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* HitlerAteSugar: When Shelly says that she's a vegetarian, Dodge replies that Hitler was also a vegetarian.
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* CorruptHick: A whole family of them, plus a preacher with shades of this.
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* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: Vincent is likely Tilden and Halie's son.]]
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* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: Vincent is likely Tilden and Halie's son.]]
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Added image.
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buried_child_play.png]]
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* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Vince isn't recognized by his grandfather or his father. He can't handle things emotionally and leaves the house early on in act two. When he returns in act three, he [[spoiler: is drunk, delusional, and sets out destroying the family's house by cutting through a screen. It's only the family's recognition of him that stops his rage.]]
to:
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Vince isn't recognized by his grandfather or his father. He can't handle things emotionally and leaves the house early on in act two. When he returns in act three, he [[spoiler: is drunk, delusional, and sets out destroying the family's house by cutting through a screen. It's only the family's recognition of him that stops his rage.]]]]
----
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* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Vince, maybe. He claims to be Tilden's son, but Tilden's only child is buried in the backyard.]]
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* EldritchLocation: The backyard. It's never seen onstage but Tilden repeatedly brings in vegetables from it. Dodge and Halie both claim that there are no vegetables outside and accuse Tilden of stealing them from a neighbor. [[spoiler: It is also the place that Tilden's child was buried.]]
* EmpathicEnvironment: It's raining through the first two acts. The sun comes out for the third act.
* EmpathicEnvironment: It's raining through the first two acts. The sun comes out for the third act.
to:
* EldritchLocation: The backyard. It's never seen onstage but Tilden repeatedly brings in vegetables from it. Dodge and Halie both claim that there are no vegetables outside and accuse Tilden of stealing them from a neighbor. [[spoiler: It is also the place that Tilden's child was buried.]]
buried]]. The house itself arguably counts, as Shelly offhandedly mentions it feels familiar, despite her never having been there before.
* EmpathicEnvironment: It's raining through the first two acts. The sun comes out for the third act. Subverted, as the third act is by no means cheerier for the added light (or at least [[StepfordSmiler not in any way that matters]]).
* EmpathicEnvironment: It's raining through the first two acts. The sun comes out for the third act. Subverted, as the third act is by no means cheerier for the added light (or at least [[StepfordSmiler not in any way that matters]]).
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* OnlySaneMan: Shelly, being the only one who isn't related. Vince seems to be this [[spoiler: until he returns in act three, drunk, aggressive, delusional, and undoubtedly a member of the family]].
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* OnlySaneMan: Shelly, being the only one who isn't related. Vince seems to be this [[spoiler: until he returns in act three, drunk, aggressive, delusional, and undoubtedly a member of the family]]. The preacher is also arguably this, since while he's definitely a hypocrite, he's not crazy.
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Useful Notes/ pages are not tropes
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* AmericanDream: The theme of the play, in Creator/SamShepard's typical fashion, seems to be to subvert the American Dream as viciously as possible. The farmhouse is described as Norman Rockwell-esque from the outside, but inside the Nuclear Family has fallen apart.
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''Buried Child'' by SamShepard debuted in 1978 and has been continuously performed and discussed by theatre students and dramaturgs alike ever since. In 1996, a revised edition which only served to further confound directors and actors alike was produced.
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''Buried Child'' by SamShepard Creator/SamShepard debuted in 1978 and has been continuously performed and discussed by theatre students and dramaturgs alike ever since. In 1996, a revised edition which only served to further confound directors and actors alike was produced.
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* AmericanDream: The theme of the play, in SamShepard's typical fashion, seems to be to subvert the American Dream as viciously as possible. The farmhouse is described as Norman Rockwell-esque from the outside, but inside the Nuclear Family has fallen apart.
to:
* AmericanDream: The theme of the play, in SamShepard's Creator/SamShepard's typical fashion, seems to be to subvert the American Dream as viciously as possible. The farmhouse is described as Norman Rockwell-esque from the outside, but inside the Nuclear Family has fallen apart.
