The True West by Sam Shepard Brotherly love can be a wonderful thing. As children, two brothers can always have a playmate to play Cowboys and Indians with, or an older brother to reach for the cookies on the counter. When they grew up, they would have had someone to help them start the engine of their car or guide them in and out of a relationship. However, a sibling can also be the resident bully. Older children may make younger children eat worms or get into embarrassing situations for personal entertainment. A brother can be the best of friends and/or the worst of enemies. The result could be philos adelphos or fratricide. Siblings have been seen throughout history in love/love, love/hate, and hate/hate relationships. Fortunately, everyone has been left with a set of moral guidelines – the Ten Commandments, the seven deadly sins, the seven holy virtues, etc. – These guidelines shape people, whether they recognize it or not. Sam Shepard is a famous playwright who has captured this conflict within families, which projects the general conflicts of society, through most of his works. Shepard's True West captures the struggle between brothers and what might happen when apathy consumes them. Paradoxically, each of the seven deadly sins – lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride – and the seven holy virtues – chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility – are lived or lived ignored in the True West . These sins and virtues, when juxtaposed with the two brothers in the play, reveal an idea that Shepard seeks to convey: denial of one's moral responsibility and isolation of oneself will lead to destruction and madness. The play is set, and only in, the kitchen of the two brothers' mother. Lee, the older of the two, is in his forties and is more of a nomadic alcoholic like his father. Austin is in his early thirties and an Ivy League graduate who writes screenplays. Austin is more restrained in the first half of the opera; Lee is a partially to completely drunk slut. As the show begins, Austin is writing a script while his brother, Lee, grills him about different probabilities and ends up catching up on things from the last time they met. Lee talks about his life in the desert and the money he could make if he wanted to. The reader can see Austin, the play's protagonist, portray humility, kindness, and diligence as he endures his brother's conversation and even shows charity when he offers Lee some money..