Dysfunctional Family in A Lie of the Mind

Abstract

In A Lie of the Mind, Sam Shepard has described two dysfunctional families. The main cause of the dysfunctional family is the distorted relationship between the family members. This paper analyzes the dysfunctional families respectively of the relationships between father and son, mother and son, mother and daughter, father and daughter. It concludes that Sam Shepard proposes an ideal family form through describing the dysfunctional families which are made up of men and women, who must be androgyny.