THE CHALLENGES OF TRAUMA AND DEPRESSION: A STUDY OF SAM SHEPARD’S PLAY "BURIED CHILD”.

Abstract This research explores the psychological and emotional dimensions of trauma and depression as represented in Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Buried Child. Set in a decaying farmhouse in rural America, the play dramatizes the disintegration of a family haunted by a long-suppressed secret: the murder of an incestuous child. Through a close textual and theoretical analysis, the study applies trauma theory—particularly the work of Cathy Caruth, Julia Kristeva, and Dominick LaCapra—to interpret how Shepard’s characters embody unresolved grief, emotional paralysis, and intergenerational suffering. The research is grounded in a multidisciplinary framework that includes literary criticism, psychoanalysis, and theatrical theory. It identifies how Shepard’s dramatic techniques—fragmented dialogue, silence, surreal symbolism, and broken chronology—mimic the psychological symptoms of trauma and depression. The study also compares Buried Child with other works of American drama, such as Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, to situate Shepard’s play within a broader tradition of postwar American theatre that critiques the myth of the ideal family and the American Dream. Ultimately, the thesis argues that Buried Child is not merely a domestic tragedy but a powerful critique of emotional repression and inherited trauma. It reveals how unspoken pain festers within families, becoming a destructive force that shapes identity, memory, and belonging across generations.