Cain, Canaanites, and Philistines in Sam Shepard's True West

Cain, Canaanites, and Philistines in Sam Shepard's True West JEFFREY D. HOEPER "Myth speaks to everything at once, especially the emotions," writes Sam Shepard.' Acting on this indirect authorial invitation, critics have understandably devoted much attention to the mythic elements in Shepard's work. Most notably, Tucker Orbison has exposed three levels of mythic response in True West: the mythic West of the cowboy; the mythic "mystery of the artist" in which the writer delves into the self to explore archetypal conflicts "fraught with the terrors of nightdreaming"; and finally the mythic conflict of the doppelganger, the "second self," as revealed in the role reversal of Lee and Austin at the. play's crisis.' Important as these three levels of mythic response are, the play explores yet another - and arguably a more important - myth through its biblical allusions and parallels. The play's plot harks back to the archetypal story of Cain and Abel - in the Byronic variant in which Cain, the peaceful tiller of the soil, is a sympathetic figure, while Abel, the smug slaughterer of sheep, is inexplicably favored by a bloodthirsty deity. As in Genesis, the action takes place to the east of Eden. Shepard sets his play "in a SOUlhem Califomia suburb, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles."3 Lee describes the suburban homes as being "Like a paradise" (12) and Austin subsequently comments, "This is a Paradise down here.... We're livin' in a Paradise" (39). Granted, these references to Paradise have the informality of a cliche and the sibling rivalry between Austin and Lee is a fairly hackneyed literary motif; nevertheless, the biblical story of Cain is part of our common cultural heritage, and any story of fraternal battle recalls it in some measure. Further, the more closely one looks at Shepard's play, the more reminders there are of the pre-Christian conflict between Cain and Abel. One fairly common interpretation of the story in Genesis is that it was part of an effort by the invading Hebrews to discredit the matriarchal worship of the indigenous Canaanites' According to this interpretation, the story of the Fall is at heart Modern Drama, 36 (1993) 76 True West 77 a symbolic exploration of the problem of evil. How does a patriarchal society that assumes the existence of a beneficent masculine creator account for evil? It lays the burden of original sin at the feet of the first woman. And her first offspring is Cain, the original murderer. By discrediting women and those who serve women or worship women, the ancient patriarchs may have sought to combat the matriarchal worship of the Triple Goddess in her many manifestations as Astarte, Ishtar, Isis, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, Diana, and others. Before the invasion of the Hebrews, the Canaanites worshipped a variety of gods, but fertility rites were central to their religion and the triple goddesses Asherah, Anath, and Astarte were worshipped with special fervor as life-bringers and harvest-givers.5 As Pamela Berger has noted, "Almost every major excavation of middle Bronze Age through early Iron Age sites (2000-600 BC) has produced terra-cotta plaques impressed with the nude female holding plant forms and standing in such a position that she can be identified as a goddess.'''; The springtime planting of seed, the summer-long ripening, the fall harvest, the wintery decline into the soil. and the subsequent resurrection were seen as mirroring female fecundity and as most appropriately revered by offering the fruits of the soil in libations and cakes of wheat.' Cain's ritual offerings of grain and libations were characteristic of the worship of the Goddess. Abel's bloody sacrifice of a sheep from his fold was characteristic of early Hebraic devotion. The symbolic conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal worship in Genesis is complemented by the more directly historical accounl in the book of Joshua of the efforts to destroy the worship of the Goddess. At the beginning of True West there are hints of this pre-Christian conflict between the patriarchal and matriarchal orders. The play is set in the mother's home. Her neighborhood is like Paradise. Her home is filled with vegetation: The windows look out (a bushes...