealing it. by hiding it from herself and from others;
Dodge. who provides his offspring with a protective shield that retards

the rate at which his children confront reality, yearns to control-—if
not limit--his hours of consciousness by indulging in drink and sleep.

In this, and in his eventual death, he controls by escaping necessary

 

 

 

confrontations and C
desire the control C
manipulation of She]
child" is an exhibit
for emotional and P1
Dodge.

Certain points
thing, is futureless
enced as action in I
there is, is mainly
Second, and as a res
status-quo. however
change to take placr
neglect to recognize
and Halie's child.
Vince and Shelly, 111
static presence, an
The overwhelming fe
invaded, or at less
His Presence threat.

dangers involved in

15 defenseless.

95

confrontations and commitment to this farm; both Tilden and Bradley
desire the control of something, anything, so they resort to the
manipulation of Shelly; and of course Tilden%sfathering of the "buried
child" is an exhibition of the ultimate control. the return to mother
for emotional and physical succor, and a retaliation against hostile
Dodge.

Certain points seem important in the family. The family. for one
thing. is futureless because past memories and phantasies are experi-
enced as action in the present. Family energy. what little of it left
there is, is mainly spent on seeing each day through. on surviving.
Second, and as a result of this basic insecurity, is to maintain the
status-quo, however unsatisfactory and frozen, rather than to allow
change to take place. This is the primary motive behind Dodge's
neglect to recognize grandson Vince. and behind his murdering of Tilden
and Halie's child. The arrival of the child. similar to the arrival of
Vince and Shelly, marks change and disrupts the continuity of Dodge's
static presence. and represents insecurity greater than he can bear.
The overwhelming fear on Dodgefls part is that he and his land will be
invaded. or at least threatened. The same applies to Vince's visit.
His presence threatens Dodge with feelings, ideas, and ultimately the
dangers involved in prying open the past. In this Dodge knows that he
is defenseless. Finally, the unconscious phantasy of their common
past. hence the "buried child," interlocked by the four members of the

family for too long, is exposed. Shelly alone. in her subjugation--her

 

 

 

a: ev’fi’hl‘its sea-y await from Visas. rot

 

 

 

 

lRon Mottram.
(Coltmbia: The Uni

2Sam Shepard.
John Glore. 4. “35

D.C., 15 April 195

3Thomas Nash.
Folklore. " Modern

4Northrop Fry‘
University Press.

the same obvious p:

5See John G. (
Green University P<

6Cawelti 78

7Sam Shepard,
68.

8"Blood consci
Moral Impulse: Mo<
Edwardsville: South
to the characters a
should be noted her
particularly in She

97

NOTES--CI-1API‘ER II

1Ron Mottram, Inner Landscapes: The Theater of Sam Shepard
(Columbia: The University of Missouri Press. 1984) 138.

2Sam Shepard. Buried Child, dir. Gilbert Moses, prod. notes by

John Glore. 4. Washington Drama Society. Inc. Arena Stage. Washington.
D.C" 15 April 1983.

3Thomas Nash. "Sam Sheparis Buried Child: The Ironic Use of
Folklore," Modern Drama 12 (1983): 4.

4Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton

University Press. 1957) 42. Also see the Nash article. for he asserts
the same obvious principle.

5See John G. Cawelti, The Six—Gun Mystigue (Bowling Green: Bowling
Green University Popular Press. 1984) 72.

6Cawelti 78

7Sam Shepard, Hawk Moon (Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press. 1973)
68.

8"Blood consciousness" is a term used by Morris Freedman in The

Moral Impulse: Modern Drama from Ibsen to the Present (Carbondale and
Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. 1967), in reference

to the characters and work of Frederico Garcia Lorca. However. it

should be noted here that this principle is common in much writing, and
particularly in Shepard's.

9Freedman 119.

lOFrye 177—79.

 

 

 

My Dad ‘
with pa

A Weste

frontie
anarchy

of pure

At the core of

struggle. the confl
"civil war of famil

screenwriter. and b

petty thief. compet

roles of masculinit

CHAPTER III

TRUE WEST

My Dad lives alone on the desert.

He says he doesn't fit
with people.

--Sam Shepard
Motel Chronicles. p. 56

A Western that does not take place in the West, near the
frontier, at a point in history when social order and

anarchy are in tension, and that does not involve some form
of pursuit. is simply not a Western.

--John G. Cawelti

The Six-Gun Mystigue, p. 58

At the core of Shepard's most popular and frequently produced play.

True West, is what at first appears to be a contemporary Cain and Abel

struggle, the conflict of sibling rivalry. Ron Mottram calls the play a
"Civil war of family life.’'1 Brother Austin, a literate and aspiring
screenwriter, and brother Lee, a desert-delinquent who survives as a
petty thief, compete against each other. while revealing contrasting
roles of masculinity. Austin appears to have succeeded in fulfilling
the American Dream. Lee. on the other hand, appears to be a replica of
his Old Man. dislocated in his sensibilities. a wanderer. Yet through
his denial of his past. Lee self-creates himself into. among other

things, a script-writer and adequate—enough-to-seal—a-deal golfer.

98

But the anomaly
possesses "the visic
is barren, losing P‘
action. Indeed this
principle of the pla
"self-divided" theme
the same self.

Yet more than t
Shepard, with his d
the subterranean th
altogether illusory-
of American fatherl
Shepard remarks tha
today's West can ne
most profoundly, Sh
In017Phic and without

enable one to trave

future. Each direc

The psyche of 1

work, and another 1'

tiv
e. But accordix

You do:
male i
have t]
hood. I

99

But the anomaly is not authentic, for it is Lee who actually
possesses "the vision." be it artistic or instinctive. and Austin who
is barren, losing perspective and perception during the course of the
action. Indeed this eventual character reversal, the major structural
principle of the play, contains the significant Shepard plot. and the
"self-divided" theme.2 The two brothers represent different halves of
the same sel f.

Yet more than the Jeckle and Hyde motif exists in True West.

 

Shepard, with his disguises, transpositions, even evasions in handling
the subterranean theme of the Old West as something elusive--if not
altogether illusory--is ultimately dealing with the declining morality
of American fatherhood. brotherhood. and general fraternity. Second.
Shepard remarks that the West of myth and legend is dead and that
today's West can never measure up to its myth. Finally. and perhaps
most profoundly, Shepard proposes that the human imagination is meta-
morphic and without boundaries. and the skills of the imagination can
enable one to travel into one's past and away from one's present and

future. Each direction offers its rewards and its dangers.

i
The psyche of the American male has constantly dominated Shepardm

work. and another investigation of male relationships may seem repeti-

tive. But according to Shepard.

You donft have to 100k very hard to see that the American

male is on a‘very bad trip.. .. American women at least
have the pretense of being involved in some kind of Sister-

hood. whereas men very. very rarely form a real strong

 

connecti‘
only verj
lifetime
Sigmund Freud is
the son's identifica‘
still held by most 1
recent view of ident
rists. focusing on 1
of this simplified 1
like father. like 3
The house where
“meeting point betw
aSIGEd to take care
also plans to work
named Saul Kimmer.
sions instantly sug
AUSTIN:
LEE: 1
AUSTIN
LEE:
AUSTIN
LEE:
AUSTIN
LEE:
AUSTIh

LEE:
her p]

100

connection with one another. With men I think it happens
only very. yery rarely. magbe with one or two guys in your
lifetime--if you're lucky.

Sigmund Freud is generally credited with the first detailed view of
the sonfisidentification with his father, a view which is apparently
still held by most psychoanalytically oriented professionals. A more
recent view of identification is that held by social-learning theo—
rists, focusing on learning through observing and imitating. In light
of this simplified overview. one finds a major Shepardian obsession:

like father. like son.

The house where the action of True West takes place is "Mom'sfl'the

"4

"meeting point between civilization and savagery, and Austin has

agreed to take care of her plants while she vacations in Alaska. He
also plans to work in peace on a screenplay for a Hollywood producer

named Saul Kimmer. The aggressive, Mojave-Desert-living Lee's intru—

sions instantly suggest a territorial struggle:

AUSTIN: You going to be down here very long. Lee?
LEE: Might be. Depends on a few things.

AUSTIN: You got some friends down here?

LEE: (laughs) I know a few people. yea.

AUSTIN: Well, you can stay here as long as I'm here.

LEE: I don't need your permission do I?

AUSTIN: No.

LEE: I mean she's my mother too, right?

AUSTIN: Right.

LEE: She might've just as easily asked me to take care of
her place as you.

 

AUST

LEE:

Both Lee and Aus
vacancy left by l
from. despite hi1
Although Aus1

by Lee's presence
dialogue: "So Y(
sive behavior on
character imagine
fully his, and he

Shortly aft er

offers back Austi

LEE:

101

AUSTIN: That's right.

LEE: I mean I know how to water plants. (7)
Both Lee and Austin secretly and subconsciously yearn to fill the
vacancy left by their absent father. whom they have somehow learned

from, despite his absence.

Although Austin does not appear defensive. he is clearly threatened
by Leeds presence, and his concern is verbalized in his next line of
dialogue: "So you know how long youfll be staying then?" (7L Defen—
sive behavior on both their parts is common throughout the play. Each
character imagines or fantasizes that the domain he stands on is right-
fully his, and he wishes to protect it.

Shortly after this scene, the conflict of territory returns. Lee
offers back Austin's car keys, and the slate has been wiped clean:

LEE: There. Now you got your keys back.
(AUSTIN looks up at LEE but doesn't take keys)

LEE: Go ahead. There's your keys.

(AUSTIN slowly takes keys off table and puts them back into
his own pocket)

LEE: Now what're you gonna' do? Kick me out?
AUSTIN: I'm not going to kick you out. Lee.
LEE: You couldn't kick me out, boy.

AUSTIN: I know. (23)

Later on in the play. however. when personalities have been reversed
and each character desires his father's isolated lifestyle and iden-

tity. the struggle for authority and power within the house is no

  

V _ 1
stolen televuion.‘

l
leads to further :1

|
Lee:
days? 1

SAUL:
the st

LEE:

SAUL:
eager

LEE:
SAUL:

LEE:
think

SW1 is soon sold
3°15 Esme during
"Part a' the adva:
If he wishes to c

Write Leels:

LEE:
Cours

(AU 3':
table

AU ST]

LEE;
acre:

102

longer an issue. The object, then. is to see who can escape first. or

who can abandon responsibility (as did their father) first.

The next day, Austin and Saul's conference regarding the screenplay

is interrupted by an intruding Lee. who returns to the house with a

stolen television. Soon. Saul agrees to play golf with Lee, and this

leads to further negotiations:

Lee: So ya' think there's room for a real Western these
days? A true-to-life Western?

SAUIA Well, I don't see why not. Why don't you uh--tell
the story to Austin and have him write a little outline.

LEE: You'd take a look at it then?

SAUL: Yes. Sure. Ifll give it a read-through. Always
eager for new material. (smiles at AUSTIN)

LEE: That's great! You'd really read it then huh?
SAUL: It would just be my opinion of course.

LEE: That's all I want. Just an opinion. I happen to
think it has a lota' possibilities. (l9)

Saul is soon sold on Lee's "Western," and. following Saul and Lee's
golf game during which Lee was awarded Saul's clubs and golf bag as
"part a' the advance" (28). Austin discovers that plans have changed.
If he wishes to continue his own project. he must first agree to ghost-

write Lee's:

LEE: Yer gonna'get a nice fee fer writin'the script a'
course. Straight fee.

(AUSTIN stops, stares at LEE. puts glasses and bottle on
table. pause)

AUSTIN: I'm writing the script?

LEE: That's what he said. Said we couldn't hire a better
screen—writer in the whole town.

 

 

 

Appropriate to
poses to Saul is oh
Austin: one man cl
Austin's Western :11:
misht have it). a.
subliminauy expre
second his percepti
brother. in which ,

LEE:

103

AUSTIN: But I'm already working on a script. I've got my
own preject. I don't have time to write two scripts.

LEE: No. he said he was gonna' drop that other one.

(pause)

AUSTIN: What? You mean mine? He's going to drop mine and
do yours instead?

LEE: (smiles) Now look, Austin, it's jest beginner's luck
ya' know. I mean I sank a fifty foot putt for this deal.
No hard feelings. (29-30)

Appropriate to the play's subject. the script idea that Lee pro-
poses to Saul is obviously similar to the conflict between Lee and
Austin: one man chases another across the prairie. first in trucks (as
Austin's Western might have it) and then on horseback (as Lee's Western
might have it). But the plot involves more. for in his outline Lee
subliminally expresses first his desire to retreat from society. and
second his perception of the relationship between himself and his
brother. in which the territorial struggle resumes:

LEE: . .. So they take off after each other straight into
an endless black prairie. The sun is just comin' down and
they can feel the night on their backs. What they don%
know is that each one of 'em is afraid, see. Each one
separately thinks he's the only one that's afraid. And
they keep ridin'like that.. .. And the one who's chasin'
doesn't know where the other one is taking him. And the
one who's being chased doesn't know where he's going. (27)
It is as if Lewis and Clark had turned on each other in their expedi—
tion to the Pacific. This passage ends Act One with much tension
between the brothers: talk of the wilderness has led Austin astray.

and an ambiguous Lee pauses in his story, anticipating the next scene

as if he himself "doesn't know where" the story "is taking him."

As Cawelti writ
pursuit. is simply
the pursued is impc
instincts (to steal
by his vision. or t
materialize. Austi
if it were any othe
his biological inhe
society (and rules)
can (and possibly w
fact that the incal
the socially elite.
denies logic. And

that illoEiC and A1

AUSTIN
many 8
break

LEE:
idea,

The pause which it

suggests Austin's .

104

As Cawelti writes, "A Western that does not involve some form of
pursuit. is simply not a Westernflé and that each is the pursuer and
the pursued is important in True West. Lee. for instance, pursues his
instincts (to steal, to fantasize. to survive). yet he is also pursued
by his vision, or the screenplay of his life which has waited years to
materialize. Austin. on the other hand, pursues his writing career as
if it were any other job. However, he is also pursued by the threat of
his biological inheritance. which is a constant reminder to him that
society (and rules) has failed both his father and his brother. and it
can (and possibly will) eventually fail him, too. To begin with. the
fact that the incapable Lee plays golf. usually a sport practiced by
the socially elite. and presumably sells an idea for a screenplay,
denies logic. And appropriately, Act Two itself begins by emphasizing

that illogic and Austin's reaction to it:

AUSTIN: Well that is really incredible Lee. You know how
many guys spend their whole lives down here trying to
break into this business? Just trying to get in the door?

LEE: (Pulling clubs out of bag. testing them) I got no
idea. How many? (28)

The pause which follows. and Austin's subsequent change of topic,
Suggests Austin's lack of faith in Lee's ability to comprehend the
significance of his own success.

The previous scene leads to a major point in True West when,
depressed and jealous over Lee's apparent success with Saul. and
following Lee's challenge that Austin "can't steal a toaster without
gettin' busted" (38), Austin steals a.'whole bunch of toasters" (48)

and lines them up on the sink counter next to Lee's stolen television.

 

 

 

 

 

Lee agrees. but in

first. This seemed

Alaska. She first;
plants are dead: th
strewn; Austin's ty

MOM: .

AUSTIN:
and uh-

105

Lee regards Austin's act as "the dumbest thing" (43) he has ever seen.
yet Austin glows with pride at having successfully entered the violent
and hard-luck lifestyle of his brother. Next, Austin wishes to abandon
his wife and suburban habits altogether and to join Lee in the desert.
Lee agrees, but insists that Austin help him finish the movie script
first. This scene. however, is interrupted by Mom's early return from
Alaska. She first notices that the house has been destroyed. Her
plants are dead; the kitchen drawers along with their contents are
strewn; Austin's typewriter is smashed:

MOM: . . . (she surveys space) What happened in here?

AUSTIN: Oh um--Me and Lee were just sort of celebrating
and uh--

MOM: Celebrating?

AUSTIN: Yeah. Uh—-Lee sold a screenplay. A story, I
mean.

MOM: Lee did?

AUSTIN: Yeah.

MOM: Not you?

AUSTIN: NO. Him.

MOM: (to LEE) You sold a screenplay?

LEE: Yeah. That's right. We're just sorta' finishing it
up right now. That's what we're doing here. (53)

Finally. Austin announces that he is going away "to the desert to live"
(53) with Lee, and Mom reacts with surprise. When Austin reveals that
they are "going to a different desert" than the one where their father

(an older version of Lee) currently lives. Mom replies. "Well, youUl

 

probably wind uP on
is aware of the "co
could not avert the
announces that she :
Lee suddenly renege
desert. Austin wrap
from behind. Straz
despite Mom's state
under these condit:
leaves. Finally. I
he suddenly jumps ‘
for Austin. In Sh.
brothers now appea

are very still but

Here. one cann
Albee's Mm

inherent in a soci

m» 1:00, when b1

QXiStence in batt]

106

probably wind up on the same desert sooner or later" (53). Mom, too.
is aware of the "curseJ' Annoyed that even the promising son. Austin.
could not avert the curse which has for a long time held Lee. she
announces that she is going to the museum to see Picasso. But when
Lee suddenly reneges on his agreement to accompany Austin into the
desert, Austin wraps the telephone cord around his hand and attacks Lee
from behind. Strangling Lee. Austin claims that he "can kill him" (58)
despite Mom's statement that he cannot. Mom then announces that living
under these conditions is "worse than being homeless" (59) and she
leaves. Finally, Lee lies silent and motionless on the floor. until
he suddenly jumps to his feet. blocking off the only route of escape
for Austin. In Shepardfs stage directions. "the figures of the
brothers now appear to be caught in a vast desert-like landscape, they
are very still but watchful for the next move. . ." (60).

Here. one cannot help but notice a likeness in theme to Edward

Albee's The Zoo Story, for again Shepard investigates the conflicts

inherent in a society where communication collapses. The end of True

 

Eggt. too. when brothers Austin and Lee quest to terminate each other%
existence in battle, refers directly to Albee's play. but in Shepard's
there is no obvious victor. Each character in his own vitality and
desire for survival has become indestructible. Each communicates
exclusively on a physical level because he is verbally illiterate.

Each play in the trilogy includes a "primary father" and a devoted
son who. despite filial aggressions, takes his father‘s place. spiri~

tually. emotionally. psychologically. or even physically: In Curse of

 

 

 

the Starvin Class

takes Dodge's; and
with his father, P'
battle for the rig]
have suffered by h
It is ironic that 1
they also honor th
wretched view one
Nepards. though.
characters in thei‘
u in True West.
Austin's conse‘
the play is not to
asa confirmation
smmtsdf.lmg
car keys back fron
jUSt take a drive
i1‘the Spirit of
a little tour" thr
"bigger crimes"

t]

M“ changes into

AU STI}
five

North
help.
toast

LEE:

107

the Starving Class Wesley assumes Westonis role; in Buried Child Vince
takes Dodge's; and in True West Lee--who has spent time on the desert
with his father, practicing the role which he is to inherit--and Austin
battle for the right to assume their Old Man's position. All four sons
have suffered by having despondent. rejected (and rejecting) fathers.
It is ironic that not only do the sons hate and fear their fathers. but
they also honor them as model figures. despite the pitiable and
wretched view one may have of them as parental figures. In no play of
Shepard's. though. is as much tension and competition employed by
characters in their attempts to ensure identification with the father
as in True West.

Austin's consenting to write Lee's screenplay in the second half of
the play is not to be seen. then. as a submission to Lee% power. but
as a confirmation of Austin's metamorphosis into the Old Man: his
secret self, long evident in brother Lee. is exposed. He demands his
car keys back from Lee so that the lines of escape are open: "I might
just take a drive out to the desert for a while" (32). He gets drunk
in the spirit of Lee. He threatens (a threat he carries out) to "make
a little tour" through the neighborhood in an attempt to commit even
"bigger crimes" than his brother "ever dreamed of" (39). His dialect
even changes into the cowboy vernacular identified with Lee:

AUSTIN: (following LEE% request to phone his wife) Shds
five hundred miles away. North. North of here. Up in the
North country where things are calm. I don't need any
help. I'm gonna'go outside and Im1gonna'steal a

toaster. I'm gonna' steal some other stuff too. . . .

LEE: Just hang on a moment. Austin.

 

NETm:
You g0
forwar
blossm
Lights
lights.
Safe.

We'rei

LEE:

AUSTIN
We jus

After this, the sp‘
devour Austin. He
andto become soci
that this seclusic

As Austin pleads:

There's

were ki
But now'
somethr
familia
way to.
recogni:
her. S
on or s
more.

 

108

AUSTIN: Why? What for? You don't need my help. right?
You got a handle on the project. Besides. I'm lookin'
forward to the smell of the night. The bushes. Orange
blossoms. Dust in the driveways. Rain bird sprinklers.
Lights in the people's houses. You're right about the
lights. Lee. Everybody else is livin' the life. Indoors.
Safe. This is a Paradise down here. You know that?
We're living' in a Paradise. We've forgotten about that.

LEE: You sound just like the Old Man now.

AUSTIN: Yea. well we all sound alike when we're sloshed.
We just sorta' echo each other. (39)

After this. the spirit and personality of the precarious Old Man
devour Austin. He wishes to escape the rapid change of modern America
and to become socially and psychologically isolated. hoping. of course.

that this seclusion might save him from the ravages of time and space.

As Austin pleads:

There's nothin' down here for me. There never was. When we
were kids here it was different. There was a life here then.
But now--I keep comin' down here thinkin'it's the fifties or
somethinh I keep finding myself getting off the freeway at
familiar landmarks that turn out to be unfamiliar. On the
way to appointments. Wandering down streets I thought I
recognized that turn out to be replicas of streets I remem—
ber. Streets I misremember. Streets I can%:tell if I lived
on or saw in a postcard. Fields that don‘t even exist any-

more.

LEE: There's no point cryin' about that now.

AUSTIN: There's nothin' real down here. Lee! Least of all
me! (49)

The sense of insecurity and a reluctance to adapt to change. Shepard
seems to say. is the by-product of a culture which increasingly
promotes progress and its resulting chaos. But for Austin, optimism
and the status-quo have become a myth in the face of materialism. They

suggest a craze for conformity and the incapacity for loyalty to family

 

 

members. Like his
home. for even dur:
his wife and child
his transformation
father at the play
It begins, in fact,
home, thus returni:
with the illusions
envied Lee's voyem
while Lee longs tc
"Lee's got the rig
What am I doing?"
The declining
fraternity in m
gives Way to other
the sterile, mindl
fathers and sons 5
fathers and sons i

that brothers Tild

“when Wesley is

 

109

members. Like his father. Austin has dodged the responsibility to
home. for even during the course of the play's action he is absent from
his wife and children. In other words. Austinfs personal dilemma and
his transformation into his father (and/or into Lee. an image of the
father at the play's start) begins long before Lee's influence on him.
It begins. in fact. when he agrees to be the caretaker of his mother's
home, thus returning to his geographic roots and to a confrontation
with the illusions he has held since childhood. Yet he has always
envied Lee's voyeurism and sense of adventure. It is ironic. too. that
while Lee longs to be "just like" Austin. Austin. in turn. often thinks
"Lee's got the right idea. He's out there in the world and here I am.
What am I doing?" (26).

The declining morality of American fatherhood. brotherhood. and
fraternity in True West. and in Shepard's plays in general, usually
gives way to other. less hidden themes. But Shepard is disappointed by
the sterile, mindless. and often cruel relationships first between
fathers and sons and then between brothers. The dissension between
fathers and sons is often clear, but it is appropriate to note here
that brothers Tilden and Bradley in Buried Child rarely confide in one
another: Wesley is brotherless in Curse of the Starving Clas . and so
he has no one to confide in. The family. however. is a trap for
brothers Lee and Austin; preceded by their father. they enter willingly
into an alienated world. They believe. in fact. that this world offers

freedom. security. relief from conjugal obligations. and. finally.

 

 

 

opportunities for j
the conjugal famin
Briefly defin
ncularly after hi1
fluormal group of
voluntary formal a
important “referen
ences in the socia

DeHoyas and De Hc

The Amig
control
Mexican
Signific
nature a
to beg
levels;
non in p

Desvite their m.
speleiCally desi1

for New Mexico, h

ing than those of
often escapes to I

one must aggume t

might offer.

CommuniCatic
lmpossible becaus

Shepard's males

llO

opportunities for participation in a specific social system external to
the conjugal family. This world is known as the Amigo System.

Briefly defined. the Amigo System exists when the husband (par-
ticularly after his marriage) alienates the wife and participates in an
informal group of male peers who. in a society of relatively few
voluntary formal and informal organizations. constitute for him an
important "reference group."6 It is one of the most important influ-
ences in the socialization of the Mexican male. and. according to
De Hoyas and De Hoyas,

The Amigo System acts as a powerful mechanism of social
control which extensively and effectively influences the
Mexican male throughout his life. Although there may be some
significant class differences in certain dimensions in the
nature and extent of this control, the Amigo System appears
to be a high status group for males at all socioeconomic
levels; therefore it cogstitutes a universal social phenome—
non in Mexican society.
Despite their attempts at Americanization. Shepard's fathers and sons
specifically desire such a system. Tilden in Buried Child leaves home
for New Mexico. hoping to find the loyalties that can develop between
males. or "amigos." loyalties which can often be considered more bind-
ing than those of kinship.8 Weston in Curse of the Starving Class
often escapes to Mexico for that same reason. and when the play ends
one must assume that he will again seek the comradeship that Mexico
might offer.
Communication between father and son. therefore. becomes
impossible because of the Amigo System. As a rite of passage for

Shepard's males. this system (which ideally encourages the seeker's

independence, aggressiveness. and machoism) also leads to alienation of

 

 

the wife and child
experience fully t]
family system migh
tionships between

respectively. Fills
absent father figu
has become sexual

In True West,

 

name is never offs
father figures) ha
and acceptability.
are abandoned and
situation. Both 1
disappear" (41), 3
in the desert. NI
according to Shep
West and the West
neither Weston, '1
have seen the sys

security fOun d it

111

the wife and children. They are left out of the system.9 and d0 not
experience fully the rewards and stability that a more traditional
family system might afford. This helps to explain the peculiar rela-
tionships between mothers Ella and Halie and sons Wesley and Tilden in.
respectively. Curse of the Starving Class and Buried Child. Because of
absent father figures. the dependence upon each other as mother and son
has become sexual as well as emotional.

In True West. too. the same system is at work. The Old Man (his
name is never offered because he represents all Old Men or fill husband—
father figures) has retreated to Mexico in search of male companionship
and acceptability. Mom (again she could represent all "moms") and sons
are abandoned and left to accommodate themselves to the demands of the
situation. Both Austin and Lee acknowledge the fact that "nobody can
disappear" (41), yet each tries to do so. Like his Old Man. Lee failed
in the desert. Now Austin attempts to disappear. It is clear.
according to Shepard. that the succass of the Amigo System-—like the
West and the Western (as a genre) itself—-is a myth. To begin with.

neither Weston. Tilden. nor the Old Man is Mexican.10

yet they must
have seen the system work in movies or during the war. The sense of
security found in a fraternity of this nature seems desirable to them,
or at least more desirable than their present paternal condition in
which the responsibilities required of them grossly outweigh the
rewards.

Weston. Tilden. and the Old Man. however. are as much failures in

their attempts to fraternize with other men as they are in their

 

 

attempts to provide
their reluctance to
with their homes. 1
the point that. as
the Old Man "outa'
The strains 01
foremost. in terms
No longer is just '
unit in his very at
alienated beyond r
a failure as a pro
attemPts to, as Sh
another male. So:
they Cannot even a
do not know What i
Lee, who him
System is excite.
Lee: I;
risht a:
(pause)

SAUL:
LEE: y

after a
0thEr' s

112

attempts to provide for their families. As a result. and because of
their reluctance to return full time to the consequences associated
with their homes. they live (or have lived) in complete isolation to
the point that. as Austin says. "it might take more than money" to get
the Old Man "outa' hock" (25) and back into reality.

The strains of the nuclear family system are expressed. first and
foremost. in terms of isolation. Shepard takes it one step further.
No longer is just the family unit isolated. The individual within the
unit in his very attempt to escape from such isolated deadlock is
alienated beyond restoration. In other words. not only is the Old Man
a failure as a provider for the family. but he is also defeated in his
attempts to, as Shepard says. "form a real strong connection" with
another male. Sons Lee and Austin require that same "connection." yet
they cannot even achieve harmony between themselves. Ultimately. they
do not know what it means to get along.

Lee. who himself has taken trips to Mexico in search of an Amigo
System. is excited at the thought of a golf engagement with Saul:

Lee: 'At's the spirit! We'll have a little orange juice
right afterwards.

(pause)

SAUL: Orange juice?

LEE: Yeah! Vitamin C! Nothin' like a shot a' orange juice
after a round a' golf. Hot shower. Snappin' towels at each

other's privates. Real sense a' fraternity.

SAUL: (smiles at AUSTIN) Well. you make it sound very
inviting. I must say. It really does sound great. (17)

 

 

With the social fun
has been separated.
other words. golf 1
event. It allows h
into the male comm
after his metamorpl
sexual relationship
Austin also comes t
insisting that "a v
switching roles wi
eroSexual relation
Ihaven't heard a r
this. of course. L

returns home at th

The rivalry b
journeyful rite of
Choice-WM Austi!

equipment (Lee bel

the desert) sets i

exploration of th«
Propositio,1 SUgge

family is respons

reside, 30th Lee

Progenit ers, and

113

With the social function of the family lost. mostly because the family
has been separated. Lee creates his own fraternity as a substitute. In
other words. golf for Lee becomes a social event rather than a sporting
event. It allows him to fulfill the need to accept and to be accepted
into the male community. Austin does not acknowledge this need until
after his metamorphosis. Until then. he is content with the hetero-
sexual relationship with his wife. with whom he has children. But
Austin also comes to pursue some fraternal community of his own,
insisting that "a woman isn‘t the answer. Never was," whereupon
switching roles with his brother, Lee suddenly senses value in a het-
erosexual relationship. As he then states, "I wanna' talk to a woman.
I haven't heard a woman's voice in a long time" (45). Shortly after
this. of course. Lee does indeed hear a "woman's voice" when his mother

returns home at the end of the play.

