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Book beginning: page 7

An introduction

• This play belongs to the Theatre of the Absurd.
• It is a very dark play although it has comedic moments.
• The main theme of the play is the destruction of a family nucleus.
• The guilt and embarrassment resulting from the family secret is the basis for the play, and the revelation of the buried secret is its peak.
• They were an all American family before their tragedy struck.
• ‘The secret’ that the family hid was a baby being born from an incestuous encounter between Halie (the mother) and Tilden (her eldest son). The baby was then drowned and buried ‘out back’ by Dodge who felt that this shame outweighed all the previous success the family had known, and it could not live in their house.
• The play has a primal quality to it, most directly affirmed when Dodge says he knows his children by scent (p41).
• Although not outrightly stated, Bradley rapes Shelly at the end of act two, instating him as the man of the house at that time.
• The play revolves around trying to find the man of the house.
• There are various themes: the American Dream; failure; religion.
• Symbolism in the play includes the weather, which shows torrential rain from the beginning and as the sins are revealed and washed away, the rain ceases.
• At the end when Tilden enters the house with the baby’s bones, he is returning them to the mother (Halie) who is upstairs. As he ascends, she is talking away to Dodge about how much life there is in the backyard again.

How the play is written

• When Vince arrives at the beginning of act two, he has the same knowledge or less than the audience of what is occurring, as the viewer / reader has at least seen act one. This is apparent when Dodge asks Vince “you don’t know anything?” to which Vince simply replies “no” (p31).
• Each act gets closer to the truth which can be represented by the items Tilden brings in from out back: the corn from act one grows above the ground; carrots in the second act grow below; and the bones he found would have been buried even lower in the earth.
• Each act ends on the strongest male character at the time: act one with Bradley cutting Dodge’s hair; act two with Bradley making advances on Shelly; and act three with Vince lying on the sofa as Tilden disappears upstairs and Dodge sits deceased on the floor.

Dodge’s character

• As much as Dodge’s health issues cause him pain, he still does not look after himself which can be seen by his drinking (p8) and smoking (p16).
• Does Dodge ever say what he really thinks of people? When Halie accuses him of “always [imagining] the worst things of people!” he says “that’s the least of the worst” (p12), meaning he hides a lot of what he actually thinks.
• Dodge claims to be “an invisible man” (p12), this is true as: Halie does not pay him any attention other than to chat with him from a distance, seen when she comes downstairs and he is smoking but she is so absorbed in her own conversation, she does not even register it (p17); and the fact that he clearly does not go outside (p11) or know who the neighbours are (p14), means he is scarcely perceived in the world.
• Right after telling Tilden to forge ahead and not be dependent on anyone, Dodge goes on to tell Tilden not to leave him alone because he “might need something any second” (p23).
• At the end of act one, Tilden covers Dodge with corn husks as if they were a blanket, burying him in the produce of his field, the same as the baby buried outback. More specifically, Tilden has concealed him with the non-useful part of corn which is to be discarded after pealing and by doing so in this manner, Dodge has also become literally covered in his past (p26).
• A while after Dodge wakes up in act three and has been talking to Shelly, he turns to her and asks “have I been here all night? On the floor?” (p55/6). He is so disconnected from life that he does not know where he is and has not even noticed he is sitting on a hard floor instead of his sofa.
• Father Dewis was present for Dodge’s confession of murder, however, it seemed more like it consisted of relief than remorse.

Halie’s character

• When Halie first descends the stairs she is wearing all black as if in mourning, she is absorbed in her own conversation and a mutual lack of notice is present between her and the men. It seems that she no longer belongs there, and due to past occurrences, at least for Dodge and Tilden, it seems as though they share no real interest for her being there (p17). It is only really Bradley that still relies on her support in act three.
• Halie is the only one left who successfully stands up to Bradley, telling him to “shut up” and then watching him slowly recoil (p58), until Vince at the end of act three.

Tilden’s character

• It appears as though Tilden would have made a good farmer, when in the first act he goes on husking the corn as he talks to Dodge, as though it were second nature to him (p15).
• Tilden is the one to show the most despair for what has become of him and his family which can be seen when he “starts crying softly” upon neither of his parents believing where he got the corn and Halie actually threatening to kick him out if he didn’t say where he got it from (p20).
• He was said to be an all-American, well-bred boy, from an all-American home. He was a halfback and had all the hopes in the world of becoming a successful adult (p17).