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Do not spoiler tag trope names on work pages or the names of works on trope pages; please see Handling Spoilers for more information.
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* [[spoiler: OffingTheOffspring: Dodge drowns and buries Tilden and Halie's baby.]]
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* [[spoiler: OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler: Dodge drowns and buries Tilden and Halie's baby.]]
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* [[spoiler: ParentalIncest: Vincent is likely Tilden and Halie's son.]]
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* [[spoiler: ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: Vincent is likely Tilden and Halie's son.]]
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* AmericanDream: The theme of the play, in SamShepard's typical fashion, seems to be to subvert the American Dream as viciously as possible. The farmhouse is described as Norman Rockwell-esque from the outside, but inside the Nuclear Family has fallen apart.
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* AbusiveParents: Dodge and Halie.
to:
* AbusiveParents: Dodge and Halie.Halie emotionally abuse both Tilden and Bradley onstage. Prior to the events of the play, [[spoiler: Halie has sex with Tilden producing a baby which Dodge drowns.]]
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* DirtyOldMan: Dodge makes a few lecherous comments to Shelly.
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* DirtyOldMan: Dodge makes a few lecherous comments to Shelly.Shelly, referring to her specifically as a
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* DysfunctionalFamily: AND HOW!
* EldritchLocation: The backyard.
* EldritchLocation: The backyard.
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* DysfunctionalFamily: AND HOW!
Dodge is a dying alcoholic with a nicotine addiction. Halie has a sex addiction. Ansel died in a motel room on his honeymoon. Tilden [[spoiler: had a child with Halie which was murdered and]] now suffers from dissociation. Bradley is a controlling, angry man who lost one of his legs in a chainsaw accident. Vince is Tilden's son who [[spoiler: may not actually exist. He also loves his liquor and isn't ashamed of leaving his girlfriend in the house while he runs away.]]
* EldritchLocation: The backyard. It's never seen onstage but Tilden repeatedly brings in vegetables from it. Dodge and Halie both claim that there are no vegetables outside and accuse Tilden of stealing them from a neighbor. [[spoiler: It is also the place that Tilden's child was buried.]]
* EldritchLocation: The backyard. It's never seen onstage but Tilden repeatedly brings in vegetables from it. Dodge and Halie both claim that there are no vegetables outside and accuse Tilden of stealing them from a neighbor. [[spoiler: It is also the place that Tilden's child was buried.]]
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* InTheBlood
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Dodge.
* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: The first two acts.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Dodge.
* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: The first two acts.
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* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: The first two
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* MoralEventHorizon: Bradley [[spoiler: assaulting Shelly by putting his fingers in her mouth.]] Dodge [[spoiler: drowning and burying Tilden's son.]] Halie in her interactions with everyone [[spoiler: except Vince]] in act three.
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* [[spoiler: OffingTheOffspring: Dodge with Tilden's kid.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Father Dewis shows up briefly in the third act and often steals the show while he's present.
* OnlySaneMan: Shelly. Vince [[spoiler: until he returns in act three]].
* OneSceneWonder: Father Dewis shows up briefly in the third act and often steals the show while he's present.
* OnlySaneMan: Shelly. Vince [[spoiler: until he returns in act three]].
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* [[spoiler: OffingTheOffspring: Dodge with Tilden's kid.drowns and buries Tilden and Halie's baby.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Father Dewis shows up briefly in the third act and often steals the show while he's present.
* OnlySaneMan: Shelly. Shelly, being the only one who isn't related. Vince seems to be this [[spoiler: until he returns in act three]].three, drunk, aggressive, delusional, and undoubtedly a member of the family]].
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* TragicMonster: Bradley arguably becomes one during the third act.
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* TragicMonster: Bradley arguably becomes one during the third act.act [[spoiler: when his emotional immaturity and physical limitations are brought to the forefront when Shelly takes his prosthetic leg and Halie berates him.]] There's no doubt where he got his unbalanced tendencies from.