The rivalry between the two brothers. Lee who has already made his
journeyful rite of passage——not out of choice but out of lack of
choice-—and Austin who desires to choose that experience but lacks the
equipment (Lee believes that Austin would "just burn up" (55) out in
the desert) sets forth the first of two basic propositions in this
exploration of the morality of brotherhood and fraternity. The other

proposition suggests that the psychosocial interior of the biological
family is responsible for the communicative universe in which members
reside. Both Lee and Austin are victims of a family of listless

Progenitors. and as such their fates as humans are limited and

 

 

predetermined. On
the kinship of act
To explicate
a brief abstract c
expounded by Benja
activities-~percei
tann communicatir
organizing his 1ii
that confront him.
language and that

those who speak 1

' ' - Ti
grammar
ment fo
ideas,

activit
of his 3
the lin
and typ
not fin
on the

114

predetermined. On the largest scale, the kinship of language. as is
the kinship of action. is their legacy.

To explicate the kinship of language in respect to Lee and Austin.
a brief abstract of a Whorfian hypothesis. an anthropological view
expounded by Benjamin Lee Whorf. must first be undertaken. Cognitive
activities-~perceiving. attending, knowing. thinking. and most impor-
tant. conununicating—-are a significant part of manfs resources for
organizing his life. directing his activities. and solving the problems
that confront him. The hypothesis asserts that thinking is shaped by

language and that a language reveals basic trends in the culture of

those who speak it:

. . . The background linguistic system (in other words. the
grammar) of each language is not merely a reproducing instru-
ment for voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of
ideas. the program and guide for the individual's mental
activity. for his analysis of impressions. for his synthesis
of his mental stock in trade.. .. We dissect nature along
the lines laid down by our native languages. The categories
and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do
not find there because they stare every observer in the face:
on the contrary. the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic
flux of impressions which has to be organized by our minds--
and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our
minds. We cut nature up, organize it in this way—-an agree-
ment that holds throughout our speech community and is codi—
fied in the patterns of our language. This agreement is. of
course, an implicit and unstated one. BUT ITS TERMS ARE
ABSOLUTELY OBLIGATORY: we cannot talk at all except by
subscribing to the organization and classification of data

which the agreement decrees.

Because any given language embodies a set of rules for framing communi—
cation. Whorf proposes that language helps shape thought itself. It
would be remiss to suggest a study of True West without addressing the

dialogue and how it factors character. plot. and theme.

 

Shepard's char
indicative of the t
are a part. Unlik:
Suicide in BE, amo
weapon. characters
done do not suffi
and Peter's dilemu
admonition, a dear

tion.

In the battle
Lee. Words have 1

AUSTIN:
YoWre r
car] Y
anythin

(Lee tr:
llke an
bEIlows
LEE's a
floor. 1
Pulls c
back an

MOM: (

115

Shepard's characters speak the language of violence. a language
indicative of the cowboy culture of which his characters believe they
are a part. Unlike earlier works (Cowboys #2. The Tooth of Crime. and
Suicide in B2. among others). in which language is used as a main
weapon, characters in True West resort to physical violence when words
alone do not suffice. In part. the play may again be likened to Jerry
and Peter's dileuuna in Albee's The Zoo Stogy where. in a final act of
admonition. a death results from an unsuccessful attempt at communica—
tion.

In the battle which closes True West Austin attempts to strangle
Lee. Words have run dry. and action must now determine fate:

AUSTIN: (tightening cord) You're not goin' anywhere!
You're not takin' anything with you! You're not takin' my
car! You're not takin' the dishes! Youfre not takin'
anything! You're stayin' right here!

(Lee tries to tear himself away. he crashes across the stage
like an enraged bull dragging AUSTIN with him. he snorts and
bellows but AUSTIN hangs on and manages to keep clear of
LEE's attempts to grab him. they crash into the table. to the
floor. LEE is face down thrashing wildly and choking, AUSTIN
pulls cord tighter. stands with one foot planted on LEE's
back and the cord stretched taut)

MOM: (calmly to AUSTIN) You're not killing him are you?

AUSTIN: I don't know. I donit know if I'm killing him. I'm
stopping him. That's all. I'm just stopping him.

(LEE thrashes but AUSTIN is relentless)

MOM: You oughta' let him breathe a little bit. (57)
After Mom leaves, Austin offers to turn Lee loose if he gives Austin a
"little headstart" (59). But Lee remains silent, apparently dead from

strangulation. until Austin releases tension on the cord. Then Lee

 

 

rises like the Ph
the chase scene f:

tale is now at ha:

Tooth of Crime. 8.:

Neither Lee 1
otherwise than vi!
the language of a
end--characterist:
fraternal system ‘
The motives for m'
destroy, or as Mo
sees in Lee; cone.
Whith lives in hi
again suggests th.
invincible.

Final 1y) UEi'

116

rises like the Phoenix and prevents Austin's escape. It is clear that
the chase scene foreshadowed earlier by Lee's "true to life" Western-
tale is now at hand. Language could not kill. as was the case in 31$
Tooth of Crime. and. ironically enough. neither could action.

Neither Lee nor Austin ultimately possesses the mentality to act
otherwise than violently. As Whorf suggests. their thoughts—~shaped by
the language of a culture which endorses violence as a means to an
end-~characteristically atone for their actions. They are victims of a
fraternal system which dictates violence when words alone cannot work.
The motives for murder by this time are clear: Austin wishes to
destroy. or as Mom puts it "kill" (58) the image of himself that he
sees in Lee; concomitantly. Lee wishes to "kill" that part of Austin
which lives in himself. The fact that neither half can be destroyed
again suggests that the "curse" with which they live is eternal and
invincible.

Finally. neither Austin nor Lee could functionally adapt to either
system, fraternal or conjugal. in ways that allowed personal gratifica—
tion and familial satisfaction. They are both, in a sense, "hacks,"
temperamental in what they say and do because of this. What makes
True West a family play, then. is this: it is in the family that the
child learns the most primitive categories of existence and experi—
ence.12 From Parson and Bales's point of view. in their text Family;
Socialization and Interaction, the household is the child's world.
Thus the child's experiences of and in the larger world. known as

reality. will be interpreted in terms of his home experiences. Yet if

 

 

no productive home
painful. fatherless
side will be evide1
is incomprehensiblc
Austin was briefly
And at this point,

ishing, neither Le

A characteris
Who try vainly to
though not unique]
larly of the mythj
had Already been 1
as a source of moi
of pepular WeSter

It was
t0 trea
antithe
8 front
Pr0four
Societ)

The cowboy was t'
sustenance throu1
open landscape w

To compound
by a compelling

a "Spirit unlit

117

no productive home life ever existed for Austin and Lee but only one of
painful, fatherless experiences. then resentment toward the world out—

side will be evident, as is the case in True West. The world outside

 

is incomprehensible and intimidating to Austin and Lee. even though
Austin was briefly capable of existing and surviving in that world.
And at this point, with the possibilities of a fraternal system dimin-

ishing. neither Lee nor Austin stands much of a chance.

ii
A characteristic feature in Sheparfs work is seen in characters
who try vainly to control their destinies. The attempt to do so,
though not uniquely American. is typical of the country and particu—
larly of the mythic American West. The myth of the American frontier
had already been expressed in fiction before Shepard. The wilderness
as a source of moral rejuvenation was to be handed down to the writers
of popular Western fiction. Writes Cawelti.
It was possible for Americans in the early nineteenth century
to treat the frontier as a symbol of fundamental moral
antitheses between man and nature. and. consequently. to use
a frontier setting in fiction that engaged itself with a
profound exploration of the nature and limitations of man and
society.13
The cowboy was the hero facing a lawless frontier who found spiritual

sustenance through constant danger. a lone figure of strength in an

open landscape with limitless horizons.

To compound matters, most Americans feel that the West is governed
by a compelling and unwritten code, according to Marshall W. Fishwick,

a "spirit unlike that east of the Mississippi.. .. That this is an

 

 

 

oversimplification
is central."1l+ She
ever really appear
adstence of the "
Writes Leslie A. F

The bear
alien 15
but the
whom ou‘
Shem no:
the Wilc
pletely
demands

Shepard's plays, 3
of the cowboy's 03
destruction of th‘
The Old Man's ide:
barren symbol for
The Old Man has I

fantasizes“much
w the
.~that he is livj
sents what the n

William W. Savag

The We
time a
landsc
throng
dePend
reSOUr

118

oversimplification is beside the point; that many Americans believe it
is central."14 Shepard responds to the disappearance (that is if it
ever really appeared) of the "spirit" of the "Old West" and to the
existence of the "Western" as a genre of popular fiction and film.

Writes Leslie A. Fiedler in The Return of the Vanishing American:

The heart of the Western is not the confrontation with the
alien landscape (by itself this produces only the Northern).
but the encounter with the Indian. that utter stranger for
whom our New World is an Old Home. that descendent of neither
Shem nor Japheth. not even. like the Negro imported to subdue
the wildland, Ham. No grandchild of Noah. he escapes com-
pletely the mythologies we briught with us from Europe.
demands a new one of his own.5
Shepardls plays. True West in particular. close the avenues to freedom
of the cowboy's Old Home and prepare the way for the full-scale
destruction of the American Dream and of the mythology of the Western.
The Old Man's identification with, and residence in. the desert (a
barren symbol for Shepard‘s West) is significant for these reasons.

The Old Man has not found freedom in his escape to the desert. yet he

fantasizes--much like Weston in Curse of the Starving Class. Tilden in

Buried Child. the Old Man in F001 for Love. and Travis in Paris, Texas

 

--that he is living the American Dream. For Shepard. the desert repre-
sents what the "real" or "true" West of today is. as best described by

William W. Savage, Jr” in his text The Cowboy Hero:

The West is a place for fantasies because it is remote in
time and space. If its history is brief and bizarre, its
landscape is vast and bizarre. often isolating the individual
through extremes of geography and climate and forcing him to
depend solf%y upon his own physical and psychological
resources.

 

 

The West. for Shep
Rather, the West i
common belief whic
The myth of t
cowboy (simply an
represented in the
coalesce with the
because of the isc
to give. if not on
sal and to the 01«
physical and psyci
to feeding upon .
If the Old F.
isolation but als
Dream—then Austi
pressured lifesty
AUSTIN:

(pause:

MOM: (

119

The West. for Shepard. is a tenable. though by no means proven, theory.
Rather, the West is considered myth, as Cawelti might define myth. "a
common belief which is demonstrably false."17

The myth of the cowboy hero and the reality of the modern-day
cowboy (simply an artifact produced by novels and movies). and both
represented in the beginning of True West by the Old Man and Lee.
coalesce with the theme and plot of Shepard's invented West. It is
because of the isolation which Savage alludes to that Shepard is able
to give, if not credibility. then significance to his character rever-
sal and to the 01d Maxfls habitat. Lee and Austin rely upon their own
physical and psychological resources as best they can. but soon resort
to feeding upon each other's.

If the Old Man typifies the modern—day cowboy--not just by his
isolation but also by his quest for freedom and the elusive American
Dream—~then Austin finds that quest preferable to the complex. high—
pressured lifestyle he has previously pursued:

AUSTIN: We're gonna’ be leavin' here, Mom!
(pause)

MOM: 0h.

LEE: Yeah.

(pause)

MOM: You're both leaving?

LEE: (looks to Austin) Well we were thinkin' about that
before but now I—-

AUSTIN: No. we are! We're both leaving. We‘ve got it all
planned.

 

 

 

MOM: (1

AUSTIN:

Austin fantasizes
that of his Old M
that he insists a
AUSTIN:

the smc

I'm the

to Lee:

Indeed. it is Aus
his present dilen
from every indie:
the Old Man has i
hides in the dem
Tilden). and Far

1night help him r

his Stay in soci

derives from a 1

it is distorted

Observes:

120

MOM: (to AUSTIN) Well you can‘t leave. You have a family.
AUSTIN: I'm leaving. I'm getting out of here. (55)
Austin fantasizes that an easier. primitive lifestyle. similar to
that of his Old Man's. might end the confusion and continual tension

that he insists are part of his mundane life:

AUSTIN: ... I drive on the freeway every day. I swallow
the smog. I watch the news in color. I shop in the Safeway.

I'm the one who's in touch! Not him! [referring. of course.
to Lee] (35L

Indeed. it is Austin's misconception that the West will relieve him of
his present dilemma, particularly since the Old Man hides there, and—-
from every indication--he is not doing very well. Austin believes that
the Old Man has found peace in the West. but. instead. his father
hides in the desert partly because he is in debt (like Weston and
Tilden). and partly because he hopes that the desert. in its solitude.
might help him recover from the pressures imposed on him while during
his stay in society. The cowboy. or loner. mentality in Austinfs case
derives from a region remote in time and space, as Savage proposes. and
it is distorted to the advantage of an escapist's image. As Savage

observes:

Americans have fantasized about the cowboy for a hundred
years because in the general context of the West as a physi~
cal and psychological experience there has not been much else
worth doing with him. His "real" history ... has not yet
been written, which is a circumstance attributable to the
ascendancy of his image. reluctance to tamper with his image.
and refusal to accept revisions of his image.18

Shepard's Lee and Austin attempt to create their own West. complete

with its history, both in fiction (Lee's tale) and in fact (Austinfs

 

 

 

LEE: I
It's 1:01

AUSTIN:

MOM: C
plenty

LEE: I
not the
Somethi
out the

This important s
°°Vb°y into city
"security minded

121

desire to live out his frontier-fantasy as well as Lee's desire to
become civilized):
LEE: I'm gonna' just borrow some a'your antiques. Mom. You
don't mind do ya'? Just a few plates and things. Silver-
ware.
(LEE starts going through all the cupboards in kitchen
pulling out plates and stacking them on counter as MOM and
AUSTIN watch)
MOM: You don't have any utensils on the desert?
LEE: Nah. I'm fresh out.
AUSTIN: (to LEE) What're you doing?

MOM: Well some of those are very old. Bone china.

LEE: I'm' tired of eatiJfl outa'my bare hands. ya'know.
It's not civilized.

AUSTIN: (to LEE) What're you doing? We made a deal!

MOM: Couldnft you borrow the plastic ones instead? I have
plenty of plastic ones.

LEE: (as he stacks plates) It's not the same. Plastic‘s
not the same at all. What I need is somethin' authentic.
Somethin' to keep me in touch. It's easy to get outa' touch
out there. (56)

This important scene concretely suggests Lee's transformation from
cowboy into city-dweller. Before. he criticizes his mother for being
"security minded" (10), for eating off plates "with the State of Idaho
starin' ya' in the face" (10). and for locking up her antiques and
other valuables. After all. according to David B. Davis in his essay
”Ten-Gallon Hero." the true cowboy has little respect for possession of
material goods:
He [the cowboy] does not seek personal wealth and is generous

to the point of carelessness. He gives money to his friends,
to people in distress. and blows the rest when he hits town

 

 

 

on Satur
contempt

beaten k

the gras

In other words, L1
conscious society.
its false promise
for Austin's life.
that become. in t‘
why Lee often ste
in ownership. It
will only be sati
neighborhoods wi'
too, that Lee con
in his hand-to—m.
Mom's antiques, 1

brother Austin:

LEE:

122

on Saturday night. He owns no land and, in fact. has only

contempt for farmers. with their ploughed fields and weather—

beaten buildings. He hates the slick professionallgambler,

the grasping Eastern speculator. and railroad man.
In other words. Lee has become a member of an increasingly property-
conscious society. the same society that Austin has abandoned because of
its false promises and its valueless materialism. Lee secretly longs
for Austin's life. complete with a stable homestead and possessions
that become. in time, familiar appendages of one's self. This explains
why Lee often steals from the neighbors. Ultimately, he finds security
in ownership. It just so happens that Lee has expensive tastes and
will only be satisfied by antiques such as "bone china" and 'lush"
neighborhoods with "a good class a' people" (7). It is significant.
too. that Lee confiscates Mom's best china and will use those utensils
in his hand—to—mouth existence. Earlier he expresses distaste for
Mom's antiques. but this is before his eventual transformation into
brother Austin:

LEE: —-What's she got that's so valuable?

AUSTIN: Antiques I guess. I don't know.

LEE: Antiques? Brought everything with her from the old

place. huh? Just the same crap we always had around. Plates

and spoons.

AUSTIN: I guess they have personal value to her.

LEE: Personal value. Yeah. Just a lota' junk. Most of
it's phony anyway. Idaho decals.. .. Every time ya'take a
bite ya' get to see a little bit more.

AUSTIN: Well it must mean something to her or she wouldn't
save it.

 

 

LEE:
Idaho
what]
my tho
After the transf
possessions, and
help him assert
brother Austin h
typify the cowbc
Among the s
the cowboy is t}
Lees intimidati
tampered with a
tainment which
W two
which character
blaCk Prairie“:
because of its
cant is Lee and
Upon each Other
Shepard~—in bo1
between brothe

W).

Shepard Writes

0f c
viol
gun
the
Part

123

LEE: Yeah, well personally I don't wanna' be invaded by

Idaho when I'm eatin'. When I'm eatin' I'm home. Ya' know

what I'm sayin'? I'm not driftin'.I'm home. 1 donft need

my thoughts swept off to Idaho. I don't need that! (10)
After the transformation. of course. it is Austin who surrenders his
possessions. and Lee who attempts to gather whatever he can which might
help him assert his dignity and self—identity. He leaves to his
brother Austin his disdain for hard work and practical results which
typify the cowboy ideal.

Among the stereotypes with which American popular culture abounds.
the cowboy is the embodiment of masculinity. One only need to consider
Lee's intimidating physique and violent appeal. Yet this image is also
tampered with and revised in True West. The cowboy lives in an enter—
tainment which preaches and endorses the efficacy of violence: Hence
True West's two tales. The first. of course. is Lee's screenplay in
which characters “take off after each other straight into an endless
black prairie“ and which Lee ultimately sells to producer Saul Kimmer
because of its residual violent nature. The second and more signifi-
cant is Lee and Austin's confrontation during which violence is imposed
upon each other. This phenomenon. violence. is "true"--according to
Shepard-—in both the Western and in real life. Whether it exists
between brothers. between cowboys. or between lovers (as is the case in
Fool for Love). violence is a constant in the culture about which
Shepard writes. As Davis further notes:

Of course. most cowboy books and movies bristle with
violence. Wild fist fights. brawls with chairs and bottles.
gun play and mass battles with crashing windows. fires. and

the final racing skirmish on horseback. are all as much a
part of the cowboy drama as the boots and the spurs. These

 

 

 

bloody
They p1

since

their
"Wild fist fight
windows, fires"
skirmish on here
(figuratively sp
here, then, is c
and extends into
always be made.
What also I
"cowboy plays,"
consumed by unf
surrounded by a
partly congruen
and of leisure
objects. as fa,

generally Credi

then Shepard s}

 

124

bloody escapades are necessary and are simply explained.
They provide the stage for the hero to show his heroism. and
since the cowbo¥ois the hero ... he must prove himself by
their standards.
"Wild fist fights. brawls with chairs and bottles .. . crashing
windows. fires" all occur in the play True West. and the "final racing
skirmish on horseback" exists, of course, both in the play itself
(figuratively speaking) and in Lee's screenplay. What Shepard proposes
here. then. is clear: violence in the American Western transcends film
and extends into life. so that a clear division between the two cannot
always be made.

What also emerges from this play. and from many of Shepard's
"cowboy plays." is an anti-prototypical cowboy image. The heroes are
consumed by unfulfilled desires, by means of alcohol and despair. and
surrounded by a violence which is not a means to an end. This image is
partly congruent with the image of cowboys as symbols of both brutality
and of leisure and escape. Their glamour supports their use as ideal
objects. as fantasies and briefly held dreams. And if (flNeill is
generally credited with the dramatic breakthrough into lower-class life.
then Shepard should be credited with an equally significant break—
through into superficial heroism. Austin desires to make that journey
which, as Lee's version of it attests. is rife with negative sociologi-
cal and psychological implications. In the climax of the brothers'

discussion. Lee actually admits that the American Dream is nothing more

than an illusion:

 

 

LEE: }
middle
phi105(
there '
about ;

Despite his peti‘
Austin, who, adv:
his own rite of ‘
within his myth.
except as a myt!

Savage:

If the
of wh:
be vit
for hi
cans ‘
trail
If True West me
completed his 0
reenter society
unrealistic opt

self: the diSC(

Cations--canno1

Jam es Fen

m0“ in‘Portant

civilization a

 

125

LEE: Hey. do you actually think I chose to live out in the
middle a' nowhere? Do ya'? Ya' think it's some kinda'
philosophical decision I took or somethin'? I'm livin' out
there 'cause I can't make it here! And yer bitchin' to me

about all yer success! (49)
Despite his petition for a bout with civilization, Lee is ignored by
Austin, who. advocating what he knows not of. insists upon experiencing
his own rite of passage. Ultimately. the cowboy seems to be stuck
within his myth. handcuffed because no one has any real use for him
except as a myth. or so Shepard implies in True West. According to

Savage:

If the cowboy as a cultural artifact may be taken as a symbol
of what Americans wish they might become. then the trail can
be viewed as his choice of experience, a personal selectiOn
for his rite of passage. a symbol of the option that Ameri—
cans believe they possess. In Ehat sense the cowboy on the
trail is "everyman" growing up.
If True West makes any affirming statement. it is that Lee has
completed his own "rite of passagefl'has indeed grown up and may now
reenter society with the knowledge that the cowboy "trail" is indeed an
unrealistic option. Austin is about to make that discovery for him-
self. the discovery that the wilderness—-with all of its mythic impli—
cations--cannot be a viable substitute for civilization.

James Fenimore Cooper is generally given credit for introducing a
most important theme in American literature. the confrontation between
civilization and the wilderness and the dilemma which results. In the
course of such novels as The Deerslayer or The Prairie. the conflict is
clear: the enlightened Europeans offer Christianity to the Indians.

they clear the land for plowing and cultivation, and they civilize the

wilderness; yet the wilderness still survives in its own way and it

 

resists. or even
present in Egg
much from those
Fenimore Cooper'
nature thwarts :1
nature thwarts 1

That each w
in large part e1
according to Jo}

... s
it is
the r
what
West

$®ud abut
life: be certai
in the West23 (
West or the Mi<

Shepard ts

their lives re

 

 

126

resists. or even destroys. man's efforts to control it. The conflict
present in True West (and in much of Shepard's drama) does not differ
much from those works following Fenimore Cooper‘s novels. If in
Fenimore Cooper's work (or at least in those novels alluded to here)
nature thwarts marfls efforts to control it. then in Shepard's work
nature thwarts man's efforts to control himself.

That each writer has capitalized on the popularity of the Western
in large part explains their success. The genuine. serious Western.
according to John R. Milton in The Novel of the American West. is

. .. set in the West because the author lives there. because

it is a result of his own experience. because it represents

the regional environment he knows best. Or. to put it some—

what differently. the writer of the Western novel takes the

West seriously. while the writer of the western does not.22
Shepard, albeit not a novelist (yet). lived in the West most of his
life; he certainly writes from out of his own experiences of growing up
in the West23 (most of his plays are set in or make references to the
West or the Midwest); and he is well familiar with the region.

Shepard takes the West seriously. for many of his characters spend
their lives resurrecting their "Western dreams" as the result of failed
attempts to conform in alternative societies. Ultimately. Austin. Lee.
and the Old Man could not conform to the non-West. A clear—minded
Austin represents the part of Shepard who realizes that which actually
exists in the "serious Western." as Milton defines it. and that which

exists in the Western. Lee's story. Austin informs Saul. is merely a

Western:

 

 

AUSTIN:
It's as
I‘m cu:
SAUL:
AUSTIN
LEE:
SAUL:

AUSTIN
grown

SAUL:
from e

AUSTD

SAUL:
inter:

LEE:
The debate betw
"true West." or.
or should it be
attracted to Le
inc"mplete. and
Persons-~accorc‘
makers to the I
Preferred over
and Indians. 1
and 0931 Laure:

Hist°ry and Le

127

AUSTIN: . . . How could you possibly fall for that story?

It's as phony as Hoppalong Cassidy. What do you see in it?
I'm curious.

SAUL: It has the ring of truth, Austin.
AUSTIN: (laughs) Truth?

LEE: It is true.

SAUL: Something about the real West.

AUSTIN: Why? Because it's got horses? Because it's got
grown men acting like boys?

SAUL: Something about the land. Your brother is speaking
from experience.

AUSTIN: So am I!

SAUL: [referring to AUSTIN'S screenplay idea] But nobody's
interested in love these days. Austin. Let's face it.

LEE: That's right. (35)
The debate between brothers centers on what exactly constitutes the
"true West." or. as Milton might phrase it. a "true Western": Is it-—
or should it be--based on legend or on history? That Saul is actually
attracted to Lee's idea for a screenplay. which is at best sketchy,
incomplete, and void of any crisp dialogue. suggests that most
persons--according to Shepard--prefer the mythmakers and the legend—
makers to the scholars or the historians. In other words, Lee is
preferred over Austin. who ignores adolescent subjects such as cowboys
and Indians. Here, Shepard’s Austin seems to verify what Vardis Fisher
and Opal Laurel Holmes. in their essay "Fact or Fiction: The Blend of

History and Legend," suggest. that

 

 

if a p
were I
chose:
cramme
The presen1
Walter Van Tilbl
L'Amour. is due
motion picture 2
deemphasize his:
The W
along
wante
raw n

exoti

that
Shepard, howeve
the traditional
and certainly a
Similar claim I
tam American V

Frank Norris, 1

these writers

"dust that the

128

if a person wishing to know the history of the American West
were to read a few hundred books and articles about it.
chosen at random. he would come out of it with his hea well
crammed but there might be few historical facts in it.

The present popular-culture significance of Shepard. like Cooper.
Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Jean Stafford. A. B. Guthrie. and Louis
IflAmour. is due in large part to the accessibility and popularity of
motion picture and television Westerns which emphasize legend and
deemphasize history. According to Milton:

The Western got a boost from mass publishing which grew up

alongside the cowboy and it appealed to eastern readers who

wanted to share vicariously in the exploits taking place in a

raw new land where men were men and the landscape took on an

exotic and alluring flavor. even though it was mostly dust

that the cowboy himself tasted.
Shepard. however. is among the first to question the authenticity of
the traditional Western (of popular novelists and film makers alikeL
and certainly among the first to be recognized by a mass audience. A
similar claim must be made regarding the significance of other impor—
tant American Western writers: Bret Harte. Mark Twain. Hamlin Garland,
Frank Norris. and Jack London. The irony. of course. is that all of
these writers protest the “exotic and alluring flavor" of the West and
have instead imposed a stertorous deglamorization of the cowboy and his
legend. So has Shepard. Keen observers of historical and recent
occasions, all of these writers are percipient judges who exposed the
"dust that the cowboy himself tasted}

All of these writers, Shepard included, seem to set forth

variations of the same statement. universal but not by any means

original: paradise is made vulnerable to the corruption of an

 

advancing civili
land he loved.

(39), despite th
it. Prohibitin
attempts to pre
feels would los
however. been a
it. to define i

it. In True We

 

ever really £01
newly—M
chart this loss
writes. Even j
wiped out. . .

The West ;
VE- is a myt
West to begin ‘
apparently one

land has been

129

advancing civilization and we see mania complicity in destroying the
land he loved. Both Lee and Austin refer to the land as "paradise"
(39). despite the poor economic rewards they receive while living on
it. Prohibiting Austinfs permanent residence in "paradise," Lee
attempts to preserve the West (symbolized again by the desert) which he
feels would lose its authenticity if Austin lived there. The West has.
however, been at least partially corrupted by their attempts to possess
it. to define it, to write about it. and to control their destinies in
it. In True West. the West (or paradise) is lost. if. in fact. it was
ever really found to begin with. Where it takes. say. Guthrie four
novels--The Big Sky, These Thousand Hills, Arfive. and The Way West—-to
chart this loss, Shepard attempts a new defilement in each play he
writes. Even Lee admits that "this country’s real different . . .
wiped out.. .. I don't even hardly recognize it"(ll).

The West Shepard writes about in his plays. particularly in True

 

West, is a mythic (or to use Cawelti's terms. a "demonstrably false")

 

West to begin with, a tamed and scaled-down replica of what it had
apparently once been. As in Stafford's The Mountain Lion. then. the
land has been conquered and the real danger exists not with the land.
but with the people who inhabit the land. some of whom persist in
behaving as if they were living in the nineteenth rather than in the
twentieth century. Stafford's The Mountain Lion provides an approp—
riate comparison to Shepard's True West since family is paramount to
each story‘s meaning. The same might be said for John Steinbedfls

The Grapes of Wrath. Stafford, Steinbeck. and Shepard all attempt to

 

 

 

redefine family
the West. Shel)at
claim they are c
orderliness. muc
bech Joads. S
Western myth. e
to real life. it
ingly. then. Lee
should entail.
ity of the cowb
realistically r
action. at less
verisimilitude:

LEE:
with

AUST:
LEE:
AUST

LEE:
the

AUST

LEE:
husk

(LEI
AU 3'.

LEE
Tor

 

130

redefine family in terms of the land on which the family lives. In
the West. Shepard's cowboys (or those who wish they were cowboys or
claim they are cowboys) discover a human society notable for its dis-
orderliness. much as did Stafford's Ralph and Molly Fawcett and Stein-
beck's Joads. Shepardls people continue to live by the dictates of the
Western myth. even though the myth. if it ever had any relation at all
to real life. is certainly anachronistic by the 19803. Not surpris—
ingly. then. Lee and Austin are at odds regarding what the Western
should entail. In the following scene, they argue over the authentic—
ity of the cowboy drama. Austin believes that the scenario should be
realistically rooted in the present and that Leels sense of superficial
action. at least in this day and age, shows poor judgment and a lack of
verisimilitude:

LEE: So both these guys have got their horses right along
with 'em, see.

AUSTIN: I understand.
LEE: Then this first guy realizes two things.

AUSTIN: The guy in front?

LEE: Right. The guy in front realizes two things almost at
the same time. Simultaneous.

AUSTIN: What were the two things?

LEE: Number one. he realizes that the guy behind him is the
husband of the woman he's been--

(LEE makes gesture of screwing by pumping his arm)
AUSTIN: (sees LEE'S gesture) Oh. Yeah.

LEE: And number two. he realizes he's in the middle of
Tornado Country.

 

AUSTD
LEE:
AUSTIJ

LEE:
And 11‘

AUSTI
LEE:
AUSTI
LEE:
AUST]

(AUS'I
(21)

Lee‘s amusing r
as fact by man}
sents the devi

cal formula We

down
AU S'I

LEE:
near

AUST
real

LEE

AUS'
acr

LEE

 

131

AUSTIN: What's Tornado Country"?
LEE: Panhandle.
AUSTIN: Panhandle?

LEE: Sweetwater. Around in that area. Nothinh Nowhere
And number three——

AUSTIN: I thought there was only two.