The family

• They have a family secret to connect them instead of a family name.
• If you are crazy and flawed then you can be a part of the family. They had to break Vince down before he could continue.
• Even though they “solve” the problem and bury it, it’s never gone.
• There is a strong tone of the disappointment of having children, even when they have potential and you provide them well, they will not necessarily turn out well.
• Halie says there is no honour in self-destruction (p13) but that is all anyone in their family does: Dodge by killing the child; Halie is unfaithful; Tilden got into some trouble in New Mexico; Bradley chopped his leg off with a chain saw.
• When Dodge and Tilden talk about the trouble he had in New Mexico, Dodge says “your mother told me all about it” (p14), meaning that she is in fact the one to sort the majority of problems out. This can also be seen when in Halie’s absence, everything falls apart quite quickly in the second act. However, it will always remain that she was the one to cause the downfall of the family which Dodge tried to patch up as best he could.
• Oddly, Halie tells Dodge on her way out that if he needs anything to ask Tilden “he’s the oldest” (p21). However, she has previously stated that they have to look after Tilden like they always have, so why does she now think he is so reliable?
• Whilst the farm was still being tended to, they were a happy family, witnessed by the photo where “all the kids are standing out in the corn. They’re all waving these big straw hats” (p54).
• The state of the family house represents the state of the family, as it has now fallen into disrepair and all the furniture is out dated (p7). What was once a prosperous farm is now barren.
• Halie was always looking for one of the boys to look after the rest of them, as though she could not do it herself. She had hoped Tilden would (p17), then was convinced Ansel would have if he hadn’t died (p17), and then thought of baby Vince as “a guardian angel. He’d watch over us” (p70).
• Although there are fleeting moments where there are other people in their lives, ultimately they all leave, and the family is just the family again.

Positive points in their family dynamic

• Dodge comes off, to a certain extent, as a good father when he reassures Tilden that if he is in trouble again, he can tell him, saying “I’m still your father” (p14).
• Although Vince was quite a distance away from his family and for some six years, he never forgot them which can be seen when Vince drums on his teeth to jog Tilden or Dodge’s memory and Shelly says “he drives me crazy with that sometimes” (p39), meaning he never forgot his childhood ways and memories.
• It is strange to see that the family is still all together and did not lose contact, although it is true Tilden was supposed to be absent some twenty years and Vince six but they all came back together again indicating the bond a family shares.

Similarities between the characters

• They are all very similar looking: Dodge confuses Vince for Tilden when he arrives at the beginning of act two (p30); Tilden says he recognises a face in Vince; and Vince says of his car drive in an attempt to escape that he saw family members past in his windscreen reflection.
• There is an element of similarity between Dodge and Bradley’s cruelness (p55).
• In act one, everyone, except for Tilden, seems to think that it is not the right time of year for harvesting: Halie (p20); Bradley (p26); and Dodge who insists that he hasn’t planted any corn out there (p13).
• In all fairness, Tilden did not notice the corn right away either, until he was standing head-high in the middle of it during one of his walks (p20). So to some extent, like Dodge and Halie, Tilden also took his time in realising.

Outsiders in the house

• At the beginning of act three, Shelly really gets into the role of being part of the family, not only does she say to Dodge “you don’t mind me calling you Grandpa do you? I mean I know you minded when Vince called you that but you don’t even know him” (p51), but she also does not take offence anymore by him calling her hometown “stupid country” (p55) as she originally did (p34).
• In amongst all of the madness, Father Dewis makes an attempt to be rational, not only with Shelly when she is trying to get people to notice her (p62-5), but also with Halie saying “Halie, maybe this isn’t the right time for a visit” (p61).
• The entirety of the play is based on the fact that “we couldn’t allow that to grow up right in the middle of our lives. It made everything we’d accomplished look like it was nothin’” (p66). The buried child was itself another outsider.

Dodge and Halie’s bad marriage

• When Halie was young she allegedly went away for the New Year to the races with a horse breeder (p9), Halie says “everything was dancing with life!” (p10). This shows a desire for a life that was the utter opposite to the one she had chosen for herself, something Dodge had warned her about repeatedly (p54).
• As strongly as Dodge defends Halie as his wife, it seems he gave up on her a long time ago, making a comment that has a casual air to it, yet takes a jab at her: “Halie is out with her boyfriend. The Right Reverend Dewis. He’s not a breeder-man but a man of God. Next best thing I suppose” (p32).
• It sounds as though their marriage was doomed from the start given how much warning Dodge had to give Halie about the farm life not being like the city (p54).
• The one positive thing Halie says, Dodge never gets to hear (p73). She was saying how Tilden was right, outback was filled with corn and vegetables, and it was “dazzling.”
• There is a reference to the perfect life, the American Dream, with Dodge describing the image of him with a pipe in his mouth and a bowler hat, with a fat labrador at his feet (p11-2). This image is described because Halie had told Bradley to cut Dodge’s hair, as she wanted to have a social gathering at the house and wanted him to look the part. Dodge goes on to this rant asking sarcastically, why stop there? Let’s go all out for appearances.

