The American Dream is a life of happiness and freedom, this story displays the complete opposite of the American Dream. The man of the house doesn't seem like a big man. The woman of the house abandons her family and becomes more interested in things outside our home. The two sons Bradley and Tilden are both failures in the eyes of their parents. Finally, the only person who could actually be civil loses control at the last moment and chooses to stay on the farm, arguing that it's her family and that's where she belongs. The author of Buried Child showed us an American family with real problems. I believe he was telling us that every American family has problems and if they can't solve those problems, the worst case scenario can happen..