LEE: There's three. There's a third unforeseen realization.
AUSTIN: And what's that?

LEE: That he's runnin' outa' gas.

AUSTIN: (stops typing) Come on. Lee.

(AUSTIN gets up. moves to kitchen. gets a glass of water)
(21)

Lee's amusing nonsense, in the form of plot. has been solemnly accepted
as fact by many American audiences. Austin. however. clearly repre—
sents the devil's advocate. He refuses to take part in the stereotypi-
cal formula Western:

LEE: Whadya' mean, "come on"? That's what it is. Write it
down. He's runnin' outa' gas.

AUSTIN: It's too-—

LEE: What? It's too what? It's too real! That‘s what ya'
mean isn't it? It's too much like real life!

AUSTIN: It's not like real life! It's not enough like
real life. Things don‘t happen like that.

LEE: What! Men don't fuck other men's women?

AUSTIN: Yes. But they don't end up chasing each other
across the Panhandle. Through "Tornado Country.“

LEE: They do in this movie!

 

AU STIR
them v
either

LEE:
these

ADSTD
scene

LEE:
been

AUSTI
climt
mount

LEE:
Panhe

(LEE
can 1

True West (lik‘

traditional We

With good and
nature. 800d

B°th Lee and

132

AUSTIN: And they donft have horses conveniently along with
them when they run out of gas! And they donLt run out of gas

either!

LEE: These guys run outa' gas! This is my story and one a'
these guys runs outa' gas.

AUSTIN: It's just a dumb excuse to get them into a chase
scene. It's contrived.

LEE: It is a chase scene! It's already a chase scene. They
been chasin' each other fer days.

AUSTIN: So now they're supposed to abandon their trucks.
climb on their horses and chase each other into the

mountains?

LEE: (standing suddenly) There arenfizany mountains in the
Panhandle! It's flat!

(LEE turns violently toward windows in alcove and throws beer
can at them) (21—22)

True West (like other Shepard plays) characteristically resembles the
traditional Western movie and novel in many ways. Generally speaking.
a quest of sorts is involved. whether it is Weston's quest to secure
his property, Vince's attempt to be recognized by his own family in

Buried Child. Austin's search for the West. or Eddie's search for

 

sister/lover May in F001 for Love. Shepard. too. is always concerned
with good and evil as eternal qualities. as something permanent within
nature. Good and evil also tend to be absolutes in the Western tale.
Both Lee and Austin are torn between these forces in True West.
Throughout Shepard's plays. patterns of destruction. the experience of
death. and finally rebirth are comnunn Again one need only note here
Austin and Lee's dual (and duel) nature in True West. Each attempts to
seek his identity with nature. within the entire scheme of life. yet,

finally, each fails to represent adequately (by their terms and ours) a

 

complete Man.
two. manifests
In compar:
heroes possess
survival alone.
traditional We
and Austin is 1
woman. Write:
sis on male bo
ern."27 For t!
adorn Shepard'
up the town bi
Austin h;
he believed b
0‘11? apparent
“maybe Melani
izing and mo:
tionships be:
American lit.
is more "end

A“Stir! are b.

133

complete Man. What results is not a combination but a product of the
two, manifested in an image of their delinquent Old Man.
In comparison. too. with the traditional Western story. Shepard's
. heroes possess primitive fears. Despite this, they face the test of
survival alone. becoming emotionally naked. In True West, as in the
traditional Western or "buddy movie."26 the relationship between Lee
and Austin is far more important than any encounter between man and
woman. Writes Cawelti, "it is certainly accurate that a strong empha-
sis on male bonding has always been an important tendency in the West-
ern."27 For this reason. and not until Fool for Love. do women rarely
adorn Shepard's scripts. The hero in Shepard's world must first "clean
up the town before he can settle down with his woman, if then."28
Austin has abandoned his wife and children for a solitary (or so
he believed before Lee's arrival) life at Mom's. He, like Lee. whose
only apparent contact with a woman was years ago with a "Melly" or
"maybe Melanie" (46), he cannot recall exactly. has escaped the civil—
izing and moralizing restraints of women. As Fiedler observes. rela-
tionships between males has since Cooper been a basic theme of
American literature. and male comradeship. or even love between males.
is more "enduring and purer than any heterosexual passion."29 Lee and
Austin are bound so tightly together that they could be the same
person.
Each escapes from the confines of society in search of. if not

Eden. then self. Central to True West is Shepard's continued

preoccupation with the West (and, as with Steinbeck, the West includes

 

California) as t
play the desert
preferable to s
desert (in 11112
ironic. fallen

a new dream of

He‘s
he ha
own

The ques
& is who t
. vidual is in
from alcoholj
that this is
(or someone)

‘ D
Lee 8 exPenn

 

134

California) as the ultimate symbol of the American Eden. and in this
play the desert becomes the microcosm of the new Garden. barren. but
preferable to society. But to know Shepard's plays is to know that the
desert (in True West's case. forty miles east of Los Angeles) is an

ironic. fallen Eden. and the old dream of Eden is rejected in favor of

a new dream of survival.

iii

He's made himself up from scratch. That is, from the things
he had around him and inside him. He is an invention of his

own mind. The point isn't to figure him out but to take
him in.

--Sam Shepard
Rolling Thunder Logbook

Ibdiweinmymuk—
The man I made up is me.

—-"Crow's Song."
The Tooth of Crime

The question which evolves during the course of action in True

 

West is who the individual believes himself to be versus who the indi—

 

vidual is in fact becoming. For instance. as Lee changes identities-
from alcoholic and petty thief to screenwriter--it soon becomes clear
that this is a reaction against his natural state and toward something
(or someone) more functional and socially acceptable. Austin resents
Lee's experimentation for he views it all--and especially Lee's success
as a screenwriter—~as a threat to his own identity. If his negligent.
incompetent brother can achieve a script-idea better than his own. then

Austin's self—conception is demeaned. The process of self—invention.

 

 

 

however. is rec
himself. or mo:
what he achieve
Each brotl
generated throx
satisfying rol1
of the imagine
Davenport obse
indeed the way
islands, conti
crossed."30 L
from an isola‘
one. Shepard

Fil'
dus
nou
of

135

however. is reciprocal. If straight-laced Austin can criminalize
himself. or morally self-destruct. then Lee's solidarity and pride in
what he achieves best at (theft and lethargy) are also threatened.
Each brother has defied his own identity. or role. and has
generated through an act of imagination a more personally pleasing and
satisfying role. They exercise what Guy Davenport terms "the geography
of the imagination" in creating these roles. "The imagination."
Davenport observes. "that is. the way we shape and use the world.
indeed the way we see the world. has geographical boundaries like
islands. continents. and countries. These boundaries can be
crossedfiao Lee. for instance. crosses his geographical boundaries
from an isolated and rural existence into a cosmopolitan and urbanized
one. Shepard describes Lee at the beginning of the play as follows:
Filthy white t—shirt. tattered brown overcoat covered with
dust, dark blue baggy suit pants from the Salvation Army

. .. holes in his shoe soles. no socks. .. long pro-

nounced sideburns. 'Gene Vincent" hairdo. two days' growth
of beard, bad teeth. (2)

Yet Lee imagines or "shapes" the world to his advantage. Despite his

social and physical appearance. he can still play golf like a champion:
LEE: I let him [Saul] get two up on me goin' into the back
nine. He was sure he had me cold. You shoulda' seen his

face when I pulled out the old pitching wedge and plopped it
pin-high. two feet from the cup. He 'bout shit his pants.

"Where'd a guy like you ever learn to play golf like that7fi
he says. (28—39)

When even Saul (an outsider not unlike a member of the audience) cannot

believe Lee's sudden talent. Shepard's twist in plot becomes clear:

 

  

 

his first after:
"Lonely Are the

supports this d
out of his tin]!
by a truck whil
life is ironic
This tran
territory for
imagines he is
still. starry
Stu (or Clem)
fires on the .
play about p1
(like Chet) a
they also def

Tisha-s

"true West,"

136

characters become what they like (or believe they like) at their own
commands.

The fact that Lee is also able to plot a marketable screenplay in
his first attempt and his knack for recalling a popular movie Western.
"Lonely Are the Brave." when even movie—mogul Saul cannot, further
supports this observation. That the Kirk Douglas film-about a cowboy
out of his time, who tries to live in the "West." but who gets killed
by a truck while crossing a highway on his horse--compliments Lee's own
life is ironic. Ultimately. Lee's creativity tops Austin's.

This transformation from ordinary self into ideal self is not new
territory for Shepard. In Cowboys #2. for instance. cowboys Stu (who
imagines he is Clem) and Chet (who imagines he is Mel) both fantasize a
still. starry prairie night and an Indian attack. During the attack.

Stu (or Clem) is shot with an imaginary arrow and Chet (or Mel) angrily

fires on the fictitious Indians until they retreat. As Cowboys #2 is a

play about plays and playacting. so is True West. On one level, Lee
(like Chet) and Austin (like Stu) play themselves. Ironically enough.

they also defend each other. albeit that defense is not so obvious in

True West. Stu even has a monologue in Cowboys #2 regarding Shepard's

“true West," or the West today. One may note that Stu's discourse here

could be viewed as a combination of True West's Austin's and of Curse

 

of the Starving Class's Wesley's:

STU: Yep. Used to be lots of orange orchards around here,
you know. . . . They were all over. Then they cut them all
down. one at a time. Every one. Built schools for kids and
homes for old flabby ladies and halls for heroes and streets

for cars and houses for people. . . . Then buses3ior kids to
go to schools and buses to take them back. . .

 

 

 

On another 18“
Plays a recluse
a recluse. In
they believe t]
life like Aust‘
provide him wi
on the other h
ment to family
constant press
At this point.
true individu:
nearly imposs
baum puts it,
in an age of
At first

other. belie\
Playing absui
deeds toward
Contract Wit
Outweighs Au

"COUfldentn

Legs story

AUStin's tra

him that be

him. and Evy

137

On another level. both sets of characters play characters—-Lee first

plays a recluse and then a screenwriter; Austin a screenwriter and then

a recluse. In a sense they become. as earlier observed. who and what

they believe they would like to become. Lee earnestly believes that a

life like Austin's—one with a home. family. and "big money" (33)--wi11
provide him with the security and possessions which he lacks. Austin.
on the other hand. views a life like Lee's--one without land. commit-
ment to family. and monetary obligations--would relieve him of the
constant pressure he feels to provide and free him to travel at will.
At this point. however, Austin knows not what Lee has already learned:
true individualism. the goal of Austin's quest. in modern America is
nearly impossible. Lee has learned the hard way that. as Martin Nuss-
baum puts it. the Western hero is "a vanishing symbol of individualism
in an age of togetherness and conformity."32

At first Lee and Austin, by imitating roles designed by the
other. believe they are playing each other. Yet they are really

playing absurd extensions of one another. and realize not that their

deeds toward individualism are actually acts of mimesis. Lee's
contract with Saul for "an easy three hundred grand" (34) obviously
outweighs Austin's contract. Additionally. whereas Saul was merely
"confident" (15) about Austin's project. he is "simply amazed" (32) by
Lee's story and by his "raw talent" (34). Conversely. and after
Austin's transformation into Lee, Austin outdrinks Lee-who even warns

him that he "shouldn't oughta' take Mom's champagne“ (29)--outsteals

him. and even challenges him to a fight. Earlier. smaller than Lee and

 

  
 

so and would Is
Finally.
Austin alterna

thieves. sons.

 

they wear. tr:

 

pasts and away
This is becau:
aware of what
father's life:
It is. as Mic
thi
“Pl;
son

I to
As a result.
and Walt in I

worthwhfle a

138

intimidated by his older brother's size. Austin would never have done
so and would not have stood a chance if he did.

Finally. True West is a play about playacting. Lee and then
Austin alternatively take turns playing cowboys. screenwriters,
thieves, sons. drunkards. and. inescapably, their Old Man. The masks
they wear. trade. and compete for enable them to travel into their
pasts and away from their dismal presents and grim—looking futures.
This is because. in view of their father's situation. they are well
aware of what the future holds for them. and any deviation from their
father's lifestyle might offer them a change of scenery and destiny.
It is. as Michiko Kakutani explains. a peculiarly American notion.

this sense that, like Gatsby, one can spring from the

"Platonic conception of himself." that identity is not

something fixed by family or class. that one can gggw up

to become anyth1ng--the Pre81dent or a mov1e star.
As a result. Austin and Lee (like other Shepard heroes Weston. Vince.
and Walt in Paris. Texas) meddle with their identities in attempts at
worthwhile and productive lives. But the two. in their reversals. are
still inextricably linked, bound tightly by the omnipresent "curseJ'
Moreover, with Lee's ultimate failure to produce the script for which
Saul Kimmer verbally commissioned (prohibited by his inability to type,
Lee is stalled). coupled with Austin's success as a thief. Shepard sets
the stage for a convoluted showdown: self against self.

The assumptions of Shepard in True West are similar to those

Fiedler used to describe early American authors Melville and Hawthorne:

That the world of appearance is at once real and a mask
through which we can dimly perceive more ultimate forces at

 

 

 

blaq

Both Lee and 1
life." or the
both have fail
therefore. 10
that which wi

Love's Eddie

 

139

work; that Nature is inscrutable. perhaps basically hostile
to man. but certainly in some sense alien; that in man and
Nature alike, there is a "diabolical" element, a “mystery of
iniquity"; that it is impossible to know fully either God or
ourselves, and that our only protection from destructive
self—deceit is the pressure and presence of others; that to
be alone is. therefore. to be lost; that evil is real. and
that the thinking man breaks his heart trying to solve its
compatibility with the existence of a good God or his own
glimmering perceptions of goodness. From this it follows
that the writer’s duty is to say. "Nayl". to deny the easy
affirmations by which most men live. and to expose the
blackness of life most men try deliberately to ignore.34

Both Lee and Austin have deliberately tried to ignore "the blackness of
life." or the sense that mimesis is for them inescapable. Likewise.
both have failed in their many attempts to accept community and are,
therefore. lost in their loneliness. And the "diabolical element"—-
that which will again resurface, and to a greater extent, in F001 for

Love's Eddie and Paris. Texas‘s Travis—-has been fully exposed.

 

1Ron Mott
Press. 1984) 1

2William
Divided Self."
Bonnie Marranc

3Michiko
America, “ N_ew_

4John G.
Green State U‘

 

5Cawelti

‘ 6Arturo

‘ Alienation of
Family Organi
102-15.

7De Hoyz

NOTES--CHAPTER III

1Ron Mottram, Inner Landscapes (Columbia: University of Missouri
Press. 1984) 144.

2William Kleb. "Worse Than Being Homeless: True West and the

Divided Self." American Dreams: The Imagination of Sam Shepard, ed.
Bonnie Marranca (New York: Performing Arts Journal. 1981) 117-25.

3Michiko Kakuntani. "Myths. Dreams. Realities-—Sam Shepard's
America." New York Times 29 January 1984, late ed.: 2.

4John G. Cawelti. The Six-Gun Mystigue (Bowling Green: Bowling
Green State University Popular Press. 1984) 63.

5Cawelti 58.

6Arturo De Hoyas and Genevieve De Hoyas. "The Amigo System and

Alienation of the Wife in the Conjugal Mexican Family." Kinshiprand
Family Organization. ed. Bernard Farber (New York: John Wiley. 1966)
102—15.

7De Hoyas and De Hoyas 103.
8De Hoyas and De Hoyas 104.

9De Hoyas and De Hoyas 105.

10De Hoyas and De Hoyas point out that the Amigo System is
originally a Mexican phenomenon.

11Benjamin Lee Whorf, Language. Thought and Reality, ed. John B.
Carroll (New York: John Wiley, 1956) 212-14.

12See Talcott Parsons and Robert F. Bales. Family. Socialization
and Interaction Process (New York: The Free Press. 1955) 113.

13Cawelti 65.

14Marshall W. Fishwick, American Heroes: Myth and Reality
(Washington. D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1954) 204.

15Leslie A. Fiedler, The Return of the Vanishing American (New
York: Stein and Day. 1968) 21.

140

16Willim
Oklahoma Pres!

17Cawelt'
18Savage

19David
Folsom (Engle

20Davis
21Savage

22John a
University of

23For a
the roles he
Shewey. §§m_
American Ori
The Life and
l 1986).

2[*Vardi
Blend of His

wood Cliffs,

 

25Milto

26M0115
and Winston,
describing r

more import

27Gavel

28Cawe‘

29Lesl
Meridian Bo

 

141

16 . .
William Savage. Jr.. The Cowboy Hero (Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1979) 61.

17Cawe1ti 54.

18Savage 62.

19David B. Davis, "Ten-Gallon Hero," The Western, ed. James K.
Folsom (Englewood Cliffs. N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1979) 26.

20Davis 29.

21Savage 141.

22John R. Milton, The Novel of the American West (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1980) 2.

23For a more in-depth look at Shepard's upbringing in relation to
the roles he plays on screen and to the plays themselves. see Don

Shewey. Sam Shepard: The Life. the Loves. Behind the Legend of a True
American Original (New York: Dell. 1985), or Ellen Oumano. Sam Shepard:

The Life and Work of an American Dreamer (New York: St. Martin's Press,
1986).

24Vardis Fisher and Opal Laurel Holmes, "Fact or Fiction: The
Blend of History and Legend." The Western. ed. James K. Folsom (Engle-
wood Cliffs, NuL: Prentice—Hall. 1979) 96.

25Milton 3—4.

26Molly Haskell, From Reverence to Rape (New York: Holt. Rinehart
and Winston. 1974) frequently uses the term "buddy movie," when
describing new type of film where the relationship between men is far
more important than any encounter between men and women.

27Cawelti 19.
ZBCawelti 17.

29Leslie Fiedler, Love and Death in the American Novel (New York:
Meridian Books. 1960) 214.

30Guy Davenport, 'The Geography of the Imagination." The Geography

of the Imagination (San Francisco: North Point Press. 1981) 4. Essen—
tially, Davenport deals with the imagination of Edgar Allen Poe and how

his imagination appropriated from other writers, but he applies this
principle to the author's characters as well.

31Sam Shepard, Cowboys #2. Angel City. Curse of the Starving Class
& Other Plays (New York: Urizen Books. 1981) 236-37.

 

   
  

I
Western." _S_°_¢.

33Kakutam

3I'lfiedler

 

 

35Mueani .2.

34Fiedler. Love and Death 432.

    

 

 

The:

Wou

Shepard
Primal tonne.
destructive.

the key to i‘

 

CHAPTER IV

FOOL FOR LOVE

The daimonic always has its biological base.

--Rollo May
Love and Will. p. 125

Maybe I should just take a walk with no destination.
Maybe I should stay in one place and stay put and stop making
up reasons to move.
Maybe we could both have a conversation.
Would you like to have a conversation?
--Sam Shepard
Motel Chronicles, p. 123
Shepard insists on the bond between blood relatives as a powerful,
primal connecting force which is ultimately deviant and self—
destructive. In Fool for Love. a type of moral parable with incest as
the key to its meaning. Shepard offers his most intense, exhausting,
and relentless plethora of reminiscences to date. Despite the strong
bond between family members, this play is, however. no more an adver-
tisement in the defense of brother and sister than was True West a play
in defense of brotherhood. Yet Fool for Love is laden with familiar
Shepard themes: reality versus fantasy, commitment versus promiscuity

and debauchery, alcoholism versus sobriety. love versus hate. Also

present are similar subthemes: father as absent caretaker of the

143

 

 

 

 

   

 

he intention
Structurally

more like a

 

be called ”y
it goes when
but heartfel
Most nc

the American
hardships an
emphasis on
self-eontair
incur in the
be about pg;
another. am
exaflirtation
the causes .
biological .
Next. ;
M. for t?
511. Shape:
of the Che:

of Previous

144

family, horses as images of sexual freedom and aggressiveness, cowboy
culture as deviant and immoral beyond extremes.

Fool for Love also refutes Shepard-critics' major complaints that
he intentionally leaves his plays unfinished or in rough-draft form.

Structurally. Fool has a beginning. middle. and ending and is, in fact,

 

more like a "regular" play. Don Shewey claims that the play might well
be called "True Love: It wants to know where love comes from and where
it goes when it's gone" and is the "theatrical equivalent of a corny

"l

but heartfelt country-anddwestern ballad.

Most notably. though. in F001 Shepard takes his condemnation of

 

the American family one step further. Before where be depicted the
hardships and tribulations—-hence the shortcomings of the family, with
emphasis on the improbability of the unit ever becoming productive and

self-contained-in Fool Shepard excoriates the effects a family may

 

incur in their attempts to unite. At first glance, the play appears to
be about peripheral characters. their temporary commitments to one
another, and finally their mutual love for each other. But upon closer
examination. it becomes evident that Shepard is once again working with
the causes of kinship and the potential negative effects that such
biological prisons may have on family members.

Next, Shepard makes great progress as a playwright by presenting

Fool, for the most part. from a female's point of view. May is, after

 

all, Shepard's hero (not heroine) in this play. for she possesses many
of the characteristics (both in appearance and in behavior) indicative

of previous Shepard male heroes. Even when she is not present on

 

 

  

 

 

 

   

out the truth
that May is ‘1
Vince. Austin
male world (4

doesn't seem

 

fantasies and
have been dee
unrealized an
grappling.
Finally.
exploration 1
might be E11
outs“ of soc:
love where t

sate their a

they are f or

issue.

145

stage. she is listening through bathroom doors in her attempts to sort
out the truth in the conversations of others. In fact. one might argue
that May is more courageous. assertive, and decisive than. say, Wesley.
Vince. Austin. or Lee. Shepard's world has been until now a completely
male world (even John Cawelti observes that "a Western without sexism
doesnft seem like a Western"2) in which characters grapple with
fantasies and facts up until the end. or until most of the fantasies
have been destroyed or revised. Now, harassed by poverty. worries.
unrealized ambitions, and wasted passions, May's quest includes the
grappling.

Finally. and at the heart of Fool for Love, is Shepard's
exploration of love as it works in the cowboy culture (although it
might be 22y culture) in which his characters exist. Shepard's "left-
outs" of society, Eddie and May. struggle to discover a definition of
love where none may be found. And attempt as they often do to communi-
cate their affections. an impasse of conflict results until. finally.

they are forced out of survival and out of their own sanity to drop the

issue.

i
After Eddie allegedly left May for another woman, a "countess"
(22). according to May, May made her first attempts at independence. or
life without Eddie. Apparently. this scenario has occurred before to
May. who asks Eddie, "How many times have you done this to me?" (24%
For all practical purposes. May's ambitions are desirous and commend-

able. She tells Eddie that she is "not going back to that idiot

 

 

  
 

 

 

ESSEZiHGSo e l
evident where
Eddie attract!

intense and u5

 

cal:

HAY

U
VII
rea
mu<

not
Even now May'

leave:

146

trailer" (22). a false sanctuary where Eddie supplied her with "fashion
magazines.. .. Those French kind"(25) while he was away (it is not
evident where, but most probably with the CountessL But not only is
Eddie attracted to May. for May's attraction to Eddie is equally
intense and unweakened throughout the play, even though it is illogi-

cal:

MAY: (very cold. quick. almost monotone voice like she's
writing him a letter) I donhzunderstand my feelings. I
really donft. I don't understand how I could hate you so
much after so much time. How, no matter how much I'd like
not to hate you. I hate you even more. It grows. (28)
Even now May‘s artificial defiance collapses when Eddie pretends to
leave:
MAY: (agonized scream) Don't go!!!
(She grabs pillow, clutching it to her chest then throws
herself down on bed, moaning and moving from one end of bed
to the other on her elbows and knees. . . .) (18—19)
More than jealousy on May's part exists, though. The affection to
Eddie is as much biological as it is spiritual. her attraction as much
physical as familial.

Eddie has driven "two thousand. four hundred and eighty" (21)
miles to locate May. claims he misses her "more than anything [he] ever
missed in [his] whole life" (21), and promises he will not leave her
again. However. one gathers that Eddie has other ambitions:
initially. he states that he just "came to see if [May] were all

right." yet shortly after he claims to take her back with him. The

obsession with each other is mutual, and May's words could as well be

Eddie's:

 

 

 

 

   

you

But Eddie clq

 

two is. what'
Eddie as her‘
Martin that i
play becomes
sister until
already——you
then. is the
the staring
is to be sha
In Mart
once again i
With his ch.
alter ego fj
indicates i;
[15] of Eddi
Stories. E1
historical;
Eddie's Own
May, was a1

nifiht long

147

MAY: You canft keep messing me around like this. It's been
going on too long. I can't take it anymore. I get sick
everytime you come around. Then I get sick when you leave.
You're like a disease to me. Besides. you got no right being
jealous of me after all the bullshit I've been through with

you. (33)

But Eddie claims that he does have the right. for the bond between the
two is. what Eddie proclaims, a "pact" (33% Although May introduces
Eddie as her "cousin" to her date Martin. Eddie later confesses to
Martin that May is his half—sister. and the central conflict of the

play becomes clear: Eddie tells Martin, “I never even knew I had a
sister until it was too late ... by the time I found out we'd
already--you know~-fooled around" (62). What Eddie reveals to Martin,
then. is that he is actually May's brother and lover. Following this.
the staring Martin's skeptical reply--"That's illegal. isn't it?" (62)——
is to be shared by the audience.

In Martin, a local groundskeeper and maintenance man. Shepard has
once again injected an emissary of the real world in order to contrast
with his characters. and for Eddie. May, and the Old Man--an important
alter ego figure whose invisibility by the characters on stage (Shepard
indicates in the stage directions that "he exists only in the minds"
[15] of Eddie and May) results in a type of chorus-—to tell their
stories. Eddie's story to Martin during May's absence is prophetically
historical; it is an account of his Old Man‘s promiscuity and of
Eddie's own surprise in discovering that his high school sweetheart,
May. was also his sister. The chronology of events is vague. but one

night long ago Eddie asked his transient father. notorious then for

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mud all over
embracing th
took them tc
Finally. aft
pretty woman
father's arm
tale. May vi
listening t1

his account
E
a
o
w
e
3'.

But this 1.
Martin any
that she a:

hi5 story,

148

constantly "disappearing and reappearing." to let him join him on one
of his journeys. Together they traveled by foot through muddy
pastures. past a drive-in movie depicting Spencer Tracy mouthing words
to a woman in red (foreshadowing the upcoming encounter with May's
mother, who also wears red). and on to a liquor store where "all these
Mexican migrant workers" were "standing around a pick-up truck with red
mud all over the tires" (65). and (again a familiar Shepard image)
embracing the Amigo-System dream. After getting a bottle. their walk
took them to a small. white suburban "house with a red awning."
Finally, after Eddie's father rang the doorbell, an attractive "real
pretty woman with red hair" (66) greeted them. threw herself into his
father's arms. and passionately kissed him. At this point in Eddie's
tale. May violently reenters from the bathroom where she has been
listening to Eddie's story. She intently listens while Eddie concludes
his account of May's appearance behind the lady:
EDDIE: She just appears. She’s just standing there. staring
at me and I'm staring back at her and we can't take our eyes
off each other. It was like we knew each other from some—
where but we couldn't place where. But the second we saw
each other. that very second, we knew we'd never stop being
in love. (67)
But this is Eddie's point of view. and May objects to it. denying to
Martin any truth in this "version"; in fact. she denies any allegations
that she and Eddie are even related. When Eddie attempts to continue
his story, May insists on equal time to express her version of the same

evening. But May's story is not radically different from Eddie's. In

fact. it is not a denial or a contradiction at all. only a

 

 

 

 

149

supplication. May's version is actually delivered with respect to her

mother's—-the lady in red's-—point of view:

MAY: . . . She, my mother--the pretty red—haired woman in
the little white house with the red awning. was desperately
in love with the old man. Wasn't she. Eddie? You could tell
that right away. You could see it in her eyes. She was
obsessed with him to the point where she couldn't stand being
without him for even a second. She kept hunting for him from
town to town. Following little clues that he left behind,
like a postcard maybe. or a motel on the back of a matchbook.
(to Martin) He never left her a phone number or an address
or anything as simple as that because my mother was his
secret. see. She hounded him for years and he kept trying to
keep her at a distance because the closer these two separate
lives drew together. these two separate women. these two
separate kids, the more nervous he got. The more filled with
terror that the two lives would find out about each other and

devour him whole. That this secret would take him by the

In short, and according to May, after the confrontation at her house,
Eddie's father once again disappeared from her mother, but this for the
final time. As May's mother‘s search for him proved fruitless. May

recalls being a witness to her grievance:

MAY: . . . She was only with him for about two weeks before
he just vanished. Nobody saw him after that. Ever. And my
mother--just turned herself inside out. I never could
understand that. I kept watching her grieve, as though
somebody'd died. She'd pull herself up into a ball and just
stare at the floor. And I couldn‘t understand that because I
was feeling the exact opposite feeling. I was in love. see.
I'd come home after school. after being with Eddie. and I was
filled with this joy and there she‘d be——standing in the
middle of the kitchen staring at the sink. Her eyes looked
like a funeral. And I didn't know what to say. I didn‘t
even feel sorry for her. All I could think of was him. (72)

It is as if the Old Man's disappearance spawned an unrelentless rela-
tionship between Eddie and May until they were so powerfully in love
that it made both of them "violently sick" to be separated. May's

mother pleaded with Eddie to keep away from his sister, but he would

 

 

 

not agree. F
who. ignorant
was so depres
subsequent in
The Old
course he is
whom he does
happened unti
'Tt was your
She never fi
(73).

The spa
many "storie
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Yet the 01d
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each other 1
mutually (aj
finally, a
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Unlike the
and headlig
Eddie for h
WindOWS. (

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150

not agree. Finally. May's mother appealed to Eddie's mother for help,
who. ignorant of her husband’s whereabouts (and of his infidelity).
was so depressed by his other love and life. and by Eddie and May's
subsequent incestuous relationship, that she shot herself.

The Old Man challenges May in self—defense at this point. Of
course he is supposed to be oblivious to all. except for Eddie. with
whom he does occasionally interact. and he denies the suicide ever
happened until Eddie confronts him with the truth, calmly asserting.
"It was your shotgun. Same one we used to duck hunt with. Browning.
She never fired a gun before in her life. That was her first time"
(73).