Halie’s infidelity

• Halie talks a lot about morality, nevertheless, she currently is and supposedly always has been, cheating on her husband.
• When Halie says she “won’t be very late. No later than four at the very latest” (p11), Dodge just ignores her as he already knows the routine and she’ll likely be gone for days (p31).
• Dodge knows that “there’s life in the old girl yet!” (p31), referring to how Halie still goes out, indicating he knows she is not where he is at in life yet. This probably means that he also knows she will be alright when he is gone, as she can take care of herself.
• When Halie is trying to figure out who Shelly is, she says to her “you’re here in my house making bouillon for my husband” (p58), but in all fairness to Shelly who has no unlawful intentions towards Dodge, Halie is in the house with her boyfriend.

The secret

• Vince was originally alright when he arrived in act two as he never knew the secret, and as he reappeared after Dodge’s confession (p67), he most likely never knew the secret. This means that this lurking doom would most likely die out with the previous generation, although his similar behaviour would most likely lead to other terrible events in the family’s future.

Coping with the secret

• A coping mechanism that at least Halie developed to deal with the family secret is to brush any mention off as “confusion” (p21).
• Dodge says “it’s much better not to know anything” (p31) which is understandable, as the truth is so horrific. However, if you have to be one of them, a part of the family, it would most likely be better to know, although it is also true that Vince would have gone his entire childhood without knowing.
• Tilden says Halie “left. Church or something. It’s always church. God or Jesus. Or both” (p36). Is she trying to wash away her sins by getting closer to the men of God, or is she just committing more sin?
• Halie was right when she said Dodge just sits around thinking up cruel things to say, noticeable when he gives Shelly advice on how to incapacitate Bradley as she is feeling so intimidated by him (p53). It is a plan Dodge has most likely tried out himself but failed at, and is desirous to watch someone else carry it out for him.
• Dodge is always laying the seeds for what is to come: telling Shelly to take Bradley’s leg for example (p53).

Lies, secrets, and denial

• Halie is in denial; Bradley lies; Dodge contradicts himself and avoids questions.
• Halie invents her own reality and past: when she talks of the men she has known and her children.
• Halie says she is not “unaware of the world around [her]!” (p20). However, her defence seems weak, due to the fact that if she truly were ‘aware’, then she would not have denied there being crops out back to begin with.
• One of the lines in the play that is most filled with denial is when Halie says to Dodge “I don’t know what in the world’s come over you. You’ve become an evil, spiteful, vengeful man. You used to be a good man” (p21).
• When Halie talks of how innocent and good Vince was as a baby, saying he was “so pink and perfect […] I used to lie awake thinking it was all right if I died. Because Vincent was an angel. A guardian angel” (p69/70), it cannot necessarily be taken literally, as she has a rather perfect image of Ansel that none of the others seem to share.

Women in the play

• Generally speaking, the women are stronger than the men in the play: Halie is the only one who can deal with Bradley’s bullying; Shelly shows a natural instinct to get through this crazy situation, coming out unharmed at the end and walking away.
• Halie talks from experience when she says “we can’t shake the fundamentals. We might end up crazy. Like my husband” (p60), and to a certain extent she almost seems to say it as though it were his own fault. But the reader has been given to understand, that no matter how good or bad their marriage was, it was her to “shake the fundamentals.”
• Shelly managed to do what Dodge couldn’t and took Bradley’s leg from him, rendering him immobile (p63). He does later drag himself across the floor as Vince carries on what Shelly has started and continues to push his false leg out of reach (p70-2), until he eventually throws it off stage as if it were out of the house (p72).

The dominant male

• Even the strongest males have a weak spot, Bradley’s amputated leg, and Dodge’s drinking.
• According to Bradley, both Dodge and Tilden “used to be a big deal” but you wouldn’t think it to look at them now (p48). This means that anyone can fall, no matter how many medals you’ve won or how much stability you have provided for your family, things can always go south.
• The only one to benefit from the family’s downfall is Bradley who says “there was a time when I had to take that tone a voice from pretty near everyone. […] They don’t talk to me like that now. Not anymore. Everything’s turned around now” (p49). And the fact that he only has one leg adds to the significance of this circumstance, and although Dodge is perfectly aware that all he would have to do is take Bradley’s false leg, it would appear he no longer has the capacity to do so.
• What Halie was looking for in the men of the family was someone to look after all of the rest of them, and as previously stated, she hoped Vince would be their “guardian angel” (p70). To a certain extent she lost hope in him “watching over them” but quite easily took to him being a more tyrannical head of the household.
• Why didn’t Bradley go up to one of the beds to sleep, why take his father’s place on the sofa, leaving Dodge on the floor? (beginning of act three). Was it a case of laziness or perhaps a problem with climbing stairs due to his leg, or was it just out of spite? Maybe it could have been because he prefers to sleep surrounded by others, as he shows childish behaviour on more than one occasion.

