Sam ShepardSam Shepard is a contemporary American playwright and actor whose plays address modern social concerns. He was influenced by Beat Generation writers such as Allen Ginsberg who rebelled against a society of economic wealth and social conformism after World War II. Insatiable consumerism became a central feature of postwar life, “driven by mass media, advertising, and generous loan terms” (“Sam Shepard”). In this atmosphere, the Beat Writers came forward to declare their alienation from what they saw as the "creed of suburban conformity in favor of what Ginsberg called 'the lost America of love'" ("Sam Shepard" ). It is from this generation of writers that Shepard drew inspiration to address issues of alienation from society, loss of identity, and the deterioration of family structure. The themes explored by Shepard can be described as "the image of an America torn between idealistic values." and painful realities of a border paved by a parking lot" ("Sam Shepard"). In other words, progress and change destroy America's collective values ​​as the former replace the latter. Having grown up in the 1950s and 1960s, a period of social metamorphosis, Shepard must have observed first-hand that the apple family of popular culture was very different from the changing face of society's real family whose members struggle for their identity and their connections While television presented an idealization of suburban family life, reality suggested the opposite. Shepard is known for its oblique plots, slightly mysterious characters, and its use of surreal elements with images from popular culture (. "Sam Shepard"). The majority of his plays deal with the betrayal of the American dream, the search for... middle of paper ... specific enough to compose his thoughts, and Austin does not have the adventurous spirit to do so. survive in the desert. Therefore, they realize that their identities are not found in each other. The characters in each of these plays struggle for identity and connection, which Shepard recognizes as true in modern American families. As they become more assertive, family tension results, and the Brady Bunch's dream is just that: a dream. Works Cited Gilman, Richard. Sam Shepard: Seven pieces. Introduction. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. xi-xxvii. “Sam Shepard.” Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. Microsoft Corporation. 1993-1998. Shepard, Sam. Sam Shepard: Seven pieces. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. Williams, Megan. “The Nowhere Man and the Twentieth-Century Cowboy: Images of American Identity and History in Sam Shepard's True West.” Modern drama. 40 (spring 1997): 57-73.