The spectator of Fool for Love is offered many points of view,
many "stories,fi and must form a conclusion based on a series of
unreliable narrations delivered by a series of unreliable narrators.
Yet the Old Manfs attempts to clear the record. and to win the affection
of his daughter May, fail. and when Eddie and May embrace and "kiss
each other tenderly" (75). the implication is that history has been
mutually (albeit temporarily) acknowledged by Eddie and May. Now.
finally. a reconciliation between the two is possible. But as this
peacemaking takes place. Eddie's truck explodes from off stage (not
unlike the Tates‘ truck in Curse of the Starving Class). horses scream.
and headlights--undoubtedly those of the countess, who seeks revenge on
Eddie for his promiscuousness toward her--g1eam through the motel
windows. Complete havoc is again present. and as Eddie exits--he

claims he will return in "a second"--May, realizing that Eddie has left

 

 

 

 

her in pursui'
May, though. i
places of bid
might be poss
It is cl
treatment of
of May's mot]
Old Man's. I4
tive self-as:
are May's att
turning hers
Eddie's fath1
fearful of c
for unlike I
realist cape
undoubtedly

another lif‘

Eddie
ShePard thr
Plays. Edd
alone that
tral“Spired
indicates ‘

151

her in pursuit of the countess. slowly packs her bags and exits. too.
May. though. is not leaving with Eddie. nor after him. but to new
places of hiding where separation from her half-brother/half—lover
might be possible. although not probable.

It is clear that Eddie's treatment of May echoes the Old Man's
treatment of Eddie's mother. and. as far as that goes. of his treatment
of May's mother. May is Eddie's "secret." just as May's mother was the
Old Man's. May‘s escapes from Eddie. then. are to be viewed as posi—
tive self-assertions away from her mother's similar predicament. They
are May's attempts at securing her own identity and sanity. at not
turning herself "inside out" over Eddie as did her mother over her and
Eddie's father. Both the Old Man and Eddie. on the other hand. are
fearful of committing themselves to one woman. But May will survive.
for unlike Eddie she is not a "fantasist" (26% Indeed. she is a
realist capable of making a full commitment to one person. She will
undoubtedly travel to another town where she will begin another job and

another life--until. that is. Eddie tracks her down again.

Eddie and May's kinship in Fool for Love. exemplified this time by
Shepard through the use of incest. is more disturbing than in the other
plays. Eddie's enigmatic reference to their "pact" clear, the point

alone that their stories. their pasts. their accounts of what has

 

transpired between them and how it occurred have all been suppressed
indicates that kinship. in this case. has again been more harmful than

helpful. This marks the first time in any Shepard play when characters

 

 

 

 

have found 16
incapable of
alleviate his
chances not t
from a perma‘
incestuous g
felt hunger
The gui
person of th
May] could l
prototypical
May. be fine
fate general
worked to v:
Eddie
nurture tha
their muted
is Physical
which they
mother. nee
beliers.
she is bofl
3150 alone

not I they

Sister (ra

152

have found love. yet because of the circumstances they are emotionally
incapable of nurturing that love. Eddie tries unsuccessfully to
alleviate his guilt by a string of promiscuities. which he regards as
chances not to fail others as he has failed May. and as gestures away
from a permanent commitment to May. Yet his frantic flights away from
incestuous guilt and commitment periodically result in Eddie’s heart-
felt hunger for the one whom he loves. May.

The guilt that Eddie feels originally manifests itself in the
person of the Old Man as well. although he contends. Wyou [Eddie and
May] could be anybody's" (49); recognized by the Old Man [who is the
prototypical Shepard father and "fantasist"] in reference to Eddie and
May. he finally cannot deny that they were not his children. and as
fate generally works against characters in Shepard's drama. so has it
worked to victimize lovers Eddie and May in F001 for Love.

Eddie and May's mutual attraction. and inability to conceive or
nurture that attraction in and before Fool for Love, culminates in
their muted attempts at family. Indeed. in large part their attraction
is physical. for they see in each other the parts about themselves
which they like best. but May's real "disease" is that she. like her
mother. needs to be bound by commitment. Eddie does not. or so he

believes. May is fatherless and either brother—or—loverless. Perhaps
she is both at times. Eddie. concurrent with his mother's suicide. is
also alone. but does not find that to be a problem. Yet. like it or
not. they are biologically bound, and their behavior as brother and

sister (rather than as lovers) is implicit in their speech:

 

 

 

   

 
 

rh;

E
Y
s
o

Here. Eddie

lovers. ant

 

or any 'man
(39)-may b‘
May's indif
criticisms.
Wesley's si

and social

“As-on».

 

153

MAY: So. now we're gonna' get real mean and sloppy. is that
it? Just like old times.

EDDIE: Well. I haven't dropped the reins in quite a while
ya' know. I've been real good. I have. No hooch. No
slammer. No women. No nothin'. I been a pretty boring kind
of guy actually. I figure I owe it to myself. (39)
Here. Eddie confides in May concerning matters that seem awkward for
lovers. and Eddie's apparent jealousy--"There probably isn't any 'guy'
or any 'man' or anybody comin' over here. You just made all that up"
(39)——may be taken as watchful and guardian—like behavior. Likewise.

May's indifference to Eddie's putdowns. coupled with her vicious
criticisms. typifies the skepticism of sisterly rebellion. Not unlike
Wesley's sister Emma in Curse of the Starving Class. May desires escape

and social variety:

MAY'S VOICE: (unseen. behind bathroom door) I hate
chickens! I hate horses! I hate all that shit! You know
that. You got me confused with somebody else. You keep
comin' up here with this lame country dream life with
chickens and vegetables and I can't stand it.

EDDIE: (EDDIE has crossed stage left during this. stops at
table) You'll get used to it. (23—24)

The repression May feels is obvious. yet one gets the feeling that she
will finally be sold on Eddie's "lame country dream" (23). It is never
clear. but the ambiguity of her name suggests that she "May" or "May
not" remain with and loyal to Eddie; she "May" or "May not" get "used
to "his "country dream"; she "May" or "May not" be his half-sister.
Like True West's Lee. Eddie is a cowboy out of his time. He has
"got a piece of ground up in Wyoming," has "everything worked out" (22-

23). and dreams of pipe corrals. vegetable gardens. and livestock. He

 

    

 

 

the importan

 

hero. Obse '

 

That Eddie I:
not to take
faith in the
Althoug
plans to "ta
(24). he ha:
one in Wyom
lives and o

the same we

154

even tows horses around with him in the bed of his pickup. redolent of
the fictitious characters in Lee's Western tale. Shepard recognizes
the importance of the horse as a symbol of freedom to the true cowboy

hero. Observes Cawelti:

The hero is a man with a horse and the horse is his direct
tie to the freedom of the wilderness. for it embodies his
ability to move freely across it and to dominate and control
its spirit. Through the intensity of his relationship to his
horse. the cowboy excites the human fantasy of unity with
natural creatures——the same fantasy seen in such figures as
the centaurs of Greek mythology. . . .3

That Eddie keeps a truck conveniently handy in case his horse decides

not to take his orders (rebelling like May) suggests Eddie's lack of

faith in the complete cowboy myth.

Although Eddie has everything "worked out" (23). including his
plans to "take care" of May and to "stick with [her] no matter what"
(24), he has (like his father) two separate lives he must tend to: the
one in Wyoming that he fantasizes about. and the other in which he
lives and of which May is a part. Eddie pursues the countess in much
the same way that the Old Man believes that the picture on the wall of
country music queen Barbara Mandrell is actually his wife. As the Old
Man asserts. "That's realism. I am actually married to Barbara
Mandrell in my mind" (27). Eddie comprehends it in the same manner that
he comprehends his own "realism." that he is actually a cowboy. that he
is actually having an affair with a countess, and that he is actually
only there for a "visit" with May. May. on the other hand. like her

mother is a "regular citizen." and for the first time in her life she

rejects anything resembling Eddie's "country dream." or his ambition to

 

 

    

(35) .
Il'he ill
been introdl

ity of a tr

 

tant ingred:

 

significano
for a domes

M
c

E

 

155

be a Marlboro Man. for she knows "It'll be the same thing over and over
again. WeUJ.be together for a little while and then youfll be gone"
(35).

The illusion of a family planted at the heart of Fool for Love has
been introduced playfully and carefully. not suddenly. The impossibil—
ity of a traditional and functional family unit. which forms an impor-
tant ingredient in the actions and images of the play. acquires
significance as the play develops. May agrees to date Martin in hopes
for a domestic life:

MAY: Why is everything a big contest with you? He's not
competing with you. He doesn't even know you exist.

EDDIE: You can introduce me.

MAY: Ihn not introducing you. I am definitely not
introducing you. He'd be very embarrassed to find me here
with somebody else. Besides. I've only just met him.
EDDIE: Embarrassed?

MAY: Yes! Embarrassed. He‘s a very gentle person.

EDDIE: Is that right. Well, I'm a very gentle person
myself. My feelings get easily damaged.

MAY: What feelings. (32—33)
Eddie's relationship with May. in general his inability to fully commit
himself to her or to a family with her. echoes that of the voyeuristic
Old Man's relationship with the mothers of Eddie and May. History and
human nature rarely cooperate in Shepard's father-figures. and the Old
Man in F001 for Love is no exception. Wandering and rootless as he was
(or is-—it is difficult to predict his present status at the time of

the play. although one assumes the figure on stage is the guilty spirit

 

  
 

 

 

  

Shepard fa -
play. “bath
the Old Man

all of the :

 

less. migrai
or at least‘
enough. and
Up until tht
agreed upon
was in sham
denial. is
Whatev
spiritual s
with and t}

and May gm

156

of the Old Man. trying to separate fact from fiction). he is a typical
Shepard father. If he is in fact deceased. the figure present in the
play. whether he represents Shepardfs alter ego. Eddie's subconscious.
the Old Man at present. or the spiritual presence of the Old Man (or
all of the above). suggests that even now in his eternity he is home—
less. migratory. and certainly aberrant. He fails to mirror the past
or at least conjunctively capitulate events of the past cogently
enough. and with the consistency. so that understanding is adhered to.
Up until the confrontation between Eddie and May. the Old Man has
agreed upon an illusion as a comforter when his family (or families)
was in shambles. What exactly that illusion encompassed, besides
denial. is unclear.

Whatever the Old Man represents. he is indissoluble. and as the
spiritual spokesman for the vacant father he converses only verbally
with and through Eddie. It becomes clear. in fact, that where Eddie
and May should be objects of his affection. they are only sources of
satisfaction for his ego. On another level. however. the use of the
Old Man in F001 for Love is dramatic. Events combine to unravel his
life. and Eddie's imagination knits them together. creating a fabric
that momentarily preserves the Old Man from guilt. For instance. when
the Old Man cannot recognize Eddie and May. or his "failures." as he
phrases it. he states only that he "can't figure that one out." which

suggests the questionability regarding his fathering of them:

 

   

 

temporary s

Here. the f.

  
 
 

 

father's par

no moral wr

 

coherence e:

: validity be'
I May's mothe
doin‘l Kee;

this point

The 01

for Eddie a

verificatic

 

157

THE OLD MAN: Amazing thing is. neither one a'you look a bit
familiar to me. Can't figure that one out. I don‘t recog-
nize myself in either one a'you. Never did. .. totally
unrecognizable. You could be anybody‘s. Probably are. I
can't even remember the original circumstances. . . . (49)
Here, the father's vague remembrance of history results in Eddie's
temporary security. In other words. since there is doubt on the
father's part-dvoiced through Eddie's subconsciousness-—then Eddie sees
no moral wrong in his relationship with May. Yet there is no inner
coherence expressed on Eddie's part when the Old Man admits the
validity behind May's story. stating to Eddie-~and consistent with
May's mother‘s words—-"Stay away from her! What the hell are you
doin'! Keep away from her! You two canft come together!" (75). At
this point it is clear that the Old Man verifies their bond by blood.
The Old Man plays a vital role in F001 for Love for were it only
for Eddie and May's story to a neutral. and often confused Martin. no
verification of incest. of the tragedy of suicide. or of their fates
as lovers would be made. The Old Man in a sense secures the "curse" in
F001 for Love. but not without making a journey of his own. Shepard
has long dabbled in the predicament of reality versus illusion. And if
May and Martin. again who are emissaries of the real world where people
work-—May as a cook. Martin waters the high school football field--
represent the real world. Eddie and the Old Man represent the illu—
sionary one.
None of Shepard's fathers is capable of commitment. and neither is

Eddie. who must be viewed as the reincarnation of his father. just as

Vince might be recognized as the reincarnation of the buried child and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the Old Man"

 

Tilden and V
Eddie is dea
both literal

sister. Edc'

E]

t1

jl

ca

w.‘

H1

i1

And if toll.
remain fait
will recipr
One po
"Curse'Lian
father. Bu

direction a

158

the lost brother Ansel in Buried Child. Eddie is indeed if not the
spiritual presence of the father, then the product--or replica——of the
father. The Old Man's words. "neither one a'you.look a bit familiar to
me." is to be sarcastic and ironic. for Eddie's life so far duplicates
the Old Man's exactly. And like Wesley in Curse of the Starving Class,
Tilden and Vince in Buried Child. and Lee and Austin in True West.
Eddie is destined to follow in his father% steps. This becomes clear.
both literally and figuratively. when the Old Man took Eddie to meet his
sister. Eddie describes that night long ago:
EDDIE: ... And.he took me. We walked straight out across
the fields together. In the dark. And I remember it was
just plowed and our feet sank down in the powder and the dirt
came up over the tops of my shoes and weighed me down. I
wanted to stop and empty my shoes out but he wouldn't stop.
He kept walking straight ahead and I was afraid of losing him
in the dark so I just kept up as best I could. . . . (64-65)
And if following in his father‘s steps means. in part, the inability to
remain faithful to one sexual partner and to one family. then Eddie
will reciprocate.

One positive indication. and another Shepard misnomer in his
"curse"—inflicted, pessimistic world. is that May also signifies the
father. But May represents hope. hard work. and at least partial
direction and purpose. even if that direction is confused and often
misshapen. One can only assume that when she exits with her suitcase
at the play's end she has decided. although perhaps irrationally. to
pursue places and situations where she may be self-sufficient. Indeed.

however. the refuge May seeks will not be one so remote and safe from

Eddie that he will be unable to relocate her. whether she desires that

 

 

 

  
  

directions.
Eddie and I
the family

4
not really I

In {03
Shepard's 01
play. a ful
from May's
and commun-
ning the n
hair is in
denim skir
the bed's e
hanging fo:

does not c.

159

or not. At any rate. with their individual departures. and in separate
directions. one must assume that even now the possibility of family for
Eddie and May has again been prolonged. Harmony. communication within

the family and between family members. and the tolerance of reality are

not really operative in Shepard's world.

ii

In Fool for Love. there is an internal complexity between
Shepard's characters Eddie and May. For the first time in a Shepard
play. a fully developed and significant female character is drawn. and
from May's point of view the impossibility of the family ever combining
and communicating toward a common goal is expressed. From the begin-
ning the two divisions between the characters are not evident: May's
hair is in a tangled mess; she wears a sloppy white t—shirt and a blue
denim skirt; her feet are bare. When the lights come up. she sits on
the bed's edge. feet on floor and legs apart. with her head limpidly
hanging forward. Eddie‘s untidy appearance. after his long journey.
does not contrast with May's. He wears muddy. debilitated boots with
tape wrapped around them. faded jeans with a pair of brown spurs hang—
ing from his belt. He limps when he walks and. as Shepard directs.
'There's a peculiar broken—down quality about his body in general. as
though he's aged long before his time" (16%

Despite their apparent haggardness. both Eddie and May are
worldly, fleshy. strong. May herself is made to speak in terms that.

from our point of view. are very significant and which reveal very

little naivete:

 

  

 

 

 

3

yc

(a
he

Hay upbraid:
something c:
appears on 1
reality. S]
acknowledge
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1

l.

160

MAY: You're gonna' erase me.

EDDIE: What're you talkin' about?

MAY: You're either gonna' erase me or have me erased.
EDDIE: Why would I want that? Are you kidding?

MAY: Because I'm in the way.

EDDIE: Don't be stupid.

MAY: I'm smarter than you are and you know it. I can smell
your thoughts before you even think 'em.

(EDDIE moves along wall to upstage left corner. MAY holds
her ground in opposite corner.) (19)

May upbraids Eddie for choosing a "lame country dream life" over
something civilized and practical; for choosing a "countess" who
appears on magazine covers over her; for choosing-the dream over
reality. She reminds Eddie that she is not helpless and that even he
acknowledges her superiority over him in intelligence and insight. In
terms of her vigor. of her feverish struggle between independence and
submission. and the magnitude of her role. the play is May's. After
all. of the "fools" for love. she is the bigger of the two for letting
Eddie mislead her. time after time. and her outburst against Eddie's
treatment of her is long overdue:

MAY: (quietly. staying in corner) I'm gonna' kill her ya'
know.

EDDIE: Who?

MAY: Who.

EDDIE: Don't talk like that.

(MAY slowly begins to move down stage right as EDDIE

simultaneously moves up left. Both of them press the walls
as they move)

 

 

 

less sexual

deep and uni
traditional
sense of fr.
primary sym
even more t
ness life"!
cally remai
case with 1

true nature

At fir

She catches

all the con

1

161

MAY: I am. I'm gonna' kill her and then I‘m gonna‘ kill

you. Systematically. With sharp knives. Two separate

knives. One for her and one for you. (She slams wall

with her elbow. Wall resonates) So the blood doesn't mix.

Imn gonna' torture her first though. Not you. I'm gonna'

let you have it. Probably in the midst of a kiss. Right when

you think everything's been healed up. Right in the moment

when you're sure you've got me buffaloed. That's when you'll

die. (20)
Here, May's aggressiveness, her biting criticism of Eddie and his care-
less sexual abandon. and finally her plot to get revenge all denote her
deep and unfulfilled craving for human relationship. Typical of the
traditional female in the Western. May represents a threat to Eddie's
sense of freedom and individuality. Cawelti points out that "women are
primary symbols of civilization in the Western. It is the schoolmarm
even more than the entrepreneur who signals the end of the old wilder-

"4

ness life. Cawelti later adds that long-standing friendships typi—

5 This is the

cally remain in suspension and rarely lead to marriage.
case with Eddie and May's'long standing" and suspended friendship. the
true nature of which Shepard attempts to expose.

At first glance, it appears as though May is Eddie's antagonist.
She catches him lying a number of times to her. but even stripping away

all the comforts of illusion does not seem to enhance May's condition:

EDDIE: (He bangs his head into the wall. Wall booms)
There wasn't any fling with any Countess!

MAY: You're a liar.
EDDIE: I took her out to dinner once, okay?
MAY: Ha!

(She moves upstage right wall)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A question ‘
general. is
without ill
unlike some
May are not
character a
say. George
without ill
best to st:

1

May Wins,
fantasy, 1

this poin.

162

EDDIE: Twice.

MAY: You were bumping here on a regular basis! Don't gimme
that shit.

EDDIE: You can believe whatever you want.

MAY: (She stops by bathroom door. opposite EDDIE) I'll
believe the truth! It's less confusing. (22)

A question Shepard asks in this passage. and in F001 for Love in
general. is the question Eddie never answers: Is it possible to live
without illusions? The problem with Shepard's characters. however. and
unlike some of CYNeill's. Williams's. and Albee's, is that Eddie and
May are not safe within their illusions. not even temporarily. One
character always detects the truth somewhere. exposes it. and where,
say. George and Martha finally admit that a healthier life might exist
without illusions. Shepard's characters (namely Eddie) admit that it is
best to stay hidden within them:

MAY: .. . How many times have you done this to me?

EDDIE: What.

MAY: Suckered me into some dumb little fantasy and then
dropped me like a hot rock. How many times has that happened?

EDDIE: It's no fantasy.

MAY: It's all a fantasy.

EDDIE: And I never dropped you either.

MAY: No. you just disappeared!

EDDIE: I‘m here now aren't I? (24)
May wins. and although she can never quite kill Eddie's dependence on
fantasy, she does clarify the truth for her own purposes. However. at

this point. one may ask the question. is not May's determination to

 

ix‘J

   

 

 

 

is not pom

sions.

Onav;

 

Tennessee W5
Kowolski fr
has denied
gambling. c'
tions in E:
tive woman
the other t
related. w]
Eddie's mo1
mother, an

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therapeuti

163

control and plot to stabilize Eddie in favor of a real family life. in
a sense, her own illusion? Possibly so. According to Shepard. No. it
is not possible (or sometimes even desirable) to live without illu-
sions.

On a vast literary level. many Eddies exist in American drama:
Tennessee Williams's John Buchanon from Summer and Smoke and Stanley
Kowolski from A Streetcar Named Desire come to mind. Like Eddie. each
has denied the soul. affirmed the body, and is concerned primarily with
gambling. drink. and debauchery. Yet Shepard is pulled in two direc-
tions in F001 for Love: one toward the plight of the strong. competi-
tive woman away from the lover who has continually "buffaloed" her, and
the other toward the inner conflict and guilt of two people. blood-
related. who are finally to be held responsible for the death of
Eddie's mother. the deep depression and perhaps insanity of May's
mother, and the disappearance of their shared father.

In this drama of self-knowledge. Eddie and May's actions become
therapeutic and punitive. Bound by affection, and offering a sharp
contrast in perception. Eddie and May ultimately resemble--not unlike
True West's Austin and Lee--two halves of the same self. Shepard is
again utilizing the divided-self motif, and the gradual revelation of
the deeper levels of mutual experience between Eddie and May, with an
apparent increase of pain as the truth unfolds-suggesting a remnant of
sentience in both Eddie and May—-makes for a revelation that cannot be

defined in simple terms. Bereft of family, Eddie is a victim of the

impossibility of expressing his desire for its warmth and security

 

...)

 

 

 

except throu
The memory t
seemed to di
May. on the
in the memo

E!
C(

FL

164

except through his promiscuity which creates and destroys families.

The memory of his family, and of how it suddenly and without notice
seemed to disintegrate before his eyes. cannot be shaken by Eddie.

May. on the other hand. is willing to forget the "pact." to indulge not
in the memory. but. rather. in the disapproval of the memory:

EDDIE: You know we're connected May. We'll always be
connected. That was decided a long time ago.

MAY: Nothing was decided! You made all that up.
EDDIE: You know what happened.

MAY: You promised me that was finished. You can't start
that up all over again. You promised me.

EDDIE: A promise canlt stop something like that. It
happened.

MAY: Nothing happened! Nothing ever happened. (34)
As suggested. Shepard opposes May with the crude vitality of Eddie,
whose animal energy results in more destruction than creation. There—
fore. May has resorted to building her own fortress against the Eddies
of the world. If internally she recognizes the truth behind the "pact"
(she does admit it at the end of the play). then externally-—and with
Eddie——she refuses to acknowledge that truth. In other words. when she

is with Eddie. she is like Eddie, creating illusion after illusion as a

 

means of survival. In this sense. May in indeed a typical Shepard

hero, despite her gender.

 

 

  
   

 

 

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iii

Both the manic Eddie and the hapless May are the fools in love
referred to by Shepard in the play's title. That Shepard should
attempt to investigate so closely the conflict of love (spiritual.
physical. even familial) in F001 for Love, and like he does in no
other play. is not surprising. for it need be seen as a vehicle for
Shepard to further inspect the American family, but this time in a
different vein. Love has become a problem to itself in Fool for Love.
"Love" for Shepard is. in a sense, the name for the way Eddie attempts
to control May--to verbally commit to her. "Ihn gonna' stick with you
no matter what" (24). yet it is always his willful prerogative to
escape. But "love" is also May's dilemma. For her. and with Eddie. it
stands for something threatening. distorted. and debilitating. In
fact, prior to the play's start. May has found the courage to tear
loose from Eddie's moorings, and she has taken steps toward self-
fulfillment and recognition. "Love" is also the name for Eddie and
May's joint crisis. their obsession which. not unlike King Oedipus's.
is to find out "who I am and where I came fromJ' The conflict is
intensified by a simple justification of the characters' motivation.
Eddie essentially hopes to confront the truth of his existence once and
for all. to accept it. and to continue to love. albeit part time. his

half—sister and lover May; May, however, cannot trust Eddie and for

good reason:

166

MAY: (calm) Okay. Look. I don't understand what youhve
got in your head anymore. I really don't. I don't get it.
Now. you desperately need me. Now. you can't live without
me. NOW, you'll do anything for me. Why should I believe it
this time?
EDDIE: Because it's true.
MAY: It was supposed to have been true every time before.
Every other time. Now it's true again. YouWe been jerking
me off like this for fifteen years. Fifteen years I've been
a yo-yo for you. IWe never been split. Pve never been two
ways about you. I've either loved you or not loved you. And
now I just plain don't love you. I don't need you. I don't
want you. Do you get that? Now if you can still stay then
you're either crazy or pathetic. (50)
Eddie's promise that this time "it's true" is to be honored as much as
his earlier "promise" to never again abandon her: both. of course, are
broken at the play's end.

Here. this sense of communication reluctance or loss becomes
focal. One often wonders if Eddie and May are discussing the same
matters. and it is not until their respective monologues before one
realizes that the allusions made earlier by each character can now fall
into place. As do Ionesco's. Genet's. Beckett's. Pinter's. and
Albee's. Shepard's subjects exist in a world where communication
between persons. and more specifically and dishearteningly between
relations. is all but destroyed. Ionesco has a scene in his play. Th3
Bald Soprano, which echoes Shepard's depiction of Eddie and May. In
Ionesco's play. a man and a woman happen to meet and engage in polite.
if mannered, conversation. As they talk. their lives unfold; they
discover that they both came down to New York on the ten o'clock train

that morning from New Haven and. surprisingly. the address of both is

the same building on Fifth Avenue: they also both have a daughter seven

 

years old.
man and wife
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167

years old. They finally discover to their astonishment that they are
man and wife. In Fool for Love the same happens. only it is the
audience who. like eavesdroppers. discovers the final truth. yet the
same broken images of man and woman in their attempts to communicate is
conveyed. Also significant is that in each play. the exact relation-
ship between man and woman is vague and left undefined until the play's
end.

Although much more hostility is present in F001 for Love (and in
fact "love" also translates into violence as well). this play documents
a positive assertion on Shepard‘s part. No longer are his people
affectless or feelingless. Even the despairing possibility that noth—
ing matters--a subterranean theme present in Curse of the Starving

Class, Buried Child. and in True West. too—-or a condition very close

 

to apathy does not exist. In Fool for Love characters care. and where

affectlessness was a dominant mood emerging in Curse particularly.

 

where characters in their lethargy become victims. Eddie and May do not
approach that futility and despair. Shepardfs first real love scene as

a dramatist presents itself in the play's end. after all objections

have been made:

(EDDIE and MAY come together center stage. They embrace.
They kiss each other tenderly. Headlights suddenly arc
through window then disappearing off left. Sound of loud
collision. shattering glass. an explosion. Bright orange and
blue light of a gasoline fire suddenly illuminates upstage
window. Then sounds of horses screaming wildly. hooves gal—
loping on pavement. fading, then total silence. Light of gas
fire continues now to end of play. EDDIE and MAY never stop
holding each other through all this.. . J (75)

 

 

 

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168

The explosion of Eddie's truck juxtaposing with their embrace is
significant: where they unite. friction results. The image of the
screaming horses symbolizes their restless affection toward one
another. and the fire (which Shepard in his directions specifies "con—
tinues" until the "end of the play") represents their continually
ongoing passion. or flame.

Emerging from Eddie and May throughout the play is an openness. a
reaching out toward affection and communication. even if they are not
always successful in their attempts. Each possesses a strong vitality.
and neither possesses the weakness to quit. While Eddie ropes the
bedposts, an action suggestive of his desire to control--or to gain
control. May senses his willful attempts to possess her:

MAY: Why are you going through this whole thing again like
you're trying to impress me or something. Like we just met.
This is the same crap you laid on me in High School.

EDDIE: (still roping) Well. it's just a little testimony of
my love. see baby. I mean if I stopped trying to impress
you, that'd mean it was all over. wouldn't it?

MAY: It is all over.

EDDIE: You're trying to impress me. too. aren't you?

MAY: You know me inside and out. I got nothing new to show
you.

EDDIE: You got this guy comin' over. This new guy. That's

very impressive. I woulda'thought youhd be hung out to dry
by now.

MAY: Oh. thanks a lot. (40)
Albeit not warm and compassionate. they each contribute their ploys to
control. Eddie's line might very well be, "I mean if I stopped trying

to 'possess' you. that'd mean it was all over. wouldnLt it?" Even

    
 

 

 

 

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169

May's jealousy—instigating invitation to the hapless young Martin. and
her denial to impress followed by a sarcastic. "Oh. thanks a lot" after
Eddie degrades her, suggests that she is not an anomie. nor is she
indifferent to Eddie. One even senses that Eddiefls occasional suspen-
sions of commitment to May act as his intention to offer her salvation
from him and the accompanying "pactJ' And his sporadic returns may
indeed be "gutless and guilty" reactions. but they are also gestures of
love and will. On his journey to find May. Eddie reveals the emotion

felt:

EDDIE: Yeah. Weeping. Like a little baby. Uncontrollable.
It would just start up and stop and then start up all over

again. For miles. I couldn't stop it. Cars would pass me
on the road. People would stare at me. My face was all
twisted up. I couldn't stop my face. (21—22)
It is clear that Eddie's withdrawal of love and will toward May is and
always has been temporary. but in the final analysis. her absence from
him results in more emotional stress and spiritual turmoil than he can
cope with. Indeed Eddie's love for May is both sexual and brotherly.
and part of his dilemma is that he cannot decide for himself which type
it ought to be. Eddie's internal anxiety and guilt at abandoning his
half—sister who has not worked in "a long time" and his lover who has
been sexually committed to him increased. he returns to find May
tentatively independent. This wounds Eddie's sense of pride and
injures his sexual prowess.
In Fool for Love Shepard also for the first time in this full-

length plays overtly uses sex to prove spiritual and emotional potency

and dependency. As with Hoss in The Tooth of Crime. there is a vast

 

   

    

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170

separation of emotion from reason in Eddie and May. and sexual appe-
tite. in Eddie's case a bit excessive, is another form of expression.
Eddie's masculine force contrasts with Martist apparent impotence (he
never acts. only reacts to events). Eddie is Shepardfs prototypical
cowboy. Where in earlier plays. characters expressed their appetites
verbally——The Boy in The Rock Garden, whose pornographic monologue
suggests his emotional and familial hunger. comes to mind--dialogue is
more sparse in F001 for Love. Instead. gestures take command. Eddie
chases May into the bathroom. only to have the door shut and locked in
his face; before that. "He bangs his head into the wall“ while denying

‘ he had a "fling with any countessl"; and he cleans his ten-gauge shot-
gun (an obvious phallic symbol) while drinking whiskey and preparing
for his symbolic capture of May:

(.. .He stands there looking down.at the shotgun pieces for
a second. . . .)