Emasculation and childishness

• The characters have quite a clear sense of male and female roles, they are just not necessarily put into practice, this can be seen when Dodge says to Halie “men don’t scream” (p11).
• Dodge threatens to “separate [Bradley] from his manhood!” (p11), and was actually true to his word when he not only got Shelly to take his leg from Bradley, making him immobile, but he also took his inheritance away as the house would most likely have gone to him had Vince not shown up.
• There are several moments that both Tilden and Bradley act like small children: one of these moments is when Tilden asks his father for permission to bring in a “chair” and Dodge corrects him to say that it is a “stool” (p14); and Bradley when he keeps asking for his blanket and getting scolded by his mother to stop (p58).
• When Halie comes back with Father Dewis, Dodge takes to hiding under Shelly’s coat and childishly makes Shelly promise not to leave him alone with them (p56). Does Dodge act this way because he is afraid of what Halie will say when she sees what has been going on in her absence or is he just ashamed of his decrepit state in front of Halie’s boyfriend?
• The reader realises just how childish all the men are when Halie is around: she says to Dodge “can’t you take care of yourself for once!” (p57); to her middle child “shut up Bradley! […] It’s shameful the way you carry on” (p58); and about Tilden “we have to watch him just like we used to now” (p22).
• Halie is at the absolute end of her tether with all of them by the end, she says “oh, shut up Bradley! Just shut up! […] I’ve never heard such whining” (p63).
• Given how whiny Bradley is calling on his mum when things go wrong, the reader can see that this is how he has sorted through things his entire life. Although Halie does come off as a strong willed character, and must have been to endure farm life and three boys, plus another baby and a husband, but it seems as though she may have overprotected them slightly too much, making them incapable of looking after themselves. Or else, she ruined the family reputation to such a point that they became self-destructive as an outcome.

Alcoholism

• Dodge is not above ridiculing his son to get his own way, especially when it comes to drinking. He tells Vince “Tilden’s lost his marbles! Look at him! He’s around the twist” when Tilden says Dodge is “not supposed to drink” but he wants Vince to go and get him a bottle (p42).
• Dodge insists that “persistence” (p42) is the way to get things done, when Vince finally says he will go out and get him a bottle (p41). To some extent this appears to be true, as this is how Shelly finally got the truth out of the family, but when it comes to alcohol, it is a different matter. Each of the men is such an alcoholic that Dodge’s original bottle was stolen by Tilden, then he managed to get Vince to go and get him one but on his return he had several empty bottles that he had drunk himself, resulting in Dodge never getting his drink.
• With a bit of alcohol in her, Halie is suddenly not in mourning any longer. Going out in act one, she left in all black, coming back in act three, she is now in a bright yellow dress (p56).
• One would think that when Halie was feeling around inside her boyfriends pockets looking for a bottle, her husband Dodge who was looking at her closely, would be doing so because of the inappropriate situation or jealousy, however, he primarily did so due to his need for a drink, seen by the fact that when she finds it he looks at her “eagerly” (p59).
• Shelly was the only one not to get drunk (p61). The whole family drank to excess and even Father Dewis was drinking when he appeared in act three, the only exception could be Bradley.
• Previously not being able to recognise Vince, everyone suddenly knew who he was when he came home drunk (p68).

Current suffering for past decisions

• The interaction between Dodge and Halie when he says “I don’t need my hair cut!” to which she replies “it won’t hurt!” (p11) shows how he is always forced into things he neither wants nor needs. She knew full well that Bradley would leave Dodge with cuts on his scalp that would hurt.
• The second you turn around or relax in life everything is taken away from you, this can be seen when: Bradley keeps cutting Dodge’s hair when he isn’t even awake (p11); and Dodge makes his confession saying “everything was settled with us. All we had to do was ride it out” (p66) about his life and marriage with Halie. He assumed everything would remain settled but then she became pregnant and instead of heading towards retirement quietly, everything became more of an upheaval than when they had three young boys and a farm to run.
• Shelly asks Tilden “can’t you tell me anything nice?” (p45), given that he changes the subject to her coat, it would seem that not only has nothing good happened to him in a long time, but in fact the nicest thing in his life is her coat, which is rabbit fur.
• In act three, Halie needs help with the situation but no one can really do anything for her, not even Father Dewis.
• Aside from the basic character identities: Bradley’s loss of a leg; Tilden being back at the family home because of whatever he did to get arrested in New Mexico; the family’s downfall due to the incestuous relationship between Halie and Tilden, resulting in not only a murdered baby, but Dodge becoming said murderer; Ansel’s bad choice of bride which led to his murder on his wedding night.

Remaining memories

• Whether Halie’s story about a breeder man and Dodge’s story about Pee Wee Reese (p25) are made up or not, this family now only consists of memories.
• At some point, when Tilden was younger, he lived life. He describes driving back then as an “adventure” (p47) which means that amongst all of the mess that now remains, he did manage to have some fun, but the bad was so bad that it has outweighed the good.