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* ReallyGetsAround: Confirmed with Halie. Implied with Vince, Father Dewis, and Dodge before he married.
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* ReallyGetsAround: Confirmed with Halie. Implied Halie as she is currently sleeping with Vince, [[spoiler: Father Dewis, and previously slept with Tilden, both during her marriage to Dodge.]] In the first act, she converses with Dodge before he married.about a past lover of hers, a Thoroughbred breeder.
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* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Vince in his return in act three.
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* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Vince in isn't recognized by his return grandfather or his father. He can't handle things emotionally and leaves the house early on in act three.two. When he returns in act three, he [[spoiler: is drunk, delusional, and sets out destroying the family's house by cutting through a screen. It's only the family's recognition of him that stops his rage.]]
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* LetThePastBurn: Dodge asks to have some of his belongings after his death, along with his corpse.
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* LetThePastBurn: Dodge asks to have some of his belongings torched after his death, along with his corpse.
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* TheAlcoholic: Dodge. Halie and [[spoiler: Vince]] have quite a bit to drink too.
* AnArmAndALeg: Bradley lost his leg to a chainsaw prior to the events of the play.
* ArtificialLimbs: Bradley sports a prosthetic leg.
* AnArmAndALeg: Bradley lost his leg to a chainsaw prior to the events of the play.
* ArtificialLimbs: Bradley sports a prosthetic leg.
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* DysfunctionalFamily: AND HOW!
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* EvilMatriarch: Halie is the dramatic kind.
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* IdenticalGrandson: [[spoiler: When Vince takes over Dodge's role in the finale.]]
* InTheBlood
* InTheBlood
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* LetThePastBurn: Dodge asks to have some of his belongings after his death, along with his corpse.
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* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: Vince, if he's the baby that was drowned...]]
* [[spoiler: OffingTheOffspring: Dodge with Tilden's kid.]]
* [[spoiler: OffingTheOffspring: Dodge with Tilden's kid.]]
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* AbusiveParents: Dodge and Halie.
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* AbusiveParents: Dodge and Halie.
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* EldritchLocation: The backyard.
* EmpathicEnvironment: It's raining through the first two acts. The sun comes out for the third act.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Played with. Bradley defends his mother but is also emotionally abused by her which led to his current emotional state.
* EmpathicEnvironment: It's raining through the first two acts. The sun comes out for the third act.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Played with. Bradley defends his mother but is also emotionally abused by her which led to his current emotional state.
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* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Dodge.
* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: The first two acts.
* MoralEventHorizon: Bradley [[spoiler: assaulting Shelly by putting his fingers in her mouth.]] Dodge [[spoiler: drowning and burying Tilden's son.]] Halie in her interactions with everyone [[spoiler: except Vince]] in act three.
* NaiveNewcomer: Shelly may say that she's "been around," but she's certainly not been around a family like this before.
* OneSceneWonder: Father Dewis shows up briefly in the third act and often steals the show while he's present.
* OnlySaneMan: Shelly. Vince [[spoiler: until he returns in act three]].
* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: The first two acts.
* MoralEventHorizon: Bradley [[spoiler: assaulting Shelly by putting his fingers in her mouth.]] Dodge [[spoiler: drowning and burying Tilden's son.]] Halie in her interactions with everyone [[spoiler: except Vince]] in act three.
* NaiveNewcomer: Shelly may say that she's "been around," but she's certainly not been around a family like this before.
* OneSceneWonder: Father Dewis shows up briefly in the third act and often steals the show while he's present.
* OnlySaneMan: Shelly. Vince [[spoiler: until he returns in act three]].
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* [[spoiler: ParentalIncest: Vincent is likely Tilden and Halie's son.]]
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* ReallyGetsAround: Confirmed with Halie. Implied with Vince, Father Dewis, and Dodge before he married.
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* ThePatriarch: Dodge is a subversion and a deconstruction. Nobody even pretends that Dodge is still in control of the family and he ends up mercilessly bullied.
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* {{Absurdism}}: Straddles the line between this and PostModernism.