MAY: Eddie—-
(His head jerks up and stares at her. She stops cold.)
EDDIE: You're a traitor.

(He exits left with shotgun. Slams door. Door booms. MAY
runs toward door.)

MAY: Eddie!

(She throws herself against stage left door. Her arms reach
out and hug the walls. She weeps. . . .) (35)

Observes Cawelti:

. . . The American tradition has always emphasized individual
masculine force; Americans [like Eddie] love to think of
themselves as pioneers. men who have conquered a continent
and sired on it a new society. This radical discrepancy

   

 

 

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171

between the sense of eroding masculinity and the view of
America as a great history of men against the wilderness
has created the need for a means of symbolic expression of
masculine potency in an unmistakable way. This means the

gun. . .

In the preceding scene. Eddie's disassembly of his shotgun suggests his
own sexual abstinence from May. Symbolically. and according to
Cawelti. this scene questions Eddie's potency not only as May's lover
but as a "masculine force!‘ The "force" is indeed "eroding" in Eddie
and his inability to conquer the "wilderness"-or May--further purports
his impotency. May‘s chasing Eddie after his departure. the slamming
door. and the desperate request for his return. however. all suggest
her own guilt for breaking the "pact" and agreeing to date Martin. Of

course. so too has Eddie broken the "pact" by dating the Countess. but

it is May who reflects the guilt.

During all of this. the Old Mafiisits on the porch. detached,
mechanical, and vacuous; like all Shepard-fathers. he is devoid of any
enthusiastic approbation, finally condemning the efforts of his off-
spring when he is initially at fault. Originally. of course. it was
his sexual prowess and faithlessness, his own breaking of the "pact,"
which started the conflict and which produced the two "fools" who now

cannot. hard as they may try. escape their love or repress their

attraction to one another.

Eddie and May are not the less for their passion. for their
reactions are never anesthesiac. despite the fact that it was this same
passion that created the original canker. that made them the "fools"

that they are. Like many Shepard heroes. they are primitive in their

 

 

 

 

 

 

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172

instincts and reactions. May. presumably infuriated at Eddie's sexual
promiscuousness and abandonment. embraces Eddie even early on in the
play. offers him a "long, tender kiss." pulls away from him, smiles.
and knees him in the groin (26). After recoiling, Eddie-—the sexual
stuntman that he is—-remains on the scene for more. He is living
testimony that even cowboys get the blues.

Although their methods of showing affection are violent--again.
an element of Shepard's writing inherent in some way or form in each
major play-—they are not nonexistent as was the case in previous love—
hate relationships: Ella and Weston. Halie and Dodge, and Austin and
Lee come to mind. If "love" means to open oneself to the negative——the
grief. sorrow. and disappointment—as well as to the positive—the joy
and the intensity of commitment that one did not know was before
possible-~then Fool for Love's Eddie and May's relationship falls prey
to that definition. Their relationship is not romantic. as would Eddie
and the Old Man have it if they could. Nor is it by the play's end
illusionary or sentimental. May recognizes that by being separated
they will be "violently sick." yet togetherness is not a desirable
alternative. for Eddie's departure is constantly pending. Eddie is
able to be callous with May because he is not without confidence that
his effects on May are equally daimonic. His powers over her momen-
tarily gone awry at the play's start. usurping control over her is the
crux of Fool for Love. According to Rollo May. the daimonic is not
something of which one is conscious. Rather it refers to the power

of nature where “its source lies in those realms where the self is

 

 

    
 

 

 

 

grasp of f

is their pr:

another tha‘

 

 

173

rooted in natural forces which go beyond the self and are felt as the
grasp of fate upon us."7 This applies to Eddie as well as May. for it
is their primitive desire to physically and emotionally possess one
another that forms in part their disintegration as committing mates.
but not as lovers. Rollo May also observes.
The daimonic is the urge in every being to affirm itself.
assert itself. perpetuate and increase itself. The daimonic
becomes evil when it usurps the total self without regard to
the integration of that self. or to the unique forms and
desires of others and their need for integration. It then
appears as excessive aggression. hostility. cruelty—-the
things about ourselves which horrify us most. and which we
repress whenever we can or. more likely. project on others.
Although this desire in Eddie is erratic. it is just as potent.
Shepard writes in Motel Chronicles about the "demonic attachment of a

man for his only woman."9

and it is a preoccupation of Shepard's which
will appear again in Paris. Texas. In Fool for Love. however. love for
the two and between the two has become dangerous, nearly harmful. and
always selfish: their fear in each other is as cogent and intense as is
their love.

Eddie is hostile. violent. even malevolent. He is. in a sense.
both daimonic and attractive. As was Lucifer. the dynamic hero of
Miltonfs Paradise Lost. thrown out of heaven. Eddie assumes an
independent self-assertion apart from his father. Yet. too. Eddie
could be viewed as a quasi-father figure. representing the Old Man
(whose ghost exists on stage) after having fallen out of heaven.

In Eddie's pussiance and sexual prowess. there is still his

capacity to grasp one's attention and even admiration. He asserts his

own being. his own choice. his individual lust. If one views the

  
 

 

 

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174

symbolic representations like Lucifer as exemplifying some significant
urge in the human psyche--an urge toward growth. perhaps-then this
assertion is a positive aspect of growth. Granted Eddie seeks May to
secure his relationship with her and to possess her as well. yet he
feels in order to secure other possessions this urge must only be seen
as a movement toward improving his potentially tragic circumstances
Indeed May pays the price. and although Eddie claims that her absence
from him elicits tears. Eddie at least attempts to save May's sanity
(and his own conscience) by leaving. Unfortunately, his point of
departure is synonymous with May‘s affection toward him.

What makes Fool for Love an exercise in exposing the mutually
daimonic wishes. thoughts. and feelings that. according to Shepard-—and
will be again evident in Paris. Texas—-are present in many relation-
ships (and often denied). is the bewitching love/hate marriage (either
literal or figurative) of the couple. Constantly coiling like cobras
ready to strike. Eddie and May. though biologically attached, do love
each other beneath their own emotional savagery. Describes Shepard.

(She throws herself against the stage left door. Her arms
reach out and hug the walls. She weeps and slowly begins to
move along the stage left wall upstage to the corner.
embracing the walls as she moves and weeps. THE OLD MAN
begins to tell his story as MAY moves slowly along the wall.
He tells it directly to her as though she's a child. MAY
remains involved with her emotion of loss and keeps moving
clear around the room. hugging the walls during the course of
the story until she arrives in the extreme downstage right
corner of the room. She sinks to her knees) {35-36)

Their daimonic tendencies and their feelings of love are two aspects of

the same thing. But Fool for Love transcends the warfare in content.

 

  
 

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175

As George and Martha in Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? have
destroyed the illusion of their phantasmagoric son. Eddie and May
attempt to kill off any denial of their phantasmagoric relationship:

So far. May accepts it (Shepard often refers to "MAY‘S mourning").
Eddie does not. Long ago they discovered who they were and now.
through their attempts--thwarted in part by illusion and reclusion—-
they confront it. Ostensibly. Eddiehs departure may be read as final;
painful as it may seem for May. if Eddie's travels take him permanently
from her——perhaps even to "Marlboro" country—-May will find solace. and
the deceased (the phantasmagoric lovers inside of them) may rest in
peace. Eddie's departure. too. is symbolic. for typically. Cawelti

observes.

The hero's membership in the masculine gang and his initial
rejection of domesticity [symbolized here in the person of
May] relates to another trait he commonly possesses: his
desire to keep moving. Just as Natty Bumppo felt he had to
move on when the settlers' cabins began to impinge on his
wilderness. so the modern cowboy hero is represented as a bit

of a drifter.10

As the daimonic occurred offstage in the ancient Greek dramas——
Medea cuts up her children. Oedipus gouges out his eyes. Clytemnestra
murders her husband and is likewise murdered by her own son--so does it
occur. in a sense. offstage in Fool for Love. May tells of Eddie's
mother committing suicide. just as she promises to "kill .. . syste—
matically" Eddie and his Countess. This gruesome pledge. of course. is
never realized (at least in the course of the play); however. it does
preclude the kick in the groin May awards Eddie shortly after this.

The distinction here between Shepard's daimonic vision and Albee's is

 

 

 

 

176

that the characters in F001 for Love react daimonically finally out of
a love for one another. a love which Shepardkscharacters have for so
long suppressed. yet now that that suppression has evolved into an

obsession. unrequited fixtures like Eddie and May result and pave the

way for the equally obsessed Travis and Jane in Paris, Texas.

 

lDon :

of a True I

2John
Green Stan

3CaweI

NOTES--CHAPI‘ER IV

1Don Shewey. Sam Shepard: The Life. the Loves. Behind the Legend
of a True American Original (New York: Dell. 1985) 150.

2John G. Cawelti. The Six-Gun Mystique (Bowling Green: Bowling
Green State University Popular Press. 1984) 20.

3Cawelti 85.
4Cawelti 75.

SCawelti 76.
6Cawelti 86 .

7Rollo May. Love and Will (New York: W. W. Norton. 1969) 123. May
defines the "daimonic" as "any natural function which has the power to
take over the whole person. Sex and eros. anger and rage. and the

craving for power are examples. " All of these apply to Fool for Love's
Eddie and May.

8May 122.

9Sam Shepard. Motel Chronicles (San Francisco: City Lights Books.
1982) 48. This particular vignette recalls a man's obsession with one
woman, the plot of which was clearly reworked later into Fool for Love

and Paris. Texas.

lOCawelti 91.

177

 

 

 

 

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CHAPTER V
PARIS. TEXAS

If two lives join. there is oft a scar.
They are one and one. with a shadowy third;
One near one is too far.

—-Robert Browning
"By the Fireside"

For years I sat here. taking things for granted. my wife.
everything. Then just for an hour my life was in a
spotlight.. . . I saw myself clearly. realized who and
what I was .. .for the first time in years I looked out
on the world and saw things as they really are.

-—Ben Stark
Rocket to the Moon
Clifford Odets

'He's been camped out on the desert for three months.
Talking to cactus."

—-Austin about Lee
True West. p. 35
Sam Shepard
In light of various themes that Shepard has tested. it is not
surprising to find his first screenplay. Paris. Texas, filled with a
great degree of social observation. the details of everyday American
life. and the nonpicaresque ordeals of another set of transient lovers.

Travis and Jane. Extensions of Fool for Love's Eddie and May. the two

appear to be victims of emotional poverty. stupefied because of so many

178

 

 

  
 

 

 

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179

previous failures-~both personal and social—-that they are beyond self—
management. nearly to the point of self—sacrifice.

Ultimately, Paris. Texas's Travis makes the same statement as
does Fool for Love's Eddie: neither one can live with his mate (too
much pain is associated with memories). yet neither can live without
his mate. either (being without provides for the most part the dramatic
tension in each play). Like Eddie. Travis "could feel the demonic

attachment of a man for his own woman."1

and—~as if Shepard's
pessimistic view of radical love was not evident enough by this time—-
Travis is driven (and somewhat spiritually repulsed) away from Jane.
away from his son Hunter, and away from society.

In Paris. Texas. Shepard also takes a slightly different approach
when exploring the difficulties of the midwestern American family in
its attempts at peace and reconciliation. Here. Shepard contrasts the
urban family unit (represented by Walt. Anne. and—-at least in tempo—
rary terms-—Hunter) with the broken rural family unit (represented. of
course. by Travis. Jane. and Hunter. all of whom have been separated
from one another by distance). With this contrast. Shepard suggests
that. whether urban or rural. the bonds of family and members' commit-

ment toward one another are delicately secured. if at all. and are

constantly threatened.

i
When the story opens. Travis is wandering in the desert. wearing a
cheap Mexican suit and sandals with bandages around them (remember.

here. Eddie's bandages around his boots). which obviously suggests the

   

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180

miles already traveled. He has been walking for a long time. as if the
closest sign of life. a nearby hawk. did not make that apparent. His
clothes are covered with dust and he is drenched in sweat. Eventually,
he approaches an adobe but with an adjoining service station where he
refreshes with ice. then collapses onto the floor of the station. This
preface is not unlike the traditional Western tale. In fact. the
ingredients present in Paris. Texas are comparable to those of many
successful Westerns where the mysterious hero (alone and alienated.
surely. for some time and usually for good reason) lets actions (here,
extreme thirst. hunger. and fatigue--all familiar Shepard symbols for
spiritual and physical deprivation) do the talking instead of words.
Even without a word of dialogue until a good way into the play. Travis
easily elicits one's sympathy. One imagines the events he must have
been put through in order to be in this condition, much as the often
silent. words-could-never—express cowboy characters created in the
motion pictures.

Travis has been drifting around in the desert (clearly a metaphor
for being lost——and again. the theme of rootlessness is evident) for
four years because of a failed attempt as a husband and father. One of
the few Shepard characters to even attempt the notion of marriage,
Travis lasted approximately two years. or until--as he later on in the
story phrases it—-"nothing seemed to satisfy her [Jane]" (91).

The idea of alienation here is nothing new in Shepard's drama.
Although he has yet to be classified as a post-existentialist. and for

good reason. many of his characters choose to physically disconnect

 

  
 

 

 

  

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181

themselves from lovers. fathers, brothers. and friends. and the waste-
land surrounding Travis at the play's start reflects the psychological
state which results in such a disconnection. Travis has obviously
fallen. although one is not quite clear why. how. or when. but one
quickly finds that Paris. Texas will chronicle his attempts at spiri—
tual redemption.

Before long. a physician diagnosing the still~speechless Travis
finds a phone number and contacts Travis's brother Walt to retrieve
him. At this point it is still not clear what Travis suffers from and
the doctor refers to him simply as a "mute" (11). Many days and motel
rooms later. however, and after a couple of failed attempts on Travis's
part to escape his brother. the two arrive at Walt's home where his
wife Ann and Travis's natural son Hunter. apparently adopted by brother
Walt. reside. After a long. awkward period where son Hunter rejects
biological parent Travis. the two finally make attempts to communicate.
Hunter never understands his father's abandonment. but he does concede
some affection for his father:

HUNTER: I never felt like you were dead. I could always
feel you walking around and talking someplace.

TRAVIS: Really?

HUNTER: I feel Mom. too. (49)
Not long after this. Travis decides to locate his wife and Hunter's
mother. In what appears to have evolved into a detective story. father
and son travel through a "baffling labyrinth of intertwining highways.

overpasses, entrances and exits" (69) in hopes of finding wife and

 

mother Jane
Houston par
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182

mother Jane. Finally. Travis discovers her at the Keyhole Club. a
Houston parlor where customers. via telephone conversations through
one—way mirrors with female impersonators. are verbally solicited.
Here. customers vicariously act out (or at least talk out) their sexual
fantasies. Wife Jane. unable to view Travis. who stands on the
inspecting side of the mirror. impersonates an American coffee shop
waitress. and it is only in this situation--a typical Shepardian
communication barrier between two people-—where Travis is able to tell
his "story." It is revealed through Travis's monologue that once again
Shepard's hero has been "daimonic" in his affections for the one whom
he loves. Short on money and realizing his family‘s only means of
survival was through his employment. yet so obsessed with his wife he
hated to sacrifice her for the hours spent working. Travis was torn.
Instead his preoccupation with his young wife Jane turned into
obsession. She even accused him of "holding her captive by making her
have a babyJ' Jane dreamed of escape. and when this was revealed to
Travis. he "ned a cow bell to her ankle so he could hear her at night
if she tried to get out of bed" (92)-

A prisoner of love for too long. Jane succeeded in her escape. set
the house on fire. and because she longed not to "use [Hunter] to fill
up" all of her emptiness (94). Jane left her son with Travis‘s brother
Walt and his wife Anne who. frustrated in their own attempts to bear
children. welcomed the child. Never did Walt and Anne formally adopt
Hunter. one learns later. but they felt reasonably secure in his

permanent residence with them. Their loss of Hunter represents the

 
  

 
 

 

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183

subtheme in Paris. Texas: with Hunter‘s departure away from them and
toward his natural family. coupled with Travis's eventual abandonment
again of Jane and Hunter. two families are broken.

In the last scene of the play. Jane (whose most striking passages
describe her development and abandonment of a dream world, a fantasy
land to which she could escape from the harsh realities of her sullen
husband and her early life) meets her son Hunter in a hotel room. and
Travis views the event from his pick—up truck atop a faraway parking
lot. his "stony-faced" features. Shepard writes. softened to a smile
(97). Finally. alone and apparently satisfied in the reunion (and with
his part in arranging the reunion). Travis departs. leaving Houston and

his family behind him.

Devoid of the animal energy of True West or Fool for Love. Paris.

Texas thrives on subtlety. yet it is not without vintage Shepard

 

characters like Travis. homeless and unaware. and Jane. desperate.
disarmed. and in search of a social self. Although love plays a part
in much serious American drama—-note. here. Philip Barry's Tomorrow and
Tomorrow. Clifford Odets's Rocket to the Moon. and Eugene CVNeill's
Strange Interlude--a love story is rarely used as the main plot.
Winifred L. Dusenbury comments on love as a theme in American drama:

A few American playwrights have seen tragic implications of
loneliness in the failure of every Jack to find his Jill
unattached and adoring . . . the love affair may evolve
because a former relationship has already deteriorated. It
may bring a spirit of elation after it ceases to have inten-
sity. or it may cause a cynical bitterness in the lovers. In
any case the effects worked by a love affair can never be
erased. nor can the lovers ever regain their former emotional

  
 

 
 

  

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184

status. A love affair in the language of any serious play-
wright. whether it leads to a sense of belonging or to
greater loneliness. is an ineradicable experience.
Travis's failure to properly nurture his union with Jane has indeed led
to a greater loneliness. the "implications" of which Shepard has always
seen as a playwright.

To begin. after Jane left Travis. he alienated himself because he
realized how dangerous his obsessive love for her was and. ultimately.
can be if they were to be reunited. Their story is so self-abrasive.
and since Travis and Jane feel utter detachment from their former
selves. Shepard uses a third-person narrative device so that they may
now speak of their pasts as if they could somehow remain objective.
Again. what transpires occurs in one of the "peepshow booths"; Travis
sits in front of a mirror that becomes a window as Jane enters the room
and switches on the light:

TRAVIS: . .. They were real happy. And he. .. he loved
her more than he ever felt possible. He couldn't stand being

away from her during the day when he went to work ... so
he'd quit. Just to be at home with her. Then he'd get
another job when the money ran out. and then he'd quit again.

But pretty soon. she started to worry.

JANE: About what?

TRAVIS: Money. I guess. Not having enough. Not knowing
when the next check was coming it.

JANE: (laughs) I know that feeling.
TRAVIS: So he started to get kind of . . . torn inside.

JANE: How do you mean?

TRAVIS: Well. he knew he had to work to support her. but he
couldn't stand being away from her. either.

JANE: I see.

 

 

 
 

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185

TRAVIS: And the more he was away from her. the crazier he
got. Except now. he went really crazy. He started imagining
all kinds of things.
JANE: Like what?
TRAVIS: He started thinking that she was seeing other men on
the sly. Heki come home from work and actually accuse her of
spending the day with somebody else. Then he'd yell at her
and start smashing things in the trailer. (89)
Clearly Shepard utilizes the peepshow booth. which enables Travis to
view Jane (who can only hear Travis's voice) as a tactic for Travis and
Jane to tell their stories. Shortly after this passage. Shepard
directs. Jane is suddenly startled. for now she realizes--with Travis's
mention of the word "trailer"—-that it is Travis who speaks to her.
The third-person narration is no longer a disguise.

As their stories unfold. it becomes clear that a youthful Jane had
felt possessed by Travis's anger. rage. and craving for complete power.
Even after her escape from Travis (she is. incidentally. the first and
only female to date to leave a Shepard male; usually it is the other
way around). son Hunter threatened her individualism:

TRAVIS: Don‘t you want to see him?

JANE: Oh. yeah! I wanted to see him so bad that I didn‘t
even dare imagine him anymore. Anne kept sending me pictures
of him until I asked her to stop. I couldn't stand the pain

of seeing him grow up and missing it.

TRAVIS: Why didn't you keep him with you. Jane?

JANE: I couldn't Travis. I didnft have what I knew he
needed. And I didn't want to use him to fill up all my
emptiness. (93—94)

 

  
 

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186

The effects of their relationship (in a sense Hunter may be called one
important effect) can never be erased, as Dusenbury puts it. And since
the discussion quickly averted from Travis's obsession with Jane. and
of her subsequent sense of possession. to the welfare of their son
Hunter. it is clear that the "lovers" cannot regain their "formal
emotional statusJ' However. and despite the length of their separa-
tion. Jane's love for Travis and Hunter during the interim is impor-
tant. Like May. Jane has forsaken her lover for something different.

albeit not altogether better:

JANE: I. .. I used to make long speeches to you after you
left. I used to talk to you all the time. even though I was
alone.. .. I even imagined you talking back to me. We'd
have long conversations. the two of us. It was almost like
you were there. I could hear you. I could see you. smell
you. I could hear your voice. Sometimes your voice would
wake me up. .. and now I'm working here. I hear your voice
all the time. Every man has your voice. (95)

Here. the energy between lovers--which proved to be very dramatic in
F001 for Love--has only become frustrated and Contained in Paris.

Texas. In the beginning, Jane tried to deny the power of Travis. and

 

to avoid domination was for her not a submission of hatred but. rather.
an assertion toward her own destiny and honor. She felt threatened by

Travis's sexual drive and by his aggressive attempts to hold her
captive:

TRAVIS: . .. So he ned a cow bell to her ankle so he could
hear her at night if she tried to get out of bed. But she
learned how to muffle the bell by stuffing a sock into it.
and inching her way out of the bed and into the night. He
caught her one night when the sock fell out and he heard her

trying to run to the highway. He caught her and dragged her

back to the trailer. and tied her to the stove with his belt.
(92)

 

 

   
 

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187

Travis. not love. has become Jane's rigid obstacle. Ultimately. their
mutual love for one another. Jane's fertility. Travis's ambition to
please (yet to constantly stay within Jane's reach)--all normally
positive forces-—go for nought in Paris. Texas. Jane is so devastated
by Travis's command over her that. when she does finally escape. she
neglects to take her child along with her.

Although her presence in the story is limited. Jane is a vital
character. By no means a figure of sterility. she does represent male
suppression. Her abandonment of Travis has left him sexually and
emotionally subdued and sterile. His unaware life alone in the desert
supports this. In addition. Jane's job at "The Keyhole Club." where
she instigates male fantasies through peepholes. yet neglects to ful-
fill their fantasies or satisfy their needs. emphasizes her control.
She has. in a sense. made herself sexually inaccessible and unapproach-
able. and for good reason. While living with Travis. she was an object.
She has found that now. as a subject to be inspected. dreamed about.
even pursued-—but not touched-her life is less painful because of the
lack of human contact. Earlier. and with passionate jealousy. Travis
reveals his need to correctly define her present role at the club:

TRAVIS: Is that all you do . . . just talk?
JANE: Well . . . yeah. mostly. And listen.
TRAVIS: What else do you do?

(JANE is rather surprised at his persistence. Then.
suddenly. she has to laugh at his question)

TRAVIS: Why are you laughing?

(JANE pulls herself together)

 

 

 

   

188

JANE: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
TRAVIS: What else do you do?

JANE: Nothing. really. You see. we're not allowed to see
the customers out here.

TRAVIS: Where do you see them. then? Do you go home with
them?

JANE: No. sir. we don't. We're not allowed to have any
outside relationships with our customers.

(For the first time. the camera shows what JANE sees: her
own reflection and. behind it. the almost imperceptibly faint
glow of the table lamp on TRAVIS' side. TRAVIS himself
cannot be seen at all. TRAVIS is working himself up into a

fullblown rage)

TRAVIS: Yeah. but you can really see them if you want. canft
you? I mean. you can go home with them. if you want to. all
these places say that. How much extra money do you make?

How much. huh?! How much money do you make on the side?!

(This sudden outburst has shocked JANE. She tries to keep
calm)

JANE: I'm sorry. sir. but I think maybe you wanted to talk
to one of the other girls. I'll see if I can find one for

you.

(She stands up)

TRAVIS: No! Nol No. no! Please! Please don't go! (80-81)
Shepardis aim in Travis's interview. and in their subsequent monologues
which air out the truths of their history together. is not to exploit
the obviously crude and dramatic details of their respective situa-
tions, past and present. Rather. Shepard's aim is to express the
passions and compassions that remain between the two. The effect of
the mirror between them. an obvious barrier through which--ironically

enough--characters feel more at ease communicating. is to set Travis

 

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189

and Jane at a distance. and to stress the inevitability of their
reunion as lovers and parents. That Travis resides in the desert and
Jane in the city of Houston further suggests their distance. but this
time the contrast is in literal terms. Their compassion for each
other. however. then and now somehow accentuates the isolation and
helplessness. They realize that a life together would inevitably mean
a return to the past. for although they have aged in years. only Jane
has matured. She is now capable of raising her son and of fulfilling
her own needs. Her self-supportiveness. her growth. contrasts with
Travis's inactivity. He is frozen in space and time. and has acknowl—
edge his limitations. and-~if given the chance again-~he would make
Jane his captive wife. for it is the code. or "curse." by which most

Shepard heroes abide.

ii

In Paris. Texas. like in the other "family plays." the broken
family‘s past remains intimately intertwined with the fabric and nature
of rural America. The story once again handles the theme of kinship:
the main plot line involves transient family members Travis. Jane. and
Hunter. yet a subterranean plot. seemingly forgotten by the story's
end. involves childless Walt and Anne. Shepard develops as a writer
here. for there is more depth and sense of tenderness in this secondary
motif than in previous efforts toward multidimensional plots. Also.
and as if Shepard were making attempts to offer a solution--only then
to refute it-—it is almost as if the urban residence of Walt and Anne

helps to destroy or seriously decrease the viability of the kinship

 

  

 

 

 

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190

network: in other words. as is the case with the separation of Eddie
and May, family bonds are threatened. if not weakened. in both rural
and urban society.

However, Paris. Texas by far represents Shepard!s most optimistic
view of the family. but not necessarily of maxfls condition within the
family. Carl Jung wrote that there is only one plot—-that of a per-
sorfls downfall and subsequent redemption. Travis progresses from a
stagnant, self-paralysis zombie. roaming the earth in complete oblivion
and neglect, to one with conscious intentions of reuniting his son with
his mother. Jung also remarks that the serious problems of life are
never solved, and if it seems that they have been solved. something has
been lost.3 That important lost fixture is the father Travis. Despite
the progress made during the course of action. Travis realizes his
inability to ever be a competent. providing father and husband.
Finally. he resigns himself to the role of the invisible caretaker.

At the end of Paris, Texas. however, Travis has intentions.
"Intend." Webster's informs us, is the "turning of the mind toward an
object" or "a design purposeJ' The fact that Travis has intentions.
hence a purpose, is a positive force in Paris, Texas. Many other
Shepard characters tend toward positive actions for the benefit of the
family. but few succeed: Weston in Curse of the Starving Class first
intends to clean up the homefront and to start a new life; Buried
Child‘s Dodge intends to rid the family of the child. the incestuous
product of wife Halie and son Tilden. so that the family will not be

spiritually plagued by this human reminder of her infidelity and of

 

 

  
  

 

 

 

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191

Tildenw insecurity; Austin% intentions in True West are clear—~he
intends to return to his roots. signified here by his father. who. like
Travis, is isolated in time and space; on the other hand, Lee desires
competency and civilization so desperately that he attempts a trans-
formation into his literate brother, Austin; and Eddie and May's inten-
tions in Fool for Love to find some sort of salvation and peace of mind
occasionally tear them apart, yet always rejoin them. too.

In the plays, all of Shepardls heroes‘ intentions have proved to
be fruitless. Oddly illogical to begin with and always a bit amusing.
one can only assume what ultimate effect their intentions. were they
to succeed. might have on their fates. But Travis is different.
Neither are his intentions too ambitious for his own good. nor are they
at all selfish. Instead they are realistic and healthy to the dis-
assembled family unit. He recognizes the fact that he will finally be
a victim of his rural mentality (indirectly defined by Shepard as
naivete). possessive of his wife. yet negligent as a provider of his
family. But he also recognizes the necessity of mother—child together-
ness. even at the expense of his brother Walt. who nurtured Hunter when
both Travis and Jane were uncommitted and incompetent as parents.

Travis's assimilation into American culture and urban civilization
(he borrows a suit from brother Walt and even buys a truck—-"It's real
junky. but . . ." [62] says Hunter) can only be temporary. Although
his unselfish act of reuniting son with mother is indeed a slight
affirmation on Shepardfs part that hope for the family may exist (and

only if compromises are made). there is another level of meaning in

 

 

 

 

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192

Paris. Texas which is not quite as positive. Travis became a recluse
in the first place because he could not coexist in a regular society
and meet the needs of his normal family. Not unlike True West's Lee.
who states "Ihn livin' out there 'cause I can't make it here.“ Travis
has become so primitive in his existence that, at the time of Walt's
discovery. only his immediate means of surviva1--water and shade—-are
of importance. He has severed all connections with the nondesert
world. Like the Marlboro Man that Fool for Love‘s Eddie dreams of
becoming. Travis says nothing. but demonstrates with the forlorn
expression on his face what he presently represents: nothing.

It is almost as if in Paris. Texas Shepard has finally focused in
on the central figure and force behind the family's disintegration:
the father. Of all the familial configurations. according to Shepard.
none is more pervasive and all-embracing than the complete unit.
Family members in Paris. Texas are never present together at any one
moment, and therefore lack of harmony appears to be reflective of that.
If the family is the natural matrix of personality. where protection.
personality, companionship. security. relationships, and esteem are
formed. it only follows that if a unit is incomplete. separated.
divided. or partial. then the matrix becomes retarded or deviant. But
where Shepard's families in the other plays lacked spiritual mainter
nance and their fulfillment has been eroded or impaired because of that
deficiency. the family in Paris, Texas. divided shortly after Hunter's
birth due to Travis's nonsupport and spiritual breakdown. never

attempted to be functional.