Stuck in the past

• Everything from the house to the people in it are worn out (p7).
• Nothing has been updated furniture wise, all items are from a distant past, as though their lives just stopped at some given point (p7).
• The blue flickering light coming from the television mirrors how their lives are stuck in one flickering decision (p7).
• Dodge is said to be wearing work pants (p7) but why since he is retired?
• The reader gets the impression that they have lived like this for so long that it is now just their way of life, when Halie says “we haven’t had corn here for over thirty years” (p19), it feels as though that is when their ordinary daily life stopped and there has just been this ever since.
• Dodge says “the past is passed” (p54) which is clearly more easily said than done.
• As Dodge explains to Shelly about his family line and how it is Halie that has traced it all the way back, he says “who gives a damn about bones in the ground?” (p55). However, it is the remaining presence of the bones out back that has stunted their lives from moving forward, so again, it is easy to talk but in practise family ties affect life.
• Shelly knew before they left that it would be impossible for Vince “to try to pick up from where he left off” (p61), she knew that you cannot do that in life, things continue in your absence. This is also true for Halie who keeps “forgetting how easily things fall to pieces when [she’s] not here to hold them together” (p58), she always expects to come back to how she left things but very rarely does.
• No matter what, the past will remain alive as long as there is someone to remember it. Halie’s positive speech is tainted by Tilden finally finding the bones and bringing them in at the end (p73).

How did they get here?

• There may have been a miracle with the new growth of crops but a miracle of birth is how they got here in the first place.
• When Vince arrives with Shelly, he tells her that he does not know what to expect as he has not seen them in six years (p29), however, he never expected what he came home to. It also makes the reader ask, when exactly did things change? It seems as though it was after the incident, but if Vince was expecting something else, then his childhood must have been somewhat normal. So does this mean that the real disintegration of the family has happened more recently?

History repeating itself

• When Bradley says he is going to get all new equipment for the farm (p72), how does he plan on doing so? Shelly has already said that Vince knows how to take care of himself, but does he know the cost of such a venture? With what money is he going to do so? Also, he has been living in New York City for six years, will the same things happen to him that happened to Halie, will he get restless? Or will he be alright as he has supposedly spent much of his youth in these surroundings?
• As Father Dewis gives his parting speech, Vince “just stares at him” (p72) which is what Dodge and Tilden had done to Vince when he first arrived (p30, 35).

Skipping a generation

• Shelly says to Dodge “I wouldn’t worry about Vince. He can take care of himself” (p43), which is what Dodge wanted for his own children but never achieved, somehow though, his grandson turned out alright.
• Did it ever occur to Bradley that he would not take his father’s place upon Dodge’s death and that everything would go to Vince?
• Dodge is aware of the cruel ways of nature, telling Shelly “you think just because people propagate they have to love their offspring?” (p55).

Carrying on the family line

• Even though Dodge knows he should leave the land and house to his wife or children, he leaves it to his grandson. This is the best chance for their survival as a family, as due to the loss of his leg Bradley could not take over, and as pointed out in act one, Tilden has an unsure future but will always be dependent for guidance. So at the end of the day, Vince’s appearance is a blessing as it gives them a chance to carry on living where they are, with the exception of Bradley who was exiled.
• Halie “always thought [Tilden would] be the one to take responsibility” especially after Bradley lost his leg (p17), but in all fairness to Tilden, he did take on the main roll of looking after the baby until he died which broke him for life (p66).
• Everything is dead within the house but Tilden keeps bringing in life, it is even his son Vince to continue the family line, it is as though he never gave up.
• Vince takes Dodge’s place so immaculately that even Halie thinks he is Dodge (p73).

What does the future hold?

• Life had returned to their land but gone completely unnoticed, until Tilden went out back and suddenly found himself standing in corn, completely surrounded by it and going over his head (p20).
• Dodge is the typical old man / grandpa that says “I hope you all remember this when you get up in years. When you find yourself immobilized. Dependent on the whims of others” (p40). It also reminds the reader of the full circle of life and the different stages the members are at, but eventually all of them will reach this degenerate state.
• Act three opens to the sound of birds, lending a positive air towards the end.

Religion

• When Halie says “there’s some things the ministers can’t even answer” (p8), it shows that no one really knows God’s intentions or plans for us.
• The play takes a few jabs at religion, starting with how Halie says Ansel died, blaming it on “Catholic women [being] the Devil incarnate” (p18).
• The conversation that takes place between Father Dewis and Halie, belittles the Church and the men of God preaching it. Not only does he say “I save my best jokes for private company,” a topic no faithful follower should joke about, but also “pearls before swine you know” (p57) which completely goes against all men are equal in the eyes of God.
• As a man of God, Father Dewis should not have anyone rummaging around in his pockets, much less a married woman who is under the influence of alcohol and giggling (p59).
• How much is Father Dewis a real man of God? When presented with a difficult situation he says “this is outside of my parish anyway. I’m in the quiet part of town” (p69); he makes inappropriate jokes saying “God only hears what he wants to” (p56) and “in our heart of hearts we know we’re every bit as wicked as the Catholics” (p57); and when Halie asks “Father, there’s a stranger in my house. What would you advise? What would be the Christian thing?” he seems to turn more to the law than God saying “oh, well… I… I really – is she a trespasser?” (p58). Giving rise to the questions, is he really any good at his job? Or is this all a bit low class for him?

