Buried Child Prompt

The world of Shepard's Buried Child is an example of illusionism to a certain degree. The dialogue is very realistic in the way the characters go back and forth at one another, but there are certain elements that bring the world into a less realistic setting. One of the major factors that detracts from the illusionistic portrayal of the world is the ambiguity of the situations the characters are placed. The ambiguity derives from several moments in the plot, such as Tilden bringing in vegetables periodically throughout the play, or when Tilden covers Dodge in corn husks. Further ambiguity and confusion occurs when Bradley puts his fingers in Shelly's mouth wafter just meeting her, and the way that the characters seem to have forgotten or at least don't seem to care about everything that happens during the first night after the sun rises. To further detract from the illusion, there is a genuine since of black and white or right and wrong in the play. The entire family has problems and aren't necessarily good people, apart from Tilden who isn't mentally stable. The only character who seems to not have some sort of craziness going on is Shelly. After Shelly leaves, the family seems to go completely crazy. The characters all seem to speak cryptically as well, not necessarily saying what they mean. There are many problems that are addressed through the context and mood of the play but not the dialogue, further adding to the complexity and ambiguity of the play.