 

  

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193

Family dismemberment in Paris. Texas results in loss of family
morale and unity. Through Travis's story to Jane, it becomes apparent
that following Jane's birth she was "irritated with everything around
her." and that "even the baby [Hunter] seemed to be an injustice to
her" (91). Travis. inspired by the apparently generous commitment on
Janer part to illustrate her love for him by carrying his child. put a
halt to his drinking and found employment. Yet "nothing seemed to
satisfy her." Travis claims. and that is the extent of his justifica—
tion for becoming possessive; from then on, Travis resumed his drinking
habits and returned to his commanding ways. Jane was simply too imma-
ture to manage the responsibility of bearing Travis's child. From
there. and after her setting the trailer on fire (an action not unlike
the Countess's setting fire to Eddie's trailer in F001 for Love) and
escaping, as divined by her dreams, Travis's desertion is not to be
regarded as a so-called "poor man's divorce."

Viewing Travis and Jane as extensions of Fool for Love's Eddie and
May. or perhaps their story as Eddie and May's had they married before
one of Eddie's many desertions. it is not difficult to understand one
of Shepard's major preoccupations: male desertion as a frequent. yet
not always inappropriate. natural reaction to kindred failure. In all
of the Shepard plays discussed thus far. the father-figure has
deserted. aiding in the accelerating tempo of the family's erosion.
Although there is animosity on May's part in reference to Eddie's
occasional vacations in Fool for Love. Jane does not appear animus

toward Travis's relinquishment. for she feels she is to be held equally

  
 

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194

accountable in the violation of the moral obligation to son Hunter.
This is not Shepardfs intention. though. nor is it his plan to make any
of the female characters-—Ella or Emma, Halie. Mom or May-feel respon—
sible.

Travis, like so many father—figures in Shepard‘s drama. is finally
to be held responsible. After all. if it were not for his possessive
treatment of Jane. she would not have taken actions to improve her
situation. Travis finds himself in an ominous and menacing world-—a
world of offstage explosions. contests for power and territory. slick
and savage conspiracies on "the system's" part to triumph over the
single family.

It is never clear where Travis has spent the last four years of
his life. yet one can assume it has been spent wandering. isolated from
both man and pattern. He has preferred a geographically remote
existence to any other. shellshocked--one must gather——from his dis—
solved marriage to Jane and from his complete loss of family roots.
The adjustment back into civilized society is for Travis both a chal-
lenge and an education. Absent for so long from the routine. even
meals are mysterious to him. So surprised is Walt when Travis begins to
resemble (in actions at least) a human. the sarcasm and humor exude:
"I don't believe it! You finally decided to eat! Eating and talking!
Before you know it. youfll be back in the land of the living. Trav"

(22). Travis‘s lack of sustenance prior to this is not to be taken

literally; what Shepard attempts to convey is his dispassionate and

 

 

    
 

exist.

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magazines
might imi

finally qi

 

 

 

 

195

indifferent demeanor. In other words. Travis does little more than
exist.

At one point while at Walt and Anne's. Travis even thumbs through
magazines in search of a photograph of a typical father so that he
might imitate him. at least in appearance. Carmelita. the maid.
finally questions Travis after her curiosity gets the better of her:

CARMELITA: What are you looking for?
TRAVIS: I am looking for the father.

CARMELITA: Your father?

TRAVIS: No. no. just a father. Any father. What does a
father look like?

CARMELITA: There are many different kinds of fathers. Senor
Travis.

TRAVIS: Well. I just need one.
CARMELITA: You think you're gonna find him in there?
TRAVIS: Well. I don't know where else to look.

CARMELITA: Oh. I see. You want to look like a father!?

TRAVIS: Yeah. (45)
Travis. of course. believes that by imitating the appearance of a
father he himself might become a father. However. little does he
realize that other ingredients are required. In the following scene,
Travis--dressed in Walt's suit and a wide-brimmed slouch hat which he

forms into all kinds of strange shapes-—meets his son Hunter and his

friend Edward outside of his school:

 

 

 

 

 

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196

EDWARD: Who is that guy? You know him?

HUNTER: Yeah. He's my father's brother. No ... they're

both brothers.. .. No. they're both .. . they're both
fathers. No. oh. forget it!

EDWARD: Both . . . whose father?

HUNTER: My father.

EDWARD: How . . . how can you have two fathers?

HUNTER: Just lucky. I guess. . . . (47—48)
Hunter has trouble explaining to Edward the relationship between
himself and Travis. but his admittance that both (including Travis) are
his father suggests Hunter's acceptance. Yet Shepard makes it clear
that a bridge between the two. father and son. still exists.

(The two boys part company. HUNTER and TRAVIS start off

together. each on his own side of the street. parallel to

each other. As they walk. HUNTER imitates TRAVIS. TRAVIS

walks backwards. HUNTER walks backwards. TRAVIS skips.

HUNTER skips. TRAVIS bumps into a trashcan. HUNTER staggers

about like his father) (48)
This scene is important for two reasons: first. since Travis and
Hunter travel on opposite sides of the street-Shepard phrases it "his
own side of the street"—-the bridge or division between them is
emphasized. Hunter resists total acceptance of his temporary father;
second. Hunter's imitation of Travis symbolizes a familiar Shepard
motif--like father. like son.

A few days pass before Travis and Hunter are able to have their

first conversation. It is vital that the subject of their first talk
together is Hunter's grandfather and Travis's father:

HUNTER: What was his first name?

TRAVIS: Travis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Travix
around a:

sense. 1

Passage :

197

HUNTER: Same as yours. Where is he now?

TRAVIS: He died a couple of years after this picture. In
his car.

HUNTER: Oh. he's dead.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

HUNTER: Well. can you feel that he's dead?
TRAVIS: What do you mean?

HUNTER: You knew him when he was walking around and talking.
right?

TRAVIS: Yeah.

HUNTER: So. can you feel that he's gone?

TRAVIS: Yeah, sometimes. I know he's dead. (48-49)
As Travis knew his father when, as Hunter points out. "he was walking
around and talking." Hunter knew his father and mother in a similar
sense. Hunter, however. never felt as if his parents were gone. This
passage illustrates Travis's detachment. for all he really has left of
his family are photographs. Of his immediate family. including Jane
and Hunter. he does not even have photographs. Their images only

occupy a large place in his memory. and he cannot even consider them in

concrete terms 0

Travis's existence in the desert is vital. for it signifies both
his alienation from family and his subsequent loneliness. He searched
for something outside himself to which he can belong. for that union
called marriage (an ideal-—yet impossible--state of belonging for any

Shepard character) was too emotionally destructive. The concept of

Walter Pr

 

 

the deser

son reuni:

 

exit.“ S;

(97) .
That

isolation

the tradi

 

 

198

loneliness in Shepard's drama constitutes a psychological as well as a
spiritual condition. the nature of which Travis typifies.

The cause of loneliness may be ascribed to Travis's physical
environment. yet-in every sense of the term——he suffers from what
Walter Prescott Webb refers to as'%.fatal disease."4 His return to
the desert at the play‘s end verifies this. After watching mother and
son reunite. Travis "turns away. gets into the pickup and drives to the
exit." Specifies Shepard. "the pickup is leaving Houston behind it"
(97).

That Shepard's thematic scope as a playwright should include the
isolation of the American hero. and of his resultant loneliness. is in
the tradition of other American playwrights. States Dusenbury,

In general in the discussions [i.eu plays] there is
present the implication that loneliness represents a suffering
self-recognition of not belonging to a satisfying object of
desire. If those writing on the subject of loneliness can be
believed. Americans, in spite of a need for understanding
among themselves. seem to feel a distance separating them
from each other. Like Willy Loman. they have discovered that
they are not well liked. In a world where an optimistic
smile and a glad hand are presumably the open sesames to warm
companionship, and where the Rotarian advises.'Tonely? Get
acquainted!" there must be a feeling of separateness in many
American people.

Since drama is an important aesthetic medium for the
reflection of life. it is not strange that American play-
wrights have concerned themselves with the problem of loneli-
ness in a number of important plays in which the feeling of
being psychologically isolated from satisfactory human rgla-
tionships plays an important thematic part in the drama.

In Paris. Texas. human loneliness as the result of a failed attempt at
family is the motivating idea or theme. The causes of Travis's loneli-
ness are quite clear. No longer does he belong to. as Dusenbury puts

it. "a satisfying object of desire." nor has be since Jane's departure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

199

Also, in a country where success is the universally recognized goal of
its people. and where that success is often measured by the quantity
and quality of one's possessions. Travis's lack of success proves to be
especially painful. Not only did he lose his wife Jane on that monu-
mental night long ago. but he lost his home as well:

TRAVIS: (still speaking in third person) He just left her
[JANE tied to the stove with his belt] there and went back to
bed and lay there listening to her scream. And he listened
to his son scream. and he was surprised at himself because he
didn't feel anything anymore. All he wanted to do was sleep.
And for the first time. he wished he were far away. Lost in
a deep. vast country where nobody knew him. . . . Somewhere
without language or streets. He dreamed about his place
without knowing its name. And when he woke up. he was on
fire. There were blue flames burning the sheets of his bed.
He ran through the flames toward the only two people he loved
. .. but they were gone. His arms were burning. and he
threw himself outside and rolled on the wet ground. Then he
ran. He never looked back at the fire. He just ran. He ran
until the sun came up and he couldn't run any further. And
when the sun went down. he ran again. For five days he ran
like this until every sign of man had disappeared. (92)

After Jane set fire to Travis's home--the burning image is clearly a
symbol of the hell from which she flees--Travis failed to acquire a new
set of possessions. Like Willy Loman. in fact. what he had to begin
with did not satisfy himself. and therefore he has discovered (like
Dusenbury points out that Willy has discovered) that he is not well
liked by either wife or son. And as Dusenbury adds, "no matter where
he [the American hero] starts. he is expected to make good on his own.
and if he does not. he alone is to blame."6 Even if Jane does not

"blame" Travis for not "making good" in the material sense. Travis does

blame himself for his failure to adequately provide for his family.

 

 

 

 

 

Travis car
descripti<
tional se
inhmm:
nonexiste
long stre
For
land in E

itself is

200

Erich Kahler explains in his book. The Tower and the Abyss. the
transformation of the individual in the present age:

The estrangement between human beings in daily life, the

lack of immediacy in human contacts and the resulting loneli-
ness we frequently witness today. have their roots in man's
alienation from his own personal human center. Since his
"commodity" or functional self has taken on such importance.
his individually human self is left to wane. The perfectly
legitimate question. "who are you?". . . is usually answered
with a description of one's work; while a feeling of empti-
ness and falsehood, a feeling that one has not at all given
an answer to the question usually remains.

Travis can no longer answer such questions as "who" he is. nor offer a
description of his "work." for he sacrificed his "commodity" or "func-
tional self." as Kahler phrases it. hoping to enhance the "immediacy"

in human contact with wife Jane. Such a risk has resulted in a nearly

nonexistent "individually human self" as he escapes to the desert for

long stretches of time.

For all practical purposes. all that Travis owns is a piece of

land in Paris. Texas. bought through the mail on impulse. The lot

itself is as sterile and empty as Travis:

(TRAVIS hands WALT a frayed photograph. WALT stares at it
unbelievingly. A piece of wasteland with a "for sale" sign

on it)

WALT: This is it? This is Paris? Looks just like Texas to

me.
(TRAVIS takes back his photograph)
TRAVIS: It is.

WALT: Paris. Texas?

TRAVIS: It's right here on the map.

WALT: There's really a place called Paris. Texas?

 

 

201

(TRAVIS shows him the map)
TRAVIS: It's right here.

WALT: Well. how come youwe got a picture of a vacant lot in
Paris. Texas?

TRAVIS: It's mine.

WALT: I know that. But how come you got it?

TRAVIS: I purchased it. in the mail. A long time ago.
(WALT still doesn't understand)

WALT: You bought a picture of a vacant lot in the mail?
TRAVIS: No! I bought the land.

WALT: Oh. you bought the land.. .. Why the hell would you
want to buy a vacant lot in Paris. Texas. for Christ's sake?

(This question takes TRAVIS by surprise. He thinks about it
for a while. then admits

TRAVIS: I forgot. . . .

(TRAVIS stares at the picture. trying to remember) (15-16)
The irony. of course. exists in that Paris. Texas—-futile. barren.
futureless (just like Travis himself)--is just the opposite of the
fruitful. garden—like Paris. France. Travis's faith in one day
developing the wasteland typifies his lonely plight. And there is
more. for Paris. Texas. is also where Travis was apparently conceived.
or so his father told him. Travis believes that by buying and develop-
ing this symbolic place he might identify and secure his roots and a
sense of his own personal history. The trouble is. of course. that if
he ever is motivated enough to build on the land. he would never be

able to convince family members Jane and Hunter to join him on it.

 

   

lesanesa.
and Eddi

lost his '
with loss
possessior

fixture.

 

one point.
and Walt 1

desert :

 

202

The treatment of loneliness in Travis is engendered by home-
lessness. Where previous Shepard heroes--Weston. Wesley. Vince, Lee.
and Eddie-intensely hunger for a home. Travis lost that desire when he
lost his wife and child. Travis now associates the two. loss of home
with loss of family. and he can no longer emotionally cope with
possessions or with people for each is. in his eyes. only a temporary
fixture. Shepard has made Travis bitterly real in this respect. At
one point. Travis demands on using the exact same rental car that he

and Walt used the previous day while returning to Los Angeles from the

desert:
WALT: Travis!

TRAVIS: What?

WALT: I don't think we're going to get the very same car.

RENTAL CLERK: But I can rent you a model that's just like
the one you had before. Sir.

TRAVIS: We need the same car. Walt. How are we going to go
in another car?

(WALT makes a final desperate appeal to the rental clerk. who
now seems to understand how serious the situation is)

WALT: Give us the number. willya. please? Come on! Pretty.
Please?!

RENTAL CLERK: Oh. alright. The number is 667 DJP.
WALT: Remember that? 667 DJP.
TRAVIS: 667 DJP. It's got a bump on the hood.
RENTAL CLERK: Yes. it does. (24)
In the very next scene. Shepard writes. Travis and Walt are in the

same car-~"this time on a big highway running through an empty.

 

  
 

 

 

 

to the can
American 1
drive-in 1
So discou:

andby the

 

refuses tg‘

In p:
illustrat
Travis ar

porch. D

203

completely flat landscape on the way West" (25). Travis's attachment
to the car suggests his rebelliousness against the passing phases of
American life--the overnight stays at motels, the brief meals in
drive-in restaurants-~and his extreme hunger for something permanent.
So discouraged is Travis by the implications of motels and restaurants.
and by the ensuing emotional complications which result from them. he
refuses to eat or sleep.

In probably the most powerful scene in the story. and which
illustrates the epitome of Travis's loss of home and need for another.
Travis arranges the family's shoes. cleaned and ordered. along the back
porch. Describes Shepard.

TRAVIS is sitting on the lawn watching the air traffic
through a pair of binoculars. All of the family's shoes are
neatly arranged on a little wall behind him. ANNE comes out.
and looks at what TRAVIS has done with surprise. She picks
up her blue shoes. (36)
Travis hopes that by placing the shoes together he might at least
visualize a complete family. The bodies of the family members. Walt.
Anne. and Hunter. constantly roam from one room of the house to
another. But if their shoes are in one place. at least temporarily.
Travis can momentarily witness the family in its completeness.
Unfortunately for Travis. however. even shoes must move. for after Anne
selects hers. Hunter follows. and then Walt. It is appropriate. too.

that Anne is the first to remove her shoes from Travis's line. for—-

like Jane--she is the mother-figure. or the first to spoil the

arrangement.

 

 

 
  

world. She
oppressior
Travis. A
on auper-¢

of his pa

 

 

So overwh
apparentlj
nonperson

Aft
Walt's. T
shouting-
(54). Th

relation:

 

the team“

 

204

Always given to a rather paranoiac and pessimistic view of the
world. Shepard in Paris. Texas gives full expression to his feelings of
oppression. alienation. and inevitable self-defeat in the person of
Travis. A reticent. asexual wanderer in time and space. Travis relies
on super-eight movies and photographs to refresh his distorted memory
of his past with son Hunter and wife Jane. Writes Shepard.

(WALT. ANNE. TRAVIS and HUNTER. who was three at the time in
a camping van on the way to the sea. They are all in an
exuberant mood. When the first image of JANE appears. TRAVIS
is so startled that he has to shut his eyes for a moment)

(43)
So overwhelmed by the breakup of his family and by the four years

apparently spent in a mindful state of oblivion. Travis has become a

nonperson.

After receiving partial rehabilitation from his stay at brother

Walt's. Travis wanders across an overpass and encounters a man

shouting-—Shepard's directions state--"like a voice in the wilderness"
(54). The scene illustrates Travis's remaining and unremitting
relationship with lunacy. as well as emphasizes his own loneliness as

the result of utter homelessness:

CRAZY MAN: . .. They will invade you in.your beds. they
will snap you up from your hot tubs. they will pluck you
right out from your fancy sport cars.. .. My voice is
reaching you from here where Ihn standing to clear out into
the goddamn Mojave Desert and through this Vale of Tears all

the way to Arizona.

(TRAVIS has reached the caller who is shouting down to the
freeway at the top of his voice. The man ignores TRAVIS who
stops a few yards in front of him and listens)

 

   

For Travis

Here. the

 

salvation

 

disciple.
ing“ even-
hails) tha
exempt fr
God who i

too. tha1
5 man.“ alo
from his
Travis ha
competen

Self-abs

 

 

205

. .. There will be no more safety zones. I can guarantee
you: the safety zone will be eliminated. Eradicated. You
will all be extradited to the land of no return. You'll be
flying blind to nowhere... .I know damn well what I'm
talking about. I'm not crazy. and don't say I didn't warn
you. I warned you. I warned all of you. (55)
For Travis there is no escape from the ominous world in which he lives.
Here. the Crazy Man verbalizes what Travis has for years felt. that
salvation in a world of alienation is impossible. Degenerate or
disciple. the Crazy Man reminds Travis (hence the reference to "reach-
ing" even those in the "Mojave Desert." from where Travis recently
hails) that finally there is no hope. This prophet-like presence,
exempt from any other full-length Shepard play. represents a vengeful
God who denies Travis's faith in reconciliation. It is appropriate.
too. that Shepard's only conception of God presents himself as a "crazy
man." alone. deranged. and whose condition may very well have resulted
from his own homelessness and loneliness. Metaphorically. however.
Travis has "crossed the bridge" or made the transition from lunacy to
competency. from insanity to sanity. from a world of isolation where
self—absorption might be the result. to a world of community where the
needs of self are secondary to those of others. But Travis feels
"cursed" by an ever-threatening world. a world which follows him
whether he resides in the deserts of New Mexico or in suburban Los
Angeles.
Other. more subtle "curses" or motifs of loneliness exist in

Paris. Texas. Anne will never experience the joy of motherhood. and

the surcease of her pain transcends to husband Walt after Hunter‘s

 

 

 

 

For Walt

conclude
on them

uniquely
and son':

Hunter u

 

 

206

departure. which is another kind of desertion from family—~and this
time by the youngest yet of Shepard‘s characters:

ANNE: I'm just afraid.

WALT: Afraid of Travis?

ANNE: No.

WALT: Then what?

ANNE: Of what will happen to us if we lose Hunter.

WALT: We're not going to lose Hunter.

ANNE: Then why do you keep pushing them together? It's
almost as if you wanted them to leave.

WALT: Who?

ANNE: Hunter! You know what I'm talking about. You keep
promoting this father-and-son business between them. (51)

For Walt and Anne, there is no affirmation. for their story is never
concluded. The last scene of them is of Hunter‘s guiltless hanging up
on them from a truck stop phone booth. In an exchange which is
uniquely Shepard in style of dialogue and content. suggested by father
and son's fear and general inability to confront and communicate.
Hunter unaffectedly savers ties with his surrogate family:

TRAVIS: . . . call Walt and Anne.

HUNTER: Why?

TRAVIS: So they donfizworry about you. so they know where
you are.

HUNTER: What am I going to say?

TRAVIS: Just tell them the truth. Tell them. youfire with me.
and that we're on our way to Texas.

HUNTER: They’re going to flip out.

 

 

 
 

 

Although

help reu
cate. a j
later wi
through

The
tion of
May in II
tute pa:

after H1

207

TRAVIS: I know. But you can handle it. okay?
HUNTER: Why can't you do it?

TRAVIS: I can't do it.

HUNTER: Why not?

TRAVIS: Because it has to be you.

(HUNTER takes the coin TRAVIS is holding out. and goes into
the phone booth)

HUNTER: Why can't he do it? I mean. . . . (61)
Although Travis has finally accepted some responsibility. that is to
help reunite mother and son. he does not have the courage to communi-
cate. a property which caused his initial descent and which culminates
later with wife Jane. where he is only capable of communicating

through a one-way mirror.

The pattern of Weston's rejection of Emma in Curse. Lee's rejec—

 

tion of Austin in True West. and Eddie's on—and-off-again rejections of
May in Fool for Love is repeated here in Hunter's rejection of substi—
tute parents Walt and Anne. Shepard describes their sense of emptiness

after Hunter's phone call:

(BACK PORCH: WALT. on his own, is walking back and forth on
the porch. He wipes a tear from his face)

(HUNTER'S BEDROOM: ANNE is sitting on HUNTERJS bed. humming
a French song to herself-—Frere Jacques. Slowly. she sinks
down into HUNTER's pillow) (64)

A typical Shepard male. Hunter irrationally escapes the obligations of
a home for the unknown. Throughout the remainder of Paris. Texas.
Hunter is limited to prescience. and is oblivious to Walt and Anne's

feelings. For reasons never fully explained. other than perhaps

 

 

     
 

mother. 1

means. of
usually no

represent

 

Hunter wij
in super-I
beach. da:
scene. Ja1
descends.
three-yea
vision—h
pervades.
flee the
level, In
The

M tha

Travis (‘

208

biological. he is attracted to the notion of returning to his natural
mother. It may best be justified in that not reuniting with Jane
means. of course. committing himself to Walt and Anne. and that is
usually not possible for Shepard males. Furthermore. Walt and Anne
represent for Hunter figures of impotence (their inability to provide
Hunter with a brother is not made secret). whereas the images projected
in super-eight films present lively. remarkably vibrant people at the
beach. dancing. building sand castles. embracing one another. In one
scene. Jane and Travis kiss tenderly and as the film ends and the sun
descends. images of a younger. affectionate Travis dancing with a
three-year—old Hunter emerge. Once again the ambiguity in Shepard's
vision--here illustrated by the montage of celluloid fragments—-
pervades. and Hunter is motivated. or at least interested. enough to
flee the sterile confines of Walt and Anne's. Finally. on a basic
level. Hunter hopes to reunite his original family.

The impulse to forgive has manifested itself more so in Paris.

Texas than in any other Shepard work. Anne and Walt attempt to forgive

 

Travis ("Travis IS his father! And Hunter IS his son!" [51]). Walt
needs to remind Anne when she first fears losing HunterL Walt then
insists upon Travis's justifying his emotional and spiritual hiatus:
"Now you tell me what happened with you and JaneL" but. after Travis%
complacency. Walt placates. "I know . . . it's none of my business"
(57). Even Hunter forgives his father. for his will to understand
Travis's previous whereabouts. along with the desire to accompany him

to Houston. illustrates his full acceptance of Travis as his father:

 

 

 

 

   

209

HUNTER: Where did you go all that time?
TRAVIS: Mexico.

HUNTER: How come?

TRAVIS: I didn't know where else to go.
HUNTER: Where'd Mom go?

TRAVIS: I don% know. But right now shds somewhere in
Houston.

HUNTER: That's where the Space Center is!

TRAVIS: Yeah. And that's what I wanted to talk to you
about. I've got to go away now.

HUNTER: Why?

TRAVIS: Because I'm going to find her.

HUNTER: What about me? You just found me! Can I come with?
TRAVIS: What about Walt and Anne?

HUNTER: You mean we'd never come back here?

TRAVIS: Sure. but I don't know when.

(HUNTER has a long think. Then he makes up his mind)

HUNTER: I want to come with. I want to find her, too. When
do we go?

TRAVIS: Right now. (58-59)
Mimesis has always been Shepard's maxim. and Hunter's eagerness to find
his mother suggests that a bond between the two. Travis and Hunter.
exists: that bond is held in part by their equal need to escape home
in order to confront their pasts.
Now mindful of practical concerns. Travis suddenly appears trans-
formed. And at the point where his son regards him no longer as an

ethically obsolete creature transfixed in time only by vague memory.

 

 

 

    
 

accumula
He is no
when Travi
profound
time in tl
ters have
and wrong
pathos—h
size to 1
Travis.
also ablt
mother.
after Hm

the iden‘

210

Travis even commands some sympathy. He is a modified Weston. the
accumulation of new knowledge and hopes. at least in store for Hunter.
He is no longer under psychological scrutiny by his brother Walt. for
when Travis extends. "I want to find her. Walt" (57). it is as if a
profound change in perspective takes place in Travis--for the first
time in the story he wants something. Up until now. Shepardfs charac—
ters have been split by an inner division--between good and bad. right
and wrong. home and travel. love and hate. spiritual enthusiasms and
pathos--by a fragmentation so complete that they have been reduced in
size to partialities. or pieces of man. But the reverse happens to
Travis. Not only is he able to confront his past with Jane. but he is
also able to discuss. in detail. the distance between himself and his
mother. For the first time in the story. Travis becomes drunk. and
after Hunter drags him to a couch in a laundromat, Travis can reveal
the identities of his parents:

TRAVIS: This is not a place to bring a fancy woman. would
you say? If you had a fancy woman. would you bring her to a
place like this?

HUNTER: What's a fancy woman?

TRAVIS: Oh. God. My mother. not YOUR mother. but MY mother.
was NOT a fancy woman. She was .. . she never wanted to be
a fancy woman. she never even pretended to be a fancy woman.

HUNTER: Then. what was she?

TRAVIS: She was just . .. plain. Just plain. and good.
But my Daddy. see. my Daddy. he had this idea. he had this
idea in his head that was kind of a sickness.

HUNTER: What idea?

 

 

her as a

 

"fancy." i
full poss
he senses
too. that
what he i
like his
Fin
Travis's
parents.
mind. T1
eXpressi

educatic

 

 

211

TRAVIS: He had this idea about her and . . . he looked at
her. but . . . he didn't see her. He saw this idea. And he
told people she was from Paris. It was a big joke. But he
. started telling everybody all the time and. finally. it
wasn't a joke anymore. He actually believed it. And. one
day. he actually did believe it. And my mother . . . Oh.
God. she would get so embarrassed. She was . . . she was so
shy. (83—84)
The truth of Travis's relationship with Jane begins to emerge: he saw
her as a "fancy woman." and "jokes" were not necessary. Jane was so
“fancy." in fact. that Travis risked losing her so. naturally. he took
full possession. He will not make the same mistake twice. however. for
he senses his life with such a woman is not possible. He realizes,
too. that in the long run he might have been better off to have married
what he calls a "plain“ woman. like his mother. At least that way.
like his father. he might have lived a lie. but not an obsession.
Finally. he becomes aware that son Hunter suffers more for
Travis‘s own transgression and for the actions of his own guilty
parents. Traveling this time with Hunter. and with a clear purpose in
mind. Travis's life momentarily makes sense. Even Hunter. while
expressing his theory of the creation of the universe. provides an
education for his father:
HUNTER: Do you know what?

TRAVIS : What?

HUNTER: The whole galaxy. the whole universe used to be
compressed into a tiny spot this big. And . . . and you know
what happened?

TRAVIS : What?

 

 

 

Shepard .
one need
descent_
in the I
[bother E

Com Pens:

212

HUNTER: It went whssshhh and blew up. All the sparks and
everything went flying all over the place. And formed space.
There was just gas. it was floating around.

(HUNTER illustrates his story with his hands. TRAVIS doesn't
know quite what to think of HUNTER'S version of the creation)

TRAVIS: The earth. was?

HUNTER: Yeah. the earth was really gas. And then the sun

formed. and it got so hot that earth just formed into one

hard. big ball. . . .

TRAVIS: . . . Ball. yeah. . . .

HUNTER: . . . of ocean. Nothing but ocean.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

HUNTER: So there were sea animals. Then. under the water.
the volcano went whssshhh. and the hot lava hit the water and
formed rock to make land. (59-60)
Although Travis cannot comprehend the context of Hunter's theory. it is
a search (albeit lucid and sketchy) on his son's part for answers.
This alone challenges the concept of total mimesis in Paris. Texas (as
is indicative in the other full-length plays). and may be viewed as a
hopeful feature in Shepard's youngest hero.

Contrary to other Shepard efforts. Paris. Texas begins at a point
late in the development of Travis's downfall. He can travel on his own
no more. and he can only rely on someone else for his rehabilitation.

Shepard exposes Travis's progressive fragmentation only insomuch as
one needs in order to visualize Travis at the ultimate point of his
descent. And when the story closes, there is much suggestion of hope

in the renewed bonds of sympathy between father and son and between

mother and son. as well as in the possibility of a new life which may

compensate for old mistakes. Moreover. reconciliation between family

 

 

   

 

    

spiritually affirming.

1..

 

     

18am
1982) 48.

2Wini:

(Gainesvi;

 

308:1
York: Vin

 
 

NOTES-—CHAPTER V

1Sam Shepard. Motel Chronicles (San Francisco: City Lights Books,
1982) 48.

2Winifred L. Dusenbury. The Theme of Loneliness in American Drama
(Gainesville: University of Florida, 1960) 112.

3Carl G. Jung. Memories. Dreams. Reflections. ed. Aniela Jaffe (New
York: Vintage Books. 1965) 212, 334.

4Walter Prescott Webb, The Great Plains (Boston: Ginn and Company.
1931) 488. In his text. Webb discusses loneliness as a disease on the
plains.

5Dusenbury 7.

6Dusenbury 7.

7Erich Kahler, The Tower and the Abyss (New York: George Braziller.
1957) 41-42.

214

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

Watch a child with his toy guns and you will see: what most
interests him is not (as we so much fear) the fantasy of
hurting others. but to work out how a man might look when he
shoots or is shot. A hero is one who looks like a hero.

--Robert Warshow
The Westerner

Ya' know. you'd be 0.K., Becky, if you had a self. So would

I. Something to fall back on in a moment of doubt or terror
or even surprise.

--Hoss
The Tooth of Crime
Sam Shepard
The heroes in Sam Shepard's drama pursue odysseys which are

uniquely American. journeys away from identity and toward re—identity.
away from family and toward alienation, away from hope and toward
despair. Shepard's examination of this comprehensive theme usually
entails that of a failed family exploring alternatives for survival.
and Shepard recognizes this threat of potential annihilation as an

American twentieth-century predicament. It is clear by this point that

Shepard insists that the proper, and perhaps most important, function

of modern drama is to expose man's nature. once hidden. to search out

his instincts. to discover his limits. and to justify his failure or

triumph.

