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The torrential rain in Buried Child signifies the cleansing of the shame and guilt that hangs over the family. Only in act three, when the family’s secret infanticide is revealed, does the rain cease. In addition, the rain allows the long-dead crops grow, suggesting that as Dodge becomes able to admit his guilt, the family can finally experience some sort of peace or renewal.
Rain Quotes in Buried Child
The Buried Child quotes below all refer to the symbol of Rain. 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:
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Act 1
Quotes
Things keep happening while you’re upstairs, ya know. The world doesn’t stop just because you’re upstairs. Corn keeps growing. Rain keeps raining.
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Act 3
Quotes
Good hard rain. Takes everything straight down deep to the roots. The rest takes care of itself. You can’t force a thing to grow. You can’t interfere with it. It’s all hidden. It’s all unseen. You just gotta wait til it pops up out of the ground. Tiny little shoot. Tiny little white shoot. All hairy and fragile. Strong though. Strong enough to break the earth even. It’s a miracle, Dodge. I’ve never seen a crop like this in my whole life. Maybe it’s the sun. Maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s the sun.
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Get the entire Buried Child LitChart as a printable PDF.
Rain Symbol Timeline in Buried Child
The timeline below shows where the symbol Rain appears in Buried Child. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
On a rainy day in rural Illinois in 1978, Dodge, a sickly man in his late seventies, sits...
(full context)
...him from upstairs, suggesting that Dodge take some medicine. From upstairs, Halie describes the torrential rain outside and blames it for Dodge’s ills. Dodge ignores her, takes another drink, and lights...
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Tilden, a “profoundly burned out and displaced” man in his forties, enters, wet with rain and holding an armful of freshly picked corn. He simply stares at Dodge as Dodge’s...
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Act 2
That night, the rain continues. The mess from act one is gone from the living room, and Dodge is...
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Act 3
The next morning, the rain has stopped and sun shines into the living room. Bradley sleeps on the couch, his...
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...small child. He ascends the stairs towards Halie as we hear her considering aloud the rain and the sun, and how they make the plants grow.
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