Hope

• Dodge feels he has nothing left to live for and even though he has a grandson he doesn’t enjoy anything in life (p12).
• Dodge does not believe in hope (p52) most likely due to his life experience. They had everything and it still was not enough.
• Tilden says you have got to talk or you will die, a view that Dodge thought was absurd (p22), however, both did talk quite a bit both before and after this comment. But when Halie says “we can’t stop believing. We just end up dying if we stop. Just end up dead” (p60), it is as though Dodge really cannot bring himself to believe in anything, be a ‘hoper’ as he puts it, as he shortly afterwards dies right where he was sitting on the floor.

Fate

• Tilden had a feeling that made him go outside and stay there for long periods of time (p23); Vince had a feeling to reunite with his family (p30); Halie brought Dewis home on the day Dodge finally confesses to murder and dies (act three).
• Shelley says to Dodge that Tilden has “a new thing” where “he wants to get to know [his family] again. After all this time. Reunite” (p30) which almost makes it sound like a calling, that there was some sort of destiny behind him wanting to see them again, and eventually take his place among them.
• Vince realises that he cannot escape his heritage, when Shelly wants to leave, he tells her “we’d never make it. We’d drive and we’d drive and we’d drive and we’d never make it. We’d think we were getting farther and farther away. That’s what we’d think” (p69). But this is who he is, he is going to face it and accept it, and “carry on the line” (p71), also certain that Shelly “will never make it” even if she chooses to go alone (p71).

Death

• When Halie tells Dodge to take a pill and “be done with it once and for all” supposedly talking about his coughing, is she suggesting suicide and that is why she says “it’s not Christian, but it works”? (p8).
• When Dodge fails to get a response from Halie because she has dazed off, he asks “are we still in the land of the living?” (p10). The reader can see that not only are they practically living a life of the dead inside the house but even when Halie turns to her memories to escape, she can also be interpreted as being in the land of the dead.
  
  To further this idea: the centre of the story is a deceased baby; and she talks of her dead son, Ansel, more than either of the living ones.

• No one goes outside into the fields anymore or even bothers to look but there is life on the land outside of the house, even though everything is practically dead on the inside. It is a good representation of the characters who are in all appearances alive but dead on the inside.
• When Dodge says he does not enjoy anything anymore (p12), Halie says that it is “the kind of statement that leads people right to an early grave” (p13), however, Dodge is already in his seventies.
• When Halie starts to talk about Jesus and people turning their backs on religion, Dodge is unable to bare the conversation (p13), is this partially because he is so close to death?
• In act one when Dodge says he does not want to talk about anything, he says it is because “talking just wears me thin” (p22), he knows it is not going to change anything. However, he does end up making a confession of everything that happened, and given that he dies shortly afterwards, it would seem that talking can change things. However, it would appear that he was right in telling Tilden that it is nonsense that “you gotta talk or you’ll die” (p22), as Dodge pretty much talks throughout with various characters, and it is when he talks most that he actually dies.
• Dodge was worried in act one that if Tilden were to go outside and leave him alone that he “could die here and [Tilden would] never hear [him]!” (p24). His fear came true at the end of act three, when he died unnoticed by the other characters or even the audience.
• When Dodge proclaims his last will and testament, it would appear that he knows all of his possessions by heart, and has perhaps been thinking about this for some time (p70/1).
• Between the baby’s bones and Dodge diseased on the floor, there are almost as many dead characters in the house as there are living.

Dehumanization and primordial tendencies

• With the farm now not in use, it would seem that the best use they have for animals is in death, for example, Shelly’s rabbit skinned coat which acts as a blanket and a cover up for Bradley’s leg. Secondly, Bradley makes a comment about Dodge when Shelly asks “can’t we do something for him?” to which Bradley answers “we could shoot him. Put him out of his misery” (p49) referring Dodge as an animal.
• Vince using a knife to cut into the house through the porch screen is quite an animalistic entrance, as though he is breaking into the wild with the knife between his teeth (p69/70).
• Just as the play ends, Bradley is now treated like an animal by Vince, as he dangles his wooden leg above Bradley’s head like a carrot (p72).