215

 

 

 

 
  

Pound's I
ing, of
vastelan.

Paris. T1

 

 

desire q
resignat
Lorraine
her and.
the 01d
husband
desert.
The

certain

passage.

his vis:

Meaning
altoget
of. as

attempt

It

not So

recognj

216

Shepard. the artist who is the "antennae of the race"--to use Ezra
Pound's words——depicts man in his physical rural environment. suggest-
ing. of course. the emotionally and spiritually empty. despairing
wasteland in which he presently lives. By the end of his plays. save
Paris. Texas, his protagonists lack the capacity for hope. and the
desire to change. the confluence of which results in vacillation and
resignation. Even in Shepard's latest play. A Lie of the Mind.
Lorraine's husband--needing something he is unable to identify--leaves
her and, typically. wanders off and eventually (like Weston. Tilden.
the Old Man in True West and in F001 for Love. Travis. and Meg's
husband Baylor in A Lie of the Mind) ends up living alone on the
desert. finally settling in a trailer in Mexico.

The image of man in Shepard's drama is most always broken. and
certain givens are all parts of his natural process. his rite of
passage. Rollo May explains the obligation of the artist to provide
his vision. even if it be of a "schizoid world":

The artist presents the broken image of man but transcends
it in the very act of transmuting it into art. It is his
creative act which gives meaning to the nihilism. alienation.
and other elements of modern man's condition.
Meaning may be at first glance sparse in Shepard’s work. but it is not
altogether missing. Even the fragmented. early works are not devoid
of. as May asserts. presenting "the broken image of man" and his
attempts at self-redemption.
In analyzing Shepard's heroes in the early plays. we are dealing

not so much with individuals (like in later. full-length works) as with

recognizable types: cowboys. rock stars, gamblers. millionaires. Nor

   

   

ideals. W

the Age 0|
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217

are we dealing so much with an historical reality as with fictional
ideals. Writes Marshall W. Fishwick. "this was precisely the case. in
the Age of Enlightenment. with Rousseauls natural man. and the trail-
blazer on the early American frontier.“2 so it is not unusual that
Shepard's heroes should epitomize the code and spirit of cowboys. rock

stars. gamblers. and millionaires.

Shepard states in the Introduction of The Unseen Hand and Other
Elgys. that "even though some of this (earlier) work is slightly
embarrassing to me now (twenty years later). it's like objecting to a
photograph that illuminates an aspect of the 'real you} in a moment
when you least expect the truth to be recorded."3 Those years were for
Shepard a time of true growth as a playwright. In four of his most
significant early plays——Chicago. The Tooth of Crime. Geography of a
Horse Dreamer. and Seduced--Shepard deals less directly with the
traditional and blood-related family, and more with other. surrogate
types of kinship. For instance. the family of roommates (perhaps even
of a commune) is SheparWS subject in Chicag. In The Tooth of Crime.
Shepard writes about the family of rock stars. The family. or "Mafia."
is the subject in Geography of a Horse Dreamer. as is the family of
cowboys. And in Seduced. a family of one. in the person of Henry
Hackamore (or Howard Hughes) suggests that one as influential as Hughes
is spiritless. and ultimately powerless, without the assistance of his
servant (or only adopted family) Raul.

Present in each play are the "broken images of manfl' Heroes Stu.

Hoss. Cody. and Hackamore must all deal with their own nihilism. their

 

 

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218

own alienation as the result of abandoning their families (or of being
abandoned by their families). Again. their individual loneliness—-and
homelessness--is apparent. Yet rather than passively letting it
consume them (as do Weston. Tilden and Dodge. Lee and Austin. Eddie and
May. and Travis. who all--sooner or later—-accept their conditions).
Shepardfs heroes this time attempt radical revolt. Shepard treats his
heroes as victims who must reshape integral lives after cataclysmic
experiences.

In often sensational and dramatic means, Stu. Hoss. Cody, and
Hackamore lose in their battles to overcome——or at least resist-~their
own alienation. The results are often emotionally and spiritually
purging. for characters and audience alike. and the statement Shepard
ultimately makes--that the downfall is inevitable--is always sobering.
Shepard's fundamental point in these plays is that the home is not a
sanctuary from the struggle and turmoil of the world. but is rather
where warfare is even more intense and where the animal qualities-—
strength, fear. and cunning-encouraged by a life of battle predomi-

nate.

i
Shepardfs sixth play. Chicago. introduces many themes which were
to become familiar to his drama. Most important is the mythic idea

regarding the "man on the run."4

which later inhibits many. if not all
of his heroes. As Rip Van Winkle presides over the birth of the

American imagination. it is fitting that Chicago's Stu presides over

 

 

 

 

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219

the birth of Shepardls. Both are classic American dreamers. Writes
Leslie A. Fiedler:
Ever since [Rip Van Winkle]. the typical male protagonist
. .. has been a man on the run. harried into the forest and
out to sea. down the river and into combat--anywhere to avoid
"civilization." which is to say the confrontation of a man
and a woman whifh leads to the fall of sex. marriage. and
respon51b111ty.
StLfls world in Chicago is asexual. a world where the fear of
responsibility to part-time girlfriend Joy results in his marooned
existence and internal isolation and subsequent loneliness. Stu runs
(or "swims" as it were in Chicago) toward freedom and away from
"civilization" in search of his own identity.

When the curtain rises in Chicago. Stu sits in a bathtub. a symbol
for the boat in which he enters. one must assume. a port in Chicago--
although the port could be anywhere. The Gettysburg Address is recited
over a loudspeaker. and Stu remains in his tub to avoid a "confronta-
tion" with Joy. who has already assimilated into American culture.
Little does Stu realize that "civilization" and. as the result. "con—
frontation" exist in Chicago.

Joy prepares for her first job in the United States. but.
attracted to the refugee Stu. joins him in the tub. But she has

invaded Stu's territory and Stu resents this:

STU: It's so nice. (She leans over the side of the tub as
though it were a boat)

STU: Nice. nice. No nicer than most things.

JOY: Look at the fish. (STU leans over and looks)

STU: Them's barracuda. lady. They eat people when they feel
like it.

 

 

 

 

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220

JOY: They wouldn't eat me.

STU: They'd eat you like nobody‘s business.
JOY: They're really big. . . .

STU: Just lookin' fer a nice young virgin.
JOY: They don't eat people.

STU: Just lookin'fer somethin'go bite. (He grabs her and
tries to push her out of the tub)

Another woman. Myra. enters wearing dark glasses and a fur coat. while
also carrying a suitcase. She watches the action for some time and
then tells Joy to pack.

As Stu begins to address other imaginary fish. Sally. Jim. and Joe
cross to the kitchen while carrying suitcases of their own and fishing
poles. Finally. Joy leaves. crossing back and forth pulling a wagon
full of suitcases. The others-—Myra. Sally, Jim. and Joe-—wave goodbye
to Joy and then sit facing the audience. casting their lines into the
crowd. Stu describes the awareness of a creature emerging from the
water into the air (a clear image of birth) and then explains the
process of breathing (either a sign of life or of gasping for life
while on the verge of death. depending upon how one wishes to view it)
as the others breathe in unison with Stu.

Chicago treats the fears of adult responsibility and commitment to
friends and family. yet is complicated by abstract relationships and a
serious need for understanding of the individual. tolerance for his
uniqueness, and acceptance of his introversion. From the beginning of

the play. foreigner Stu expresses his animosity toward his American

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

221

host Joy. She prepares biscuits for him. but Studs rejection of the
meal (and of Joy herself) may be viewed as his reluctance to respect

anyone other than himself:

JOY: Cold biscuits? Do you dig cold biscuits? The butter's
cold. too. The jam's cold. I hope you're glad. (She goes
off right. STU stands again with the towel still draped over
his head; he talks like an old lady)

STU: Looky here. missy. Donlt be so high and mighty and
flashy. all of a sudden. Just 'cause ya' got big boobies.
Thank the Lord fer that. But that happens to be a gift. Ya'
were bestowed with that chest a'yours And donfizforget it.

Praise the Lord!

JOY: (off right) Fuck off! (STU takes the towel off his
head and starts drying himself again; he talks in a normal

voice)

STU: Biscuits. Who needs biscuits at this hour? Who ever
needs biscuits? Joy?

JOY: (off right) What?
STU: Who needs biscuits?
JOY: Peasants in Mexico.

STU: Peasants make their own. Biscuits were invented to

trick people into believing they're really eating food! They
aren't any good at all. They're just dough. A hunk of
dough that goes down and makes a gooey ball in your stomach.
It makes you feel full. Biscuits are shit!

(JOY throws a bunch of biscuits from off right; they hit STU

in the head. STU picks one up and takes a bite out of it. he
sits back down in the tub and continues eating the biscuit.

. . .) (5—6)

Stu's insult is clear. but this passage also reflects his difficulty in
assimilating into American culture. In truth. he does not know whether
to treat Joy (the prototypical American) as a mother. lover. or enemy.

Stu enjoys the biscuits that Joy bakes for him. yet he is unable to

admit it. for that would underscore his dependence on her for

 

 

   

 

 

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222

nourishment. Joy. on the other hand. has recognized Stu's self-
indulgence and his unwillingness to return her love or to admit his
dependence. and despite her affection for Stu. she is leaving him. The
others encourage her departure too. a clear suggestion that America--
the land of Joy~-is quickly being overtaken by the new masses.

Like so many of Shepard's heroes. Stu cannot understand himself.
much less Joy. A subscriber to male fantasies. his dilemma is that he
wears too many masks. none of which is well—defined. nor do any of them
suitably address his predicament with Joy. who insists that her exist-
ence is obscured by such male concerns as identity. Stu borders on
homelessness of self. playing first a boyfriend. then an old lady. a
fisherman. a child. and a myriad of other roles. Clearly Stu has
difficulties communicating as himself (for he knows not what that is)
to the real world (particularly with girlfriend Joy). so he resorts to
masks in order to reject (or "run" away from) her. Studs masks also
help fend off Joy's aggressiveness. for he feels less threatened as
someone else.

Additionally. Stu resides in a bathtub because there his space is
safe from intruders, or so he believes. A womb-like environment. Stu
often turns upon himself and is absorbed in his inner world where his
interests recede toward himself. At times he even criticizes his own
introversion:

STU: (while standing in the tub, looking down at the floor)
. .. Try some seaweed for a change. You're going to be in

bad shape if you keep going around like that. In schools.
In all that crappy black water. Bumping your dumb heads into

 

    
 

 

 

 

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223

rocks and boulders and making your tongues bleed. Stupid.
Swim. Go ahead. Let me see you. Don% just hang there
treading water. .. .(12)
Here. Stu (literally and spiritually hung—up) berates his many person-
alities. those which are spawned while he drifts to and away from
relationships and responsibilities. He urges his masks to impose in
the world outside. and to escape his "school." to "swim" into reality
where people like Joy require stability and consistency in personality.
This is Stu's first step toward cultural assimilation and maturity.
Near the play's end (and following Joy's departure) Stu is metaphori-
cally reborn. He himself is the very creature which he describes
emerging from the water. yet his life on earth (and within the guide—
lines of reality) is so slippery that. before he knows it-—and like a
fish out of water—-he is gasping for air. Stu's last monologue details
this transition from water (or womb where he was adrift) to beach (or
life where he must now reside):
STU: . .. Your eyes stay open. Then you move. You start
to move slowly up the beach. Your feet hurt and your nose is
bleeding from the smell. Then you see the lights again. And
they blink. One after the other. Between the trees. You
can see them blinking. On and off. A whole town. (JOY
backs on stage from left again pulling the wagon; she exits
right) Your eyes start blinking with the lights. Your feet
start moving. You can feel them move inside your socks.
Then your arms. You're running. You can feel the breathing.
Panting sort of. The wind comes in through your nose and
dries the blood. You can taste it. Your mouth opens and the
wind comes in. Your body‘s moving. The sweat dries on your
legs. You're going now. Much faster and the breathing gets
harder. (23—24)
However. Stu is able to adapt to the many changes present within his

environment. and Shepard's point is clear: once the umbilical cord is

broken (illustrated here by Joy's departure) one is left to confront

 

  
  

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224

self—sufficiency. or breathing. on one’s own. The second—person pronoun
'you" is a device used by Shepard's Stu to have double meaning: obvi-
ously. the first.'you" Stu addresses is himself. as he recreates his
own genesis; the second'you" refers to the audience. for their gene—
sis. Stu reminds, is not altogether different. Earlier he explains the
means of their own existence. claiming that a group of sailors-~who
arrived on shore "horny for the young virgins that walk the beaches

. . . screwing everything in sight"—-are to be held accountable. This
parallels his earlier comment to Joy about the barracudas "just lookin'
fer a nice young virgin." like--of course——Joy herself. In essence.
Joy's departure away from Stu and with her suitcases may be viewed as a
trip away from purity and toward sexual experience; as Stu warns her.
the "striped fishes with long teeth and pink tongues . . . want you for
their very own. They want to eat you upP'(11). Joy‘s sexual awaken-
ing is synonymous with Studs birth. It is as if Joy's loss of virgin—
ity and temporary promiscuity toward Stu enables him to be free. It is
following Joy's departure that Stu "jumps out of the bathtub" for the

first and only time in the play:

STU: Good! (He breathes in and out very fast) That's
great! See my stomach. In and out. It's breathing. Ihn
taking it in. The air. What a fine bunch of air I'm taking
in. Now I'm taking it in through my nose. See. (He
breathes through his nose) Aaah! Greatl Now my mouth. (He
breathes through his mouth) Good! In and out! Ladies and
gentlemen. the air is fine! All this neat air gathered
before us! It's too much! (The other actors start to
breathe slowly. gradually. making sounds as they inhale and

exhale. . . .) (24)

    

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225

Like a Greek chorus. the actors (no longer does Shepard refer to them
as characters) accentuate the freedom that Stu feels. and when he
announces that "the air is fine," it is as if he has discovered a new
world. Joy's return at the very end of the play. however. spells out
her own sense of commitment to Stu. and with her return the new world
is no longer just big. and Stu can only be suffocated.

Stu's imaginative evolution in Chicago indicates Shepard's early
concern with self-identity as a variable and with self-creation as a
given. Studs ability to summon other masks at will. and to evoke a
particular geography and time to accommodate his various masks. fore-
shadows True West's Austin and Lee and F001 for Love's Eddie. Chicago
expresses a double-barreled challenge: first forts man to understand
and conquer control of one—-and only one--identity at a time. and in
which he can comfortably reside; second. to confront the world itself.
or the reality outside the tub. with the mask chosen by the individual
wearer.

Like Chicago. The Tooth of Crime produces such a surrealistic air
of novelty that at first glance it resembles a sketch of popular cul-
ture. fragmented and incongruous. rather than a complete. traditional
dramatic text. Nonetheless. during the time of its composition.
Shepard develops his thematic roots while managing to delve into the
violent nature of man in a culture of masks.

The veteran rock star, Hoss~—dressed in black leather (and
Signifying the "bad guy." at least initially, because of his dress)——

sings the first song to establish his identity as the reigning king.

    
 

 

 

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226

Girlfriend Becky offers him an assortment of revolvers. pistols. and
rifles. and they talk of a planned move (rock stars are always altering
image. style. songsL Hoss consults the Star-man. an astrologer who
warns Hoss that the moon chart is not favorable: 'Uhe wrong movefll
throw you back a year or more. You can't afford that now. The charts
[this time the record charts] are moving too fast. Every week there‘s
a new star."7

The language the characters use is a combination of criminal.
rock. drag-racing. astrological. and Old West jargons. and Hoss's
"move" combines the worlds of these jargons. Galactic Jack. the disc
jockey. helps to encourage Hoss to advance. but Hoss is uneasy about
many things. Vegas has been "rolled" and it was on Hoss's tickets. and
it turns out that one of the "gypsies" has "marked" Hoss. Cheyenne.

Hoss's limousine driver. can offer no advice to him in dealing with the
Gypsy. and Hoss takes a shot from the Doc to cool himself down. Hoss
rehearses a knife fight and Becky sings to him to ease the tension.
The first act ends with the announcement that the Gypsy has arrived.
Crow. the gypsy. is of a new generation: he represents the new
image. the new style, the new music. He wears an eye patch. chews gum.
and twirls a short silver chain. Hoss offers Crow some wine. and while
he is getting it. Crow attempts to mimic his walk. The duel is to be
musical. and there is to be a prior competition in which a slip in
jargon or in assurance scores. Before the judge arrives. Hoss intimi-
dates Crow by showing his skills: he demonstrates strength and articu—

lateness by using a cowboy idiom:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But Crow

Gangster

The son:

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rehears

227

HOSS: Yeah. well that's the way it‘s gonna be. I ain't
used a blade myself for over ten years. I reckon it's even
longer for you. Maybe never. (HOSS begins to switch into a
kind of cowboy-Western image) I reckon you ain‘t never seen
a knife. A pup like you. Up in Utah we'd use yer kind fer
skunk bait and throw away the skunk.

CROW: Throwin' to snake-eyes now. Leathers.

HOSS: So you gambled your measly grubstake for a showdown
with the champ. Ain't that pathetic. I said that before and
I'll say it again. Pathetic.

(CROW is getting nervous. He feels hefls losing the match.
He tries to force himself into the walk. He chews more
desperately and twirls the chain faster)

You young guns comin' up outa' prairie stock and readin' dime
novels over breakfast. Drippin' hot chocolate down yer
zipper. Pathetic. (47)

But Crow's confidence gains when Hoss switches to an inferior Twenties-
Gangster language:

HOSS: You mugs expect to horn in on our district and not
have to pay da' price? Da' bosses don't sell out dat cheap
to small-time racketeers. You gotta tow da' line punk or
you'll wind up just like Mugsy.

The song duel between Hoss and Crow has many literary precedents. one
of which is described by Peter Farb in Richard Schechner's notes on
rehearsing The Tooth of Crime:

In Alaska and in Greenland all disputes except murder are
settled by a song duel. In these areas an Eskimo male is
often as acclaimed for his ability to sing insults as for his
hunting prowess. The song duel consists of lampoons.
insults. and Obscenities and the disputants sing to each
other and. of course. to their delighted audience. The
verses are earthy and very much to the point; they are
intended to humiliate. and no physical deformity. personal
shame. or family trouble is sacred. As verse after verse is
sung in turn by the opponents the audience begins to take
sides; it applauds one singer a bit longer and laughs a bit
louder at his lampoons. Finally. he is the only one to get
applause. and he thereby becomes the winner of a bloodless

 

 

  
 

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228

contest. The loser suffers a great punishment. for dis-
approval of the community is very difficult to bear in a
group as small as that of the Eskimo.8
This is precisely what happens in the duel between Hoss and Crow.
Their songs. or "verses." are "earthy and very much to the pointJ'
Following the Twenties-Gangster round, Crow has copied Hoss's walk (or
singing style) exactly. and the mimesis is complete. This ability on
Crow's part to imitate. however. somehow gives him the advantage. Half
of the fun in this play. and often half the fun in Shepard in general.
is that an explanation is rarely offered. but one may assume that (as
in rock music) the ability to imitate is also the ability to supersede.
Next. a National Basketball Association referee is called in. and round
by round they alternate songs with Crow finally declared the victor.
The Tooth of Crime is Shepard's first impressive outright parody
of the Western genre. Yet this version is set some time in the future
and with musicians. not pioneers, clad in Western wear while at battle.

Shepard is well aware of the Western code. and. as John G. Cawelti

observes in The Six-Gun Mystique. that the hero contrast with the

villain is necessary:

In the traditional Western a very strong distinction was made
between good violence (perpetrated by the hero) and bad
violence (that used by the villains in pursuit of their evil
aims). Moreover. the hero was usually portrayed as very
reluctant to enter into violence. Of course, once he did.
his skill in the shootout was glorified as not only an
appropriate punishment for the villain but as the apotheosis
of the hero's unique identity. In the end the hero's vio-
lence seemed graceful. aesthetic and. even. fun.9

Hoss, reluctant yet willing to enter battle for he realizes its neces—

sity if he is to uphold his reign. is skillful in talent and unique in

 

 

 

    

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229

identity. Crow. however. represents the new age. a world of cities and

technology, and like the Westerns from the 19605 and 19705. The Tooth

 

of Crime deals most "powerfully with the end of the West, the passing
of its heroic and mythical age and its entry into the modern world.‘'10
The climactic "shootout" between Hoss and Crow. then, is clearly a
final apotheosis of the Western code. for Crow (initially the villain)
outsings the present hero Hoss.

At the battle's end, Hoss offers Crow all of his territory (or
fans) if he will instruct Hoss on the new style. That Hoss should
assimilate and adhere to the new style (or modern age) is appropriate,
for he abandons the traditional myth to which he once ascribed when he

discovers the irrelevance of the passing Old West. Cawelti sums up

this aspect of the popular Western since 1970:

. . . The myth has become increasingly attenuated. For one
thing, the West is becoming increasingly like the rest of the
country, complete with standardized fast food franchises,
shopping malls and housing developments which look much the
same from New York City to Los Angeles. The increasing
sameness of the West and the East has finally accomplished
what Frederick Jackson Turner prophesied in 1893: the

closing of the spatial frontier has led to the closing of a

spiritual and cultural fffntier. There is no more free land;
only real estate values.

Naturally, Hoss finds the new style difficult to learn, which suggests,
of course. that he is stuck within the myth. And to mimic Crow would
be to become, in Cawelti's words. “standardized." and "increasing
sameness of the West [repreSented by Hoss] and the East [represented by
Crow]" would be complete. That Hoss does not surrender helps to create

an anti—Western. whereupon by his fall, Evil triumphs over Good.

 

A.

 

 

 

Hoss finally

losing Becky

 

ironically.
with song, I
Hoss's drive
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230

Hoss is also threatened by Becky. who has a dreamlike scene in
which she is "parking" with a boy. most likely a younger version of the
now over-the-hill Hoss, who attempts to seduce her:

BECKY: I never knew you were that kind of a guy. I thought
you were nice. A nice guy. I never thought you'd be like
the others. Why do you do that? You know I?m not that kind
of a girl. Come on. I just wanna talk. I wanna have a
conversation. Tell me about yourself. Come on. Don't do
that. Can't we just talk or something. All right, I wanna go
then. Take me home. I mean it. Don't do that! Don‘t!

(Her hands pull off her sweater. The wig comes off with it.
She's wearing a stiff white bra underneath. She struggles
against her hands, then lets them go. then struggles againJ
Can't we go back? I'm going to be late. Can“t we just kiss?
No! Don't! (69—70)

 

Hoss finally resolves his inferiority (over losing to Crow and over
losing Becky to her seducer) by taking his own life. This time.
ironically, he uses a gun rather than a song. Crow rejoices in victory

with song, keeps Becky (she is, in a sense, a prize), and dismisses

 

Hoss's driver Cheyenne, who leaves Crow the keys to Hoss's Maserati.

Evident in The Tooth of Crime is the threat of being replaced by
more competent, vital, and nonfamily members. At one point, Hoss
confides to his driver Cheyenne that even success in this business is
limited and threatening, and that a risk is needed to secure his
position as music-king and champion of the charts:

HOSS: . .. Canfizyou see what's happened to us? We ain't
Markers no more. We ain‘t even Rockers. We're punk chumps
cowering under the Keepers and the Refs and the critics and
the public eye. We ain%:free no more! Goddamnitl We ain%
flyin' in the eye of contempt. Wehve become respectable and
safe. Soft, mushy chewable ass lickers. What's happening to
our killer heart. What's happened to our blind fucking
courage! Cheyenne. we ain%:got much time. man. We were
warriors once. (22)

 

      
 

 

 

I

rock and roll.
Once one lose
"respectable

usurpation by

Like man

 

Hoss feels in‘

HOS
tru

BEC

10c
and
The

HOS
ran

231

Hoss‘s plea illustrates both the luck one often needs to succeed in

rock and roll, and the lack of freedom which accompanies that success.
Once one loses that sense of adventure, Hoss warns, and becomes
"respectable and safe," than one's individuality is destroyed. and
usurpation by a new and rising artist is probable.

Like many other Shepard heroes--Weston, Dodge, Eddie, and Travis--

Hoss feels insecure in his position:

HOSS: I did it once. I was good on the streets. I was a
true hustler.

BECKY: The streets are controlled by the packs. They got it

locked up. The packs are controlled by the gangs. The gangs
and the Low Riders. They're controlled by cross syndicates.
The next step is the Keepers.

HOSS: What about the country? Ain't there any farmers left,

ranchers, cowboys. open space? Nobody just livin' their
life?

BECKY: You ain't plain' with a full deck, Hoss. All that's
gone. That's old time boogie. . . . (29)

'The Outside is the Inside now" (46). Hoss remarks while acknowledging
Crow's aggressive penetration—-Wyouke playin' my time" (46). Hoss
himself foresees his fate, stating. 'Look at me now. Impotent. Can't
strike a kill unless the charts are right. Stuck in my image..."
(36).

After Hoss fails, he acknowledges his defeat by murdering the
referee, an implication on his part that when fairness of play fails,
one always has violence to fall back on. Shepard is constantly aware
of the violence in American society (and even within its families) and
his plays often embrace, if not exploit, such effects of that violence.

Despite the fact that Hoss elicits sympathy, and his middle-age alters

    
 

involved. No

hero Crow who

 

Crow's abili

alter that me;

I
Hos;
rea‘
don

CRO

HOS
J us

CRC

 

 

232

his perspective on a new music which he views as "crime. No art
involved. No technique, no finesse" (50), it is the guiltless anti-
hero Crow who finally victors. Hoss. however, admires the unscrupulous
Crow's ability to constantly hide within his mask (or image) and to
alter that mask when fad dictates and styles change:
HOSS: You know somethin', Crow? I really like you. I
really have respect for you. You know who you are and you
don't give a shit.

CROW: Thanks, Leathers.

HOSS: I just hope you never see yourself from the outside.
Just a flash of what you're really like. A pitiful flash.

CROW: Like you?
HOSS: Like me.
CROW: No chance, Leathers. The image is my survival kit.
HOSS: Survival. Yeah. Youfll last a long time, Grow. A
real long time. You're a master adapter. A visionary
adapter. (73)
Hoss's suicide following this marks the ultimate violence which results
when force imposed on others will not suffice, and when one's given
mask is no longer acceptable. Crow is at first impressed with Hoss's
courage to go out "in the old style," referring. of course, to his
suicide, but Crow quickly becomes indifferent, admitting, "I did him
[Hoss] a favor. Now the power shifts till a bigger wind blows. Not in
my life run but one to come. . ." (75).
Doris Auerback suggests that Crow "seems to be a new species of

mankind, a creature out of a science—fiction nightmare, an evolutionary

development that goes beyond emotion and is protean in its ability to

 

  
 

 

 

  

and the estab
uncaring. Cro
conscious of 11
society and, a
always takes if
heroes in the
their infallil
tably, accordi
aire. the cow?
the myths wil
Finally,

try as he did

the charts. 1

Personal isol

In Geog:
ShePard clain

winners. Lik

233

adathJZ Shepardfs creation of Crow (who indeed represents the

impenetrable system) later manifests himself in the person of Taylor
and the establishment in Curse of the Starving Clas . Cold and
uncaring. Crow is a strong contrast to the sensitive Hoss, who is very
conscious of his limitations. Crow, in a sense, has been corrupted by
society and, as a result, represents part of the imminent "curse" which
always takes up permanent residence within the souls of Shepard's
heroes in the early plays who are often trapped within the myths of
their infallibility: Stu, Hoss, Henry Hackamore, and Cody. Inevi—
tably, according to Shepard, the dreamer. the rock star, the million-
aire, the cowboy,and the artist will sooner or later be dethroned and
the myths will be challenged, questioned, or dissolved.

Finally, Crow may also be seen as a rebellious son to Hoss who.
try as he did to forever remain on top, was destined to be replaced on
the charts. From that point on, he was to inherit the homelessness and
personal isolation that is the Shepard code.

In Geography of a Horse Dreamer. "A Mystery in Two Acts." or so
Shepard claims, a young man named Cody has the gift of "dreaming"
winners. Like Crow and Hoss, Cody has a talent which may vanish as
quickly as it appeared. Cody is held captive, chained to a bed in a
hotel room by gangsters. The problem is that Cody‘s natural talents
(like The Tooth of Crime's Hoss's) are fading in captivity: as he

fails to dream successfully, the gangsters get nervous, worry about what
their boss will do, and begin to fall out. The condition of Cody

deteriorates and as he "goes to the dogs." he suddenly begins to dream

 

 

dog—racing wir
good thing. hc
becomes. in a
disintegrating
from performi:
arrival of tw<
liberate Cody

JAS(
now

COD‘

J AS
her
be

COD
was
I s
hon
any
old

234

dog-racing winners. Just as the gangsters think they are on to another
good thing, however. their "prize" begins to lose his sanity--he
becomes, in a sense, a dog. A doctor is called in to cure the
disintegrating dreamer and to salvage his talents. but is prevented
from performing an operation that looks like murder, by the sudden
arrival of two cowboys who shoot their way in, kill the captors, and
liberate Cody the dreamer:

JASON: (Crossing to CODY) Come on, boy. We're goin' home
now.

CODY One bad thought. A clean heart.

JASON: (Helping CODY to his feet) Come on now. You gather
herself together. A little beef stew in yer gullet. youql
be good as new.

CODY: (Standing) In a sacred way. This day. Sacred. I
was walking in my dream. A great circle. I was walking and
I stopped. Even after the smoke cleared I couldnft see my
home. Not even a familiar rock. You could tell me it was

anywhere and I'd believe ya! You could tell me it was any
old where. (130)

Here. Cody——like so many Shepard heroes-~is oblivious of home and in
this lyrical, high-spirited comedy-melodrama which lashes away at
profiteers. gamblers, and brainwashers, Shepard pits family (the mob or
Mafia) against family (Jason, Jasper, and Cody clearly represent the
American Old West family).

The play could be interpreted as a parable of the gifted dreamer,
in this case. exploited by a corrupt society. With the day saved and
family intact, Jason and Jasper fail to recognize that Cody's "gift" is
not permanent, that when he explains "You could tell me it was any old

where," he confirms his confused identity and misplaced gift. Cody

 

    
 

 

 

 

his own freed-

toward freedom

 

and from the
end. Cody (1i
and less than ,
Since _T_h§

has been commi
Shepard's most
society. The
for two lone 1
Henry Hacksmo:
Heckamore is .
long white be.
lying flat ou‘
hooked up to ;
impression is
Although

been ViCtimiz
a mooring for
(not unlike S
in. HackamoI
tilting the Au
cMrs this 1

desire to re

 

235

also represents the typical Shepard hero who must rely upon others for
his own freedom because he himself cannot acquire it. Cody‘s impulse
toward freedom is canceled by his fear of alienation from his roots
and from the talent to "dream" winners. His powers gone at the play's
end, Cody (like the legend 'fiuffalo Bill" Cody) has become only a myth.
and less than human.

