Buried Child Play Trauma

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The Trauma of the Sexually Abused The bond of a family is an impermeable connection that usually lasts for the duration of life. However, when the lines are crossed for what is acceptable to do to one another, trauma can cause dysfunction within the family. In contemporary dramas, the playwrights discuss these family dynamics and dysfunctions that are formed from, usually too taboo to discuss out loud, societal topics such as sexual abuse. In the plays How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel and Buried Child by Sam Shepard, they share the common social context of how trauma from sexual abuse affects the relationships of a family, as the characters Li’l Bit and Tilden look for forgiveness and acceptance of their past through fighting the silence …show more content…

Accordingly, characters in the play attempt to cover up the truth when Shelly was probing for answers. For an example, when Bradley was trying to silence Shelly by saying “We don’t have to tell you anything girl. Not a thing”(Shepard, 62). This relates to a point in Opipari article where he states, “The Shepard family members all know the secret, but it is an unspoken rule that it will remain hidden. As a result, communication becomes so rigid that the family keeps secrets from each other that have nothing in common with the original secret”(Opipari, 128). Due to the secret bounded between the family members, the dynamic of the family is damaged with mistrust as they are accustomed to lying. In the text, the family system is seen to completely shut down because of the secret of Halie and Tilden’s incest, as they have a lack of interpersonal connection and have distance built amongst them (Opipari). This can be seen in the physical distance between the characters on stage, and what occurs when characters are placed in one room with each other. For an example, in the beginning of the production, all of the characters are in different locations of the house, as Halie is upstair, Dodge is in …show more content…

During this movement, it allowed the discussion of sexuality to occur, which includes topics such as incest, sexual abuse, and pedophilia. The two contemporary plays, How I Learned to Drive and Buried Child, were able to thrive, despite the taboo topics of sexual abuse caused family dysfunction, because of the progressive period they were established in. For this reason, the plays are used as not only just a learning tool and open platform for discussion of these topics, but as a marker to where society stands

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