Buried Child
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3
Themes
All Themes Family and Its Demise Failure and the American Dream The Presence of the Past Rituals Religion
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Dodge Halie Tilden Bradley Vince Shelly Father Dewis Ansel The Baby / Buried Child
Symbols
All Symbols Rain Vegetables
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Buried Child

by

Sam Shepard
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The Baby / Buried Child Character Analysis

Sometime before Ansel’s death, but before Vince’s birth, Halie and Tilden had a child together. Dodge murdered this baby and buried it somewhere unknown, and the family has kept the secret for decades. When Dodge finally admits to the murder at the end of the play, Tilden unearths the corpse of the child from the backyard and brings it into the house.

The Baby / Buried Child Quotes in Buried Child

The Buried Child quotes below are all either spoken by The Baby / Buried Child or refer to The Baby / Buried Child. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Its Demise Theme Icon
).
Act 2 Quotes

We had a baby. He did. Dodge did. Could pick it up with one hand. Put it in the other. Little baby. Dodge killed it… Dodge drowned it… Never told Halie. Never told anybody. Just drowned it… Nobody could find it. Just disappeared. Cops looked for it. Neighbors. Nobody could find it… Finally everybody just gave up. Just stopped looking. Everybody had a different answer. Kidnap. Murder. Accident. Some kind of accident.

Related Characters: Tilden (speaker), Dodge, Halie, Shelly, The Baby / Buried Child
Family and Its Demise Theme Icon
The Presence of the Past Theme Icon
Rituals Theme Icon
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3 Quotes

…Halie had this kid. This baby boy. She had it. I let her have it on her own. All the other boys I had had the best doctors, best nurses, everything. This one I let her have by herself. This one hurt real bad. Almost killed her, but she had it anyway. It lived, see. It lived. It wanted to grow up in this family. It wanted to be just like us. It wanted to be part of us. It wanted to pretend that I was its father. She wanted me to believe in it. Even when everyone around us knew. Everyone. All our boys knew. Tilden knew… I killed it. I drowned it. Just like the runt of a litter. Just drowned it.

Related Characters: Dodge (speaker), Halie, Tilden, Shelly, The Baby / Buried Child
Family and Its Demise Theme Icon
The Presence of the Past Theme Icon
Page Number: 109-110
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Baby / Buried Child Quotes in Buried Child

The Buried Child quotes below are all either spoken by The Baby / Buried Child or refer to The Baby / Buried Child. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Its Demise Theme Icon
).
Act 2 Quotes

We had a baby. He did. Dodge did. Could pick it up with one hand. Put it in the other. Little baby. Dodge killed it… Dodge drowned it… Never told Halie. Never told anybody. Just drowned it… Nobody could find it. Just disappeared. Cops looked for it. Neighbors. Nobody could find it… Finally everybody just gave up. Just stopped looking. Everybody had a different answer. Kidnap. Murder. Accident. Some kind of accident.

Related Characters: Tilden (speaker), Dodge, Halie, Shelly, The Baby / Buried Child
Family and Its Demise Theme Icon
The Presence of the Past Theme Icon
Rituals Theme Icon
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3 Quotes

…Halie had this kid. This baby boy. She had it. I let her have it on her own. All the other boys I had had the best doctors, best nurses, everything. This one I let her have by herself. This one hurt real bad. Almost killed her, but she had it anyway. It lived, see. It lived. It wanted to grow up in this family. It wanted to be just like us. It wanted to be part of us. It wanted to pretend that I was its father. She wanted me to believe in it. Even when everyone around us knew. Everyone. All our boys knew. Tilden knew… I killed it. I drowned it. Just like the runt of a litter. Just drowned it.

Related Characters: Dodge (speaker), Halie, Tilden, Shelly, The Baby / Buried Child
Family and Its Demise Theme Icon
The Presence of the Past Theme Icon
Page Number: 109-110
Explanation and Analysis:
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