Since The Tooth of Crime and Geography of a Horse Dreamer, Shepard
has been committed to the promulgation of the myth--any myth. Seduced.
Shepard's most underrated play, produces another character corrupted by
society. The setting for Seduced is a large deserted island. empty but
for two lone palm trees, a servant named Raul, and patient-recluse
Henry Hackamore, Shepard's version of American-made myth Howard Hughes.
Hackamore is described as one might expect, with shoulder—length hair.
long white beard, protracted corkscrew-shaped fingernails. He relaxes,
lying flat out in an old black naugahyde recliner, like a man who is
hooked up to leave for the moon. As Shepard describes. "the general
impression is a cross between a prisoner of war and an Indian fakir."13

Although isolated for years, the impression is that Hackamore has
been victimized, coerced into his own reclusion. His island, no longer
a mooring for his newfangled jets and ideas, resembles a stranded ship
(not unlike Stu's bathtub). Female companions must be discreetly flown
in. Hackamore is a man who for too long sincerely believed that he was
taking the American dream when, in fact, it was taking him. He dis—
covers this truth toward the play's end, and then articulates his

desire to return to a civilized plan: "It's pitch black out here.

    
 

I can slip ha
Vegas, or bus'
tarily traded

As the pl

Raul, has been

I
along, and mu:

I've
on I
ice
scr1

HEN]
dec:

RAU‘.
you
was

 

HEN
RAU

to

Hackamore is
lived. At th
Sign his Will
HaCkamore's c
atrename: a.
chair, Sprem
and becomes 4
Person to my

aspired to.

 

236

Perfect. Perfect for escape. I think we did the right thing. Raul.
I can slip back in" (115). "In," here. may represent society, Las
Vegas, or business, Hackamore's real family. all of which he volun—
tarily traded for his present solitary existence.
As the play develops. one discovers that Hackamore's servant.

Raul, has been secretly in charge of the Hackamore organization all
along, and much to even Hackamore's surprise. Raul confesses:

I‘ve kept you alive for years and years. I've carried you

on stretchers. IWe cooked your spinach. Pve bought you

ice cream in the middle of the night. I‘ve held you while you

screamed. I saved you from yourself. Henry. . . .

HENRY: That wasnfizyou! It was me! I was making the
decisions!

RAUL: That's why it worked so beautifully, Henry. Because

you believed it. Every suggestion we made, you believed it

was your idea.

HENRY: I invented everything! My planes! My hotels!

RAUL: But not your life! Your life you left to us. To me.

I shaped it for you. At first to suit your needs. And then

to suit mine. (112—13)
Hackamore is dying without escape and, he feels, without first having
lived. At the end, Raul fires a pistol at Hackamore for refusing to
sign his will over to him in blood. but the shots only ricochet off
Hackamore's chest. In fact. each blast of the pistol seems only to
strengthen Hackamore, until. finally. he resurrects. stands on his
chair, spreads open his arms (like a child who imitates an airplaneL
and becomes airborne while confirming his complete transformation from

person to myth: "I'm the demon they invented! Everything they ever

aspired to. The nightmare of the nation! It's me. Raul! Only me!"

 

  

 

 

(gun. as SW?
to his kneeS.
fashion (not
“I'm dead to
nation of his
the Dream ha ,

Seduced.

 

been dismisse'
Shepard is bu
who practice
eluded by the
explain his E
like Stu—wht

to himself. n

237

(16). As Raul fires again. Hackamore continues to fly. Raul goes down
to his knees, frustrated that his shots bound off Hackamore in Superman
fashion (not even bullets can penetrate a myth). and Hackamore recites:
"Ihn dead to the world but I never been born" (116) six times, a confir—
mation of his obsession in becoming the American illusion, that which
the Dream has evolved into.

Seduced, or "Raped" as it might very well have been titled. has
been dismissed by critics as a Shepard play with little to say. But
Shepard is building the groundwork for other characters like Hackamore
who practice self-invention. only to discover that they have been
eluded by the masks which they wear. When Hackamore attempts to
explain his secret of success. or his "vision," we sense a character-
like Stu—-who does not know where to begin to make himself understood.
to himself, much less to others like Raul:

HENRY: I'm always seeing things! .. .I was seeing things
before you were born. Before I was born I was seeing
things. I prefer seeing things to having them crash through
my window in the light of day. It's a preference not a
disappointment.

RAUL: Would you like something to eat, sir?

HENRY: Why do you always do that? Why do you constantly
switch the areas of my concern? Food is not on my mind.
Food has nothing to do with what's on my mind. Pictures are
on my mind and you put food in there. They donft mix! Pic—
tures of food don't mix!

RAUL: I'm sorry sir.

HENRY: You have to be more sensitive. Raul. to the subtle
shifts in my intellectual activity. The mind covers a wide
range of territory. Sometimes simultaneously traveling

several different hemispheres in a single sweep and then
diving suddenly for the prey.

 

 

  
 

 

 

1de :
rab .

 

 

RA

HEN '
some

 

 

Hackamore's wi
they once were|
War and its 31
which Hughes :
cates a notiu
the form of a1
world to whic

world events,

take him plac

238

RAUL: I understand, sir.
HENRY: You do? You understand what prey is? The prey is an

idea. A single, lonely. fleeting idea trying to duck into a
rabbit hole and the mind comes sweeping in for the kill.

RAUL: That's a beautiful idea sir.

HENRY: That's not an idea! It's a description. An idea is
something useful. (79—80)

Hackamore's wish-fulfilling hallucinations are no longer satisfied, as
they once were, and Shepard is clearly commenting on the second World
War and its aftermath of atomic pessimism. During this period, of
which Hughes was certainly a powerful member. W. Davis Sievers indi—
cates a noticeable rise in the number of plays "in which escapism took
the form of an affectionate glance at psychosis or toward the unreal
world to which the mind might retreat."l4 Hackamore has been warped by
world events, and is indeed summoning help in Seduced. Ideas no longer
take him places. and-—like Estragon and Vladimir in Seduced‘s literary
precedent, Beckett's Waiting for Godot--Hackamore has become a symbol
of sterility and complete impotence. He awoke one day and realized
that, despite his many achievements and great financial wealth, Godot
is never coming, or, quite possibly worse, that he is his own Godot and
that things can improve for him no more. That is the discovery that
Hackamore makes in the play. Near the end, he offers all of his
possessions to his servant Raul while planning his last escape--an
escape, this time, from himself, which is never a realistic option for
Shepard's heroes: 'Uheydll say I existed somewhere. A face. A name.

No one will ever know for sure. You can take my place now. You can

 

 

  
  

 

 

us, Shepard's
finally to be
decent man. i
family, and e!
tions and exj

Shepard
more than jus
tions and phi
does understa
Shepard writ4
tives, and on
Real. Real 1'

Work for Hug]

is difficult

239

have it" (115). But here, Henry is only patronizing Raul. for he knows
that Raul lacks the capacity to manage the Hackamore estate.

Raul plays a very preponderant part in Seduced, for he represents
us, Shepard's audience, as well as the infamous myth-makers who are
finally to be held responsible for the destruction of a once morally
decent man. But most important. Raul represents Hackamore's only
family, and even Raul does not always properly fulfill familial obliga-
tions and expectations.

Shepard is biographically clever when creating Raul, for he is
more than just a familial whetstone for Hackamore's many keen articula—
tions and philosophies. Raul is not one-dimensional, and perhaps he
does understand Hackamore more than even Hackamore knows. The Raul
Shepard writes of is not completely fictitious. One of Hughes's execu-
tives, and one of his oldest business associates, was a mean named Jack
Real. Real had known Hughes in the 1950s and 19605 and had gone to
work for Hughes's "family" in 1971. but was not an aide. His function
is difficult to define. He was there because Hughes had asked for him
while apparently on his own deathbed. The original circumstances of
their first encounter are not known. It is written that Real's pres-
ence annoyed many in the Hughes organization, but little could be done
except to isolate Hughes as much as possible, and Real was allowed into
the bedroom only when Hughes demanded his presence. And Hughes
demanded to see him often

Like Hackamore and Raul's discussions in Seduced, Hughes and

Real's focused mainly on airplanes and flying. the concepts of

 

   

 

 

 

advances in J

to fly again.1

thirteen—yea

renewed vital
staff. They !
him alive."16
In May <

air, his firs
together and
Channel Islar
hence, the se
from Florida
HBCkemore's 1
into the Hug}

it to Shepar

 

240

aviation, and ideas. just as they had when Hughes underwent his mental
collapse in 1957 and 1958. With his interest quickened by Real, it is
said, "Hughes picked up his aviation publications again, absorbing the
advances in aircraft performance, and in the spring of 1973, after a

thirteen—year absence from the cockpit, he announced that he was about

"15 It is also written that Real prompted Hughes‘s

to fly again.
renewed vitality for life, which actually stunned and angered his
staff. They blamed Real and told him to leave because he was "getting
him alive."16

In May of 1973. it was Jack Real who accompanied Hughes in the
air, his first flight in thirteen years. They took a number of trips
together and it is said that, among other places, they visited the
Channel Islands near the coast of Northern France. for brief holidays:
hence, the setting of Shepard's play, where palm trees must be flown in
from Florida or Southern California. The significance of Raul and
Hackamore's relationship is clear in Seduced, and Shepard's research
into the Hughes empire displays his maturity as a playwright. But leave
it to Shepard to pervert the rapport between the two, Hughes and Real,
with his Hackamore and Raul. When Raul reveals that he has secretly
been running the Hackamore empire all along—-not to mention Hackamore's
life--once again the dilemma of power within the family unit is
explored.

The complexity of Seduced makes it resemble, in language as well

as in action, another sketch rather than a complete dramatic text, but

it indicates important stylistic elements of Shepard's dramaturgy.

 

    
 

 

 

 

 

we ill
place in the

point even 5?

HE
co
ta '
he?
did
of !
sta'
whe
lit
tow
of
cir
tru
aPF

In this mono]
world which 1'
least in She;
must also go-

most persons

frozen in the

241

Again it is Shepard's interpretation of modern man trying to define his
place in the primitive world which strikes a chord. Hackamore at one
point even speaks of his alienation:

HENRY: . .. Isaw myself. Alone. Standingin open
country. Flat. barren. Wasted. As far as the eyes could
take in. Enormous country. Primitive. Screaming with
hostility toward men. Toward us Toward me. As though men
didn't belong there. As though men were a joke in the face
of it. I heard rattlesnakes laughing. Coyotes. Cactus
stabbing the blue air. Miles of heat and wind and red rock
where nothing grew but the sand. And far off, invisible
little men were huddled against it in the cities. In tiny
towns. In organizations. Protected. I saw the whole world
of men as pathetic. Sad, demented little morons moving in
circles. Always in the same circles. Always away from the
truth. Getting smaller and smaller until they finally dis—
appeared. (111)

In this monologue, Hackamore questions the existence of man in a modern
world which is still, for all practical purposes. quite primitive--at
least in Shepard's view. The truth Hackamore seeks-~that all who come
must also go--is universal, but his analysis of it exceeds the grasp of
most persons, particularly Raul. In nearly every sense, Hackamore is
frozen in the past and within his own myth. He is not fully conscious
of the present, but only of what was and what ought to be. Nor is
Hackamore satisfied with an average consciousness; instead, he strives
for a fuller consciousness about the past, a consciousness which.
perhaps, is not even obtainable. And like Shepard's cowboys, Hackamore
questions but finds few answers.

One is easily perplexed by the range of Shepard's imagination.
His characters usually begin his plays sober and fully clothed, but
Shepard puts them through emotional and spiritual cartwheels, until

they end up dizzied and naked. And there is never an afterglow in his

 

   

I

plays, not -'
ends at its c
describe an ‘
very similar

of the Starvi
|

Austin' s in E

 

Eve
eve
hav

Usi
. the

 

This attitude
climax of g
"tmseen." alt:
inevitably a
along he beli
trolled. In
and Wesley m

and May.

Also c1

 

 

242

plays, not even the slightest of comforting resolutions. Seduced even
ends at its climax, for in the play Shepard works with a notion used to
describe an earlier piece. The Unseen Hand. He describes a reality

very similar to Hackamore‘s in Seduced. Wesley and Westonfs in Curse

 

of the Starving Class, Tilden and Vince's in Buried Child, Lee and
Austin's in True West, and Travis's in Paris. Texas. Says Shepard:
Everybody's caught up in a fractured world that they canLt
even see. What's happening to them is unfathomable but they
have a suspicion. Something unseen is working on them.
Using them. They have no power and all the time they believe
they're controlling the situation.17
This attitude comes through in the language spoken by Hackamore. The
climax of Seduced occurs when Hackamore is assaulted by that something
“unseen." although all along he does have a "suspicion" that he is
inevitably a victim. He realizes the ultimate knowledge, that all
along he believed he was in control when he was really being con-
trolled. In a sense, that is the same realization that Curse's Weston
and Wesley make, True West's Austin and Lee, and F001 for Love's Eddie
and May.

Also clear at Seduced's end is that Hackamore was hiding not by
choice. He is a man in desperate need of special attention, an
attention which only few (like Raul) could provide. In the opening
scene of the play, for instance. Hackamore is frustrated by Raul's
failure to place one of the adjustable palm trees back in its exact
place on the island. Raul suggests that they call in a palm specialist

to correct the matter, to which Hackamore replies that an American is

needed to do the job properly:

 

  
  

 

 

 

 

Like Hughes.
with constan‘
tion to cletal
words almost:
Hackamore sel
women from V
own private ,
where things
Hackamore re
superiority :

HE
th
so
as
an
on

HStiluimore is
At first one
inferior by
We find them
Other words.
him. The gi
POSsessive ‘
are getting

Upon Luna! 5

243

HENRY: . .. That's what we need. An American to deal with.
Someone who understands the urgency. Down here they have a
different sense of time of something. Things go on forever
without getting done. (77)
Like Hughes, Hackamore is the prototype of the urgent American, the one
with constant deadlines before him and who always pays extreme atten-
tion to details and perfection. This comes through in his speech. where
words almost come out too fast to compose sentences. At one point.
Hackamore senses his influence on American society. They are expecting
women from Vegas, symbols of Hughes‘s past, to fly in separately on his
own private jets so that Hackamore may rediscover exactly the point
where things went wrong for him. When anticipating their arrivals,
Hackamore reminds Raul of inferiority and of his own (Hackamore's)
superiority:
HENRY: I want you to keep something in mind, Raul. When
these women begin to fill up my room I want you to keep
something firmly in mind. I want you to constantly remember,
as youdre taking them in with your eyes. that at one time or
another Ihve penetrated every single one of them. Every last
one. Right to the core. Straight to the heart. (81)
Hackamore is not being the pseudo-American bigot that he appears to be.
At first one senses that he makes Raul feel socially and sexually
inferior by relating some of his less-commercial successes. but later
we find that Hackamore is less sexually literal in his statements. In
other words, he is merely alert to the threats which the girls pose to
him. The girls (which is Hackamore's term for women) who arrive are
possessive opportunists who immediately want to know what reward they

are getting for the visit. There is even a hint of Tennessee Williams:

upon Luna's arrival, she remarks in Blanche Deboisian, "I'd hate to

 

  
 

 

 

 

and need for II
that is the in

There isi
product of Sh;
his character
play. But hi
states the ve
flash. I was
taking it. I
You could cal
words. image:
through an en
before the h.
by something

Called fate .
Shepard

they live.

0f anguish.

language in

Which he Wri

Present. 3}

244

have come all this way to be in the company of a strangerJ' In a
sense, Hackamore has "penetrated" each and every woman, Shepard sug-
gests. for they have inherited his demanding sense of material value,
and need for matters to be immediately right and complete; at least,
that is the impression one receives from Luna and Miami.

There is an urgent, if not exigent tone to this play. It is the
product of Shepard's short. interacting style of writing dialogue for
his characters. Shepard's Hackamore runs on a two-hour battery in the
play. But his battery loses its charge, and the play ends. Hackamore
states the very theme of the play, "It happened in a second. In a
flash. I was taken by the dream and all the time I thought I was
taking it. It was a sudden seduction. Abrupt. Almost like a rape.
You could call it a rape" (114). like a deficient smoke alarm. Lines.
words, images proliferate with no logical source. Characters all go
through an emotional, if not spiritual metamorphosis. Often. just
before the hero wins (or believes he will win), he is suddenly effaced
by something more powerful than circumstance, that inevitable force
called fate and referred to as the "curse."

Shepard's characters are not intrinsically attached to the lives
they live. The authorical "I" is omnipresent in his plays, and images
of anguish, perversity, and sensationalism result. But moreover, the
language in his plays is American, just like the mythic figures about
which he writes, for a certain inescapable domesticity is always

present. Shepard has said that words are "tools of imagery in motion."

adding:

 

    
 

 

 

 

Because Shep
to—American
must experimel
Shepard as s1)
particularly

like learning
motorcycle gs

In Seduc

 

diction of a
Often he brea
after awhile
somehow a six
Hackamore fu1
outside hims1

chatracters,ls

language he

245

I have a feeling that the cultural environment one is raised
in predetermines a rhythmical relationship to the use of
words. In this fgnse, I can% be anything other than an
American writer.
Because Shepard realizes that language is one part of—-if not the key
to--American culture. his characters in their attempts at wholeness
must experiment with. if not master. the many languages (used by
Shepard as slangs) inherent within American culture. For Shepard.
particularly in the early plays, learning the American culture is just
like learning the language of cowboys. gangsters. rock stars, drifters.
motorcycle gangs, gamblers. and movie stars.

In Seduced. Hackamore's language is fragmented. blending the
diction of a business mogul. inventor. old man, and airplane pilot.
Often he breathes out more air than he breathes in. Percussions strain
after awhile and his lines become almost desperate yelps. There is
somehow a similar discontinuity of thought and expression which carries
Hackamore further and further into himself and away from vital subjects
outside himself. Shepard insists that he writes from “inside" his

characters,19 and this attributes to the concept of the fragmented

language he uses.

At the end of Seduced when the outside world has finally
penetrated Hackamore's force field, or so he—-in his paranoia-
believes. the seemingly indestructible Hackamore exhausts himself
beyond compulsion. Shepard generally uses the extended monologue as

a way of figuratively suggesting, by way of taut description, his

characters'last attempts at some kind of spiritual fulfillment or

redemption. even if the results are only emotionally purging. But this

 

 

    
 

 

 

time, and f0

 

 

and, however
of the inter
himself thro

the early pl l

. |
and Jane in t

I
impotent. and

}
cannot grow.

recall of his
flicts with 7

nonmythic ex

246

time, and for Hackamore, there is too much interior space to cover.
and. however intense his examination. he consistently gets off track
of the internal map. Hackamore is dying, and he cannot rejuvenate
himself through the power of the monologue as do Stu. Hoss. and Crow in
the early plays, and Wesley. Weston, Dodge. Austin, Eddie. May, Travis.
and Jane in the full—length plays. Hackamore is. in fact, permanently
impotent, and the myth he has become has made him that way. for myths
cannot grow. The lines Hackamore delivers reveal his impotency, a
recall of his past lust for women. and also for his life. which con-
flicts with his longing to preserve the vitality of his youthful or

nonmythic existence:

HENRY: No spy in the world could ever see what I really had
my eyes on. Where my real hunger lay. My ravenous appetite.
Beyond private holdings. My instincts were right. At the
front door to death I needed women! Women more than any-
thingl Women to fill me up. To ease me into the other
world. To see me across. To bring me ecstasy and salvation!
Don't let me fall! DonH:ever let me falll(92)

Here. Hackamore collapses on the top of Luna, who pushes him off

because he goes unconscious rather than completing his last attempt at

Sexual success.

Finally. like Stu, Boss and Crow. and Cody, Hackamore is, as
Fiedler puts it. a “man on the runJ' Each character has failed to find
home a sanctuary away from violence, and instead has attempted to
simulate his own home away from home. Shepard‘s world is a male's
world, and so it follows that the homes of Stu, Hoss. Crow. Cody, and

Hackamore are devoid of the traditional properties of home: sex,

marriage, and responsibility. Consequently, these heroes try first

 

 
  

1

one flame un’ 2
tie needs for
tiate power :

left homeles =

 

I
An invesj

only be regar

 

 

ignored. Alt]
familial kins
recycled by 5
revised versi
‘ lives within
within his c:
cannot modif;
and as a ram

reshaped int.

they partake

 

 

247

one home and then another in their attempts to satisfy their unrealis-
tic needs for power. As a result of their general inability to nego-
tiate power and to compromise. Stu. Hoss. Crow. Cody. and Hackamore are

left homeless and constantly "on the runJ'

ii

An investigation of Shepardfs important. full-length plays would
only be regarded as incomplete should some of the earlier works be
ignored. Although they do not overtly encompass themes of traditional
familial kinship or of father-son relationships. they have been
recycled by Shepard into the major plays. For instance. Eddie is a
revised version of Stu. Each resides within his own world: where Stu
lives within the confines of his safe tub. Eddie is fenced like cattle
within his country dream: Hoss, like nearly all of Shepard‘s heroes,
cannot modify his plans to accommodate the needs of his fans (family)
and as a result he loses his identity and his companion Becky; Cody is
reshaped into a full—fledged and dimensional Austin in True West. and
they partake in similar metamorphoses: each is stripped of his
talents. his visions are ruined or perverted by those who wish to
obtain them; Henry Hackamore, disabled and confined to a chair like
Dodge. represents a monster created by his own illusions--not
dissimilar to Dodge himself. Each is finally to be held accountable

for his own tragedy. but not without the consideration of those who aid

in his downfall.

 

  
 

 

 

perspective 0-
with the attu
Ourl
disfi
plaé
wit
wit?

Shepard's “ch:
which are not
fronted with
tions in esce
mothers, inc:
figures of g:

Indeed I

contempomry

fathers and

248

Shepard reaches for a wide variety of personalities in his family
plays, hoping, of course. that audience members may somehow, some way
identify with one of his heroes and sympathize with that hero's
perspective of his own misfortune. What Shepard attempts is congruent
with the attempts of other major American authors. Writes Fiedler:

Our literature as a whole at times seems a chamber of horrors
disguised as an amusement park "funhouse," where we pay to
play at terror and are confronted in the innermost chamber
with a series of inter-reflecting mirrors which present us
with a thousand versions of our own face.
Shepard's "chamber of horrors" is a foyer leading into his "fun" houses
which are not always fun, for his aim is that we are constantly con—
fronted with "versions of our own face." whether we find those reflec-
tions in escapists. fantasists. alcoholics, screenwriters. promiscuous
mothers, incapable fathers, lethargic and inadequate sons, or mythic
figures of great influence and intrigue.

Indeed Shepard offers in most of his plays a grim parable of
contemporary America, with its families dividing like highways, and its
fathers and sons--somehow locked together by mimesis and destined to
doom in their grandfather‘s footsteps--responsible for the medians.
Yet despite the sobering list of crises that confront the families in
his plays, it would be wrong to suggest that his work is restricted in

meaning and is relevant only as social document of recent rural subcul—

tures. In writing about Shepard's most recent play, A Lie of the Mind,

 

David DeRose explains Shepardfs conscious effort of late to accommodate
mainstream audiences. even if it means placing "the artistic soul“ of

his work in "limbo":21

 

 

 

 

Despite his ai

to the perils.
the power and
demise.
Shepard':
unequipped em
lie ahead. A
the American
embracing of
through the :
exists today
the familial
Continual di
attempt in i
Arthur Mill<

PlaYW ri ght :

W
s
h
s
h
P
h

249

The play appears destined to be the most acclaimed and widely
produced drama of the playwright's career. This acclamation,
however, may result less from Shepard's achievement than from
his conscious attempts to render his work accessible to a
larger audience. No unseen forces ripple beneath the surface
of this play. nor does the action ever threaten to explode
off the stage. If Shepard's mythic density and wild theatri-
cality are to be sacrificed for the sake of accessibility,
the mainstream will have gained a new star, but Amergga will
have lost its most uncompromising theatrical genius.
Despite his apparent quest for accessibility. Shepard has a commitment
to the perils of the American family, and one cannot fully appreciate
the power and significance of his work were one to neglect the family's
demise.

Shepard's family is nuclear in theory, but archaic in practice.
unequipped emotionally or spiritually to digest the vast changes which
lie ahead. And his exploration of the trials and crises encountered by
the American family must be viewed as a means of confrontation, an
embracing of that which passes. It is Shepardfs passion to communicate
through the family plays. recording his perception of kinship as it
exists today. and to consciously offer significance of his relation to
the familial experience so that promise and reconciliation. rather than
continual disintegration, of the family may be feasible. Shepard's
attempt in itself must be seen as ambitious. for as early as 1956,
Arthur Miller wrote of the true position and mission of the American
playwright:

What, after all. is that mission? I may as well and with
such a question because it underlies and informs every word I
have written. I think of it so: Man has created so many
specialized means of unveiling the truth of the World around
him and the world within him--the physical sciences, the

psychological sciences. the disciplines of economics and
historical research and theory. In effect, each of these

 

   

atta'
sphe«
empl 4
side‘
race
more
pain
or n:
the
is d
perd
tone
is t
artn
econ
dram
‘ cons
trar

 

That Shepard I

troubled famii

families is a

L movement. a d
posefully phy
taste as a an
is grotesque]
being a total
may never be
ShEpard's is

Attempts to

American pow

“so for no 1

 

 

250

attacks on the truth is partial. It is within the rightful
sphere of the drama—-it is. so to speak, its truly just
employment and its ultimate design-~to embrace the many-
sidedness of man. It is as close to being a total art as the
race has invented. It can tell, like science, what is——but
more. it can tell what ought to be. It can depict, like
painting. in designs and portraits. in the colors of the day
or night; like the novel it can spread out its arms and tell
the story of a life. or a city, in a few hours--but more. it
is dynamic, it is always on the move as life is. and it is
perceived like life through the motions, the gestures. the
tones of voice. and the gait and nuance of living people. It
is the singer's art and the painter's art and the dancer's
art. yet it may hew to fact no less tenaciously than does the
economist or the physician. In a word. there lies within the
dramatic form the ultimate possibility of raising the truth—
consciousness of mankind to a lfyel of such intensity as to
transform those who observe it.

That Shepard should use drama as the vehicle for presenting his
troubled families and his displaced cowboys as spokesmen for those
families is appropriate. His is a drama of gesture. noise, color. and
movement. a drama which is not intentionally psychological, but pur—
posefully physical and anarchic, a drama which is at times as devoid of
taste as a surly burlesque show, yet which is as deeply serious as it
is grotesquely funny. His work is, as Miller puts it, "as close to
being a total art as the race has invented." A study of Shepard's work
may never be complete. but at this point one thing is clear: Sam
Shepard's is a drama of families and of their recurrent and chaotic
attempts to survive the struggles imposed on them by contemporary

American powers. The individual must adapt himself. Shepard informs

US. for no longer will cowboys work.

 

   

 

 

lR0110 Ml

2Marshal]

(Washington.

3Sam She

1986) ix.

ALeslie
Meridian Book

5Fiedler

633m s11.
1981) 9—11.

as page numb:

7Sam Sh!
(New York: G
@ and to
Page numbers

8Peter
Performance

W
mg Arts J01

NOTES--CONCLUSION

lRollo May, Love and Will (New York: W. W. Norton, 1969) 23.

2Marshall W. Fishwick. American Heroes: Myth and Reality

(Washington. D.C.: Public Affairs Press. 1954) 204.

3Sam Shepard, The Unseen Hand and Other Plays (New York: Bantam,
1986) ix.

4Leslie Fiedler. Love and Death in the American Novel (New York:
Meridian Books. 1960) 26.

5Fiedler 26.

6Sam Shepard. Chicago and Other Plays (New York: Urizen Books,
1981) 9—11. Hereafter references to Chicago in this study will appear

as page numbers in parentheses within the text itself.

7Sam Shepard. The Tooth of Crime and Geography of a Horse Dreamer

(New York: Grove Press, 1974) 8. Hereafter references to The Tooth of

Crime and to Geography of a Horse Dreamer in this study will appear as

page numbers in parentheses within the text.

 

8Peter Farb. cited by Richard Schecher. "The Writer and the
Performance Group: Rehearsing The Tooth of Crime." American Dreams:

The Imagination of Sam Shepard. ed Bonnie Marranca (New York: Perform-

ing Arts Journal. 1981) 163.

9John G. Cawelti. The Six—Gun Mystique (Bowling Green: Bowling
Green State University Press. 1984) 15—16.

lOCawelti 10.

llCawelti 11.

12Doris Auerbach, Shepard. Kopit, and the Off—Broadway Theater

(Boston: Twayne, 1982) 38.

13Sam Shepard, Buried Child. Seduced. Suicide in B2 (New York:
Urizen Books, 1979) 75. Hereafter references to Seduced in this study
will appear as page numbers in parentheses within the text itself.

251

 

  
 

 

 

 

Howard Hughe
l6Bartl

17This ‘
The Early P11:
Bonnie I’Iarraxl

188m S
Iataaaa_§s

19Shepa:
2°ned1

21David
the Mind. " E

22

 

DeRos

23Arthu
197 (April 1

252

14W. David Sievers, Freud on Broadway (New York: Hermitage House.
1955) 414.

15Donald L. Bartlett. Empire: The Life, Legend. and Madness of
Howard Hughes (New York: Norton. 1979) 489.

l6Bartlett 289.

17This passage is quoted from Michael Bloom, "Visions of the End:

The Early Plays." American Dreams: The Imagination of Sam Shepard. ed.

Bonnie Marranca (New York: Performing Arts Journal. 1981) 78.

18Sam Shepard. "Language. Visualization. and the Inner Library,"
The Drama Review 21 (1977): 76.

19Shepard. "Language" 76 .
20Fiedler 27.

21David DeRose. "Slouching Towards Broadway: Shepard's A Lie of
the Mind," Theater XVII (Spring 1986): 74.

22DeRose 74.

23Arthur Miller, "I'he Family in Modern Drama." Atlantic Monthly
197 (April 1956): 41.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Andolfi. Mau:
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Andrews, Em
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Armens. Sve:
Univer:

Artaud, Ant
1958.

Auerbach. 1:
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