Entering the house

• When people enter they tend to do so laughing, this is the case for Vince and Shelly’s arrival at the beginning of act two, and again for Halie and Father Dewis near the beginning of act three, but they quickly stop once they get inside, it is as though all laughter must be left at the door to enter. Of course, there is always Bradley’s entrance which was a ‘struggle’ at the end of act one, and he was basically the only one to enjoy anything inside the house as he ends act two with a smile at Shelley, although this is not the same type of joy and smile the rest present. Bradley, therefore, is the opposite to the rest of the characters in this sense, as it is their downfall and unhappiness that gives him strength.
• When anyone enters the house they all call for Halie first, no one’s first instinct is to look for Dodge: Bradley when he arrives (p26); and Vince when he comes in (p29).
• After the beginning of act two, every time someone enters the house, things become hostile: firstly, when Bradley arrives, he intimidates Tilden into running away, Shelly into letting him put his fingers in her mouth, and Dodge who is left on the floor; then, when Halie comes back, she short-temperedly restores Dodge and Bradley into order and has a vicious interaction with Shelly; and lastly, when Vince comes back, smashing bottles and “getting rid of some of the vermin in the house” (p72).

The home

• When Dodge and Tilden are talking about New Mexico, Tilden says “I was alone. I thought I was dead” and Dodge replies “might as well have been. What’d you come back here for?” (p23). It makes their home sound as if you were better off dead than living in it.
• Shelly had a moment where she felt like it was her own home and she belonged there but still proceeded to leave at the end. Upon asking Dodge if he had ever had the feeling of it being his home, he said no (p53), revealing that this never felt like his home and that he was never really meant to be there. Does this perhaps point towards a bad marriage from the beginning?
• Supposedly what Halie and Father Dewis come home to is crazier than usual which is understood from her reaction “what in the name of Judas Priest is going on in this house!” (p57). However, later on when Halie asks Father Dewis “did you have any idea we’d be returning to this?” he replies “well, actually –” (p61) before being cut off by Shelly, so either this is quite normal, or at least he had heard some rumours about their lifestyle.

Vince’s return in act three

• During Tilden and Shelly’s conversation about the baby, Dodge says “you leave that girl alone! She’s completely innocent” (p47). Is this perhaps why no one wants to recognise Vince until he comes home drunk and clearly corrupted by their family dynamic? Does it also show compassion or at least that Dodge has a conscience, given that he does not want to burden Shelly?
• Halie is wondering “what’s happened to the men in this family! Where are the men!” when Vince comes crashing in (p67). He is the answer she is looking for and is so used to life being full of drunken problematic men, she was quite at ease once stability had been established. This is seen as the play closes with her voice from upstairs, chatting away as the play had begun, after Bradley had been exiled, Dodge had died (although she may not have noticed) and Vince is head of the family.
• It is hard to say where exactly the change came from when Vince returned in act three, as to why Dodge suddenly remembers him or if in fact he does at all (p68). There is always a possibility that Dodge would simply do anything for a drink and in the hopes of Vince having any left, he played the part of grandfather. On the other hand, he may simply have recognised him now his behaviour was more in keeping with the family’s.

Absurd moments

• As the reader goes through the play it is difficult to know what is going on and what is real, however, most issues resolve as you reach the end of reading.
• The most bazaar moment of the play could possibly be when Shelly says to Vince “maybe you’ve got the wrong house” (p34). How can anyone doubt that someone does not know where they are from, a house from their childhood and a set of people that are supposed to look quite alike. Especially as when they were driving in, they stopped by all the places he recognised.
• It is a bit of a loony bin, especially when Tilden keeps coming in with armfuls of vegetables (p35).
• Usually when a family comes together in this manner, it is due to a family member dying and they are there for one last visit or the funeral. Here, this is not the case, even though Dodge was on the brink of death, it isn’t what brought them all under one roof. In all honesty, no one even noticed he died.

Conversational flow

• There are quite a few abrupt conversation changes.
• When Tilden was in New Mexico he was alone and had no one to talk to, now he is back home with his family things are not much better. He tells Dodge that “you gotta talk or you’ll die” (p22) but Dodge has no interest in conversation. However, in the second act, Shelly offers to have a conversation, and although Tilden is somewhat unaware that that is what they were doing, he jumps at the chance (p45).
• Most direct questions, such as the one Shelly asks Tilden “you’re Vince’s father, right? His real father” (p37), do not get answered, the subject simply gets changed and the question avoided.
• Although the topics of conversation were a little odd, the exchange between Dodge and Shelly in act three is surprisingly normal, going back and forth quite calmly.
• Halie likes to be the one in control and the one who is speaking, she quite often interrupts others who are talking, and hands out multiple warnings between those who do not follow along with whatever version of history she has created (p21, 58/9, 60, 66/7). Interestingly though, her conversation with Dodge in act one is quite calm when it comes to turn taking, they are both quite respectful of the other in that sense, this may be due to Dodge’s allowance to “let her babble” (p17).