* AbusiveParents: Dodge and Halie.
* CorruptHick: A whole family of them, plus a preacher with shades of this.
* DirtyOldMan: Dodge makes a few lecherous comments to Shelly.
* DownOnTheFarm: A subversion. The play takes place in an old farmhouse in Illinois, but the farm hasn't been cared for in thirty-some years.
* FlyoverCountry: Set in Illinois. The only reason Vince and Shelly are there is that they were driving from New York to New Mexico and were passing through.
* FreudianExcuse: Tilden and Bradley were both abused which leads to Tilden's dissociation and Bradley's aggressive and controlling nature.
* ThePatriarch: Dodge is a subversion and a deconstruction. Nobody even pretends that Dodge is still in control of the family and he ends up mercilesslybullied.bullied.
* TragicMonster: Bradley arguably becomes one during the third act.
* PostModernism: Straddles the line between this and {{Absurdism}}.
* SinisterMinister: Father Dewis is a mild example, but he's easily as sinful as the rest of the cast as he [[spoiler: commits adultery with]] Halie and does nothing about the abuse he sees occurring within the house.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Vince in his return in act three.
* AbusiveParents: Dodge and Halie.
* CorruptHick: A whole family of them, plus a preacher with shades of this.
* DirtyOldMan: Dodge makes a few lecherous comments to Shelly.
* DownOnTheFarm: A subversion. The play takes place in an old farmhouse in Illinois, but the farm hasn't been cared for in thirty-some years.
* FlyoverCountry: Set in Illinois. The only reason Vince and Shelly are there is that they were driving from New York to New Mexico and were passing through.
* FreudianExcuse: Tilden and Bradley were both abused which leads to Tilden's dissociation and Bradley's aggressive and controlling nature.
* ThePatriarch: Dodge is a subversion and a deconstruction. Nobody even pretends that Dodge is still in control of the family and he ends up mercilessly
* TragicMonster: Bradley arguably becomes one during the third act.
* PostModernism: Straddles the line between this and {{Absurdism}}.
* SinisterMinister: Father Dewis is a mild example, but he's easily as sinful as the rest of the cast as he [[spoiler: commits adultery with]] Halie and does nothing about the abuse he sees occurring within the house.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Vince in his return in act three.
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''Buried Child'' by SamShepard debuted in 1978 and has been continuously performed and discussed by theatre students and dramaturgs alike ever since. In 1996, a revised edition which only served to further confound directors and actors alike was produced.
The story begins in a dilapidated farmhouse in Illinois. Dodge is a man is his seventies living out his final hours on a couch. He talks to his wife Halie and harasses his eldest son, Tilden. When Dodge falls asleep, his younger son, Bradley, comes in, hacks off his hair and nicks his scalp. Just when the play couldn't get any stranger, Vince, a young man in his twenties, and his girlfriend Shelly walk in. Vince claims to be Tilden's son, but nobody in the family recognizes him. Frustrated, Vince leaves the house, and Shelly is confronted with the family's darkest secret: Tilden had a baby that went missing years ago.
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!!This play provides examples of:
* ThePatriarch: Dodge is a subversion and a deconstruction. Nobody even pretends that Dodge is still in control of the family and he ends up mercilessly bullied.
The story begins in a dilapidated farmhouse in Illinois. Dodge is a man is his seventies living out his final hours on a couch. He talks to his wife Halie and harasses his eldest son, Tilden. When Dodge falls asleep, his younger son, Bradley, comes in, hacks off his hair and nicks his scalp. Just when the play couldn't get any stranger, Vince, a young man in his twenties, and his girlfriend Shelly walk in. Vince claims to be Tilden's son, but nobody in the family recognizes him. Frustrated, Vince leaves the house, and Shelly is confronted with the family's darkest secret: Tilden had a baby that went missing years ago.
----
!!This play provides examples of:
* ThePatriarch: Dodge is a subversion and a deconstruction. Nobody even pretends that Dodge is still in control of the family and he ends up mercilessly bullied.
