The trip to Bountiful: a study in family pathology in the work of Horton Foote

This paper focusing on a major dramatic work by Horton Foote represents a compilation of many tragic themes he repeated over a lifetime of playwriting. The author pinpoints the psychological limitations of the characters and the problematic plot lines as they relate to Horton Foote in his own life experience. Psychoanalytic developmental theory is used to enlighten the reader with a powerful account of the playwright's struggle to fulfill his talent as well as to inform the public of the cultural problems underlying the life of the people and events of the time.