The beginning and the end of the play

• The play starts and ends with Halie’s voice shouting down from upstairs calling for Dodge, however, at the beginning she is asking about his pills to help sooth his ill health, and at the end she is calling down to say not only was Tilden right, indicating he has not completely lost his marbles as Dodge put it (p42), but also to say how much life there was out back. Circling from death to life.
• Given Halie is calling for Dodge at the end means she has not even realised he is dead. How long will it be before she does realise or will she never accept it, and continue to call down to him? Old habits die hard.
• Tilden loved his first child so much that he has not really been present in the living world since the birth (he was always taking the baby for long walks (p66)), and even less since the death. Furthermore, in the closing lines when he appears with the corpse, he completely ignores the living and is absorbed solely by the bones he cradles (p73).
• Both happy and non-happy endings can be argued for this play but ending it with a pile of baby’s bones is rather dark, even though life had come back to the home and the next generation were to take their place.
• The play also ends on a higher note of truth than it began, as Halie has not only realised there is in fact corn outside but their secret is out in the open and the baby’s bones are found, helping to counterbalance the denial ingrained into their lives.
• Is the remaining family to ever acknowledge each other again? Halie talks to Vince calling him Dodge as she is oblivious to the fact her husband has died on the floor; Vince takes no notice of Tilden when he enters, just as Tilden takes no notice of him (p73).

Everyone’s last appearance

• The last appearance of Bradley in the play is of him dragging himself on the floor behind his wooden leg, as what is now the most pathetic character of all (p72).
• Dodge’s death goes completely unnoticed; Halie finishes as she beings, calling to Dodge from upstairs. Even though it is now not Dodge she is actually talking to but Vince, he is about as interested in engaging in conversation with her as Dodge was.
• Tilden’s last appearance was a tender yet disturbing image of him carrying the baby’s bones he had just finally found (p73).

Questions raised

• Dodge tells Tilden that “there’s nothing to figure out. You just forge ahead” (p23), but how is this approach to life working out for Dodge?
• Tilden was in New Mexico seeking a new life but ran into trouble and got arrested, not knowing where to go, he went back home (p23). Could this be proof Vince was right, they can’t run away from this?
• How does the reader know what to trust when you can clearly see Dodge lying? He says to Tilden “don’t go outside. There’s nothing out there. Never has been. It’s empty” (p25). But has previously also said “my flesh and blood’s out there in the backyard!” (p21).
• Vince is entirely certain this is the right house because he recognises all of the objects and surroundings “I recognize the yard. The porch. The elm tree. The house” (p34), but not necessarily the people, he simply states “he is my grandpa!” but not because he recognises him. Objects clearly do not change, although they may deteriorate over time, but can people change, especially this much?
• Do the “outsiders” help to unravel the mystery? Especially Shelly who pushes to hear the story / truth.
• Is there a chance that all the neighbours knew the truth about how the baby disappeared or at least suspected? When the baby ‘disappeared’, Tilden says “we had no service. No hymn. No one came” but he does specify that both the police and neighbours looked for it (p47).
• Apart from the general tone in the family’s home, the photographic evidence of the baby was never destroyed (p54). Although it is true that Dodge no longer goes upstairs, it is perfectly plausible that he did continue to do so around that time, so why did he not remove the photos from the wall? Halie clearly never would have done so, but if Dodge could feel how inappropriate it all was why did he not take care of the whole situation, given that he had in fact done the hard part? If he felt that too much damage had taken place to fix, then why did he kill the child in the first place, would it not have been better to just leave things as they were? Is this truly a better situation?
• Vince claims he is going to rebuild the farm with all new equipment (p72), maybe all that was needed was some time to wash away the past and start again?
• Why is it that Halie suddenly looks out of the window at the end of the play, when she has already claimed to have done so on the odd occasion seeing nothing (p20), and then sees the crops (p73)? Why is she now taking in her actual surroundings?
• Bradley says they made a pact not to tell anyone the secret (p66). Does a lot of the madness and inconsistency in the play come from them trying to keep this pact, whereby they just allow each family member to say whatever they need to get through it?

Inconsistencies in the play

Age wise Tilden is currently in his late 40s (p13), Bradley is about 5 years younger (p26) and Ansel was the youngest (p6).

• First problem: according to Dodge, all three children were supposed to be grown when the baby was born (p66), however, all the boys and the baby were in the photo on the farm and there had been no crops planted in 30 years (p19, 22). Mathematically, Tilden would have been in his late teens, Bradley just entering his teens and Ansel even younger, so how would it constitute them all being grown? Even Shelly refers to them as “all the kids” (p54) when describing the photo.
• Secondly, Dodge says he has not seen Tilden in over 20 years (p16), if this is true then who brought up Vince? Vince knows the farm and surroundings areas, as Shelly points out they had to stop for every memory (p61), but he also seems to have had his father in his life, if they had not seen Tilden how had they known Vince? Tilden states he had not seen his father in over 6 years (p29) but they were all together when he saw them for the last time (p32). It is unclear whether Tilden left and the grandparents bought the baby up without Tilden, as Halie says “he was the perfect baby” (p69), or if there are inconsistencies and Tilden was actually around. Vince acts as if he knew his father well, and when trying to jog their memories drumming on his teeth, he seemed to think Tilden would remember too (p39).

Shepard, Sam. Buried Child. Dramatists Play Service INC. 1997.