Reading Blog 10- The Final but not finale.

Pg 104-105

Was I asleep while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? That with Estragon my friend, at this place, until the fall of night, I waited for Godot? That Pozzo passed, with his carrier, and that he spoke to us? Probably. But in all that what truth will there be? (Talking about the sleeping Estragon) He’ll know nothing. He’ll tell me about the blows he received and I’ll give him a carrot. Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. But habit is a great deadener. At me too someone is looking, of me too someone is saying, He is sleeping, he knows nothing, let him sleep on. I can’t go on!

A somewhat of a continuation of last learning log but a few pages ahead, the speech holds a similar meaning. Vladimir is obviously irritated at his partner who keeps falling in and out of sleep. Be in the condition of utter clueless ness and physiological destitution, Estragon is not able to relieve him of his agony.  He wonders if he is the same way when everyone else is in this state, sleeping and useless.

            He goes on to say that sure he is living and doing things daily, but that his actions are no different than the day before, therefore he didn’t do much of anything. He says the most cliché thing in the most beautiful way: Astride of a grave and a difficult birth, the gravedigger puts on the forceps. He is saying we are born only to die.  

            He brings back the topic of distraction from death and all the terrible thoughts using habit then says that he is just as clueless as everyone else, even the sleeping Estragon.

Reading Blog 9- Waiting for Godot pg. 91

The last two remaining book blog’s are both about Vladimir’s rants, as I call them. Vladimir unleashes his agony and confusion two times in the book, both nearing its end. The first one is unleashed when Pozzo is lying blindly on the ground screaming for help, and Vladimir is assessing how they are to help Pozzo and why exactly they are there in that spot.

All I know is that the hours are long, under these conditions, and constrain us to beguile them with proceedings which-how shall I say- which may at first sight seem reasonable, until they become a habit. You may say it is to prevent our reason from foundering. No doubt. But has it not long been straying in the night without end of the abyssal depths? That’s what I sometimes wonder. You follow my reasoning?

We are all born mad. Some remain so. 

            Vladimir first says that waiting and all the time they have wasted has spiraled them into an unbeneficial series of habits that carry on day to day. These habits are an attempt to enchant the moments and make them more livable. He goes on to say that the habits are to distract you to conquering you final goal, which in his case is meeting Godot. Probably if he were to stop doing these habits he would stop waiting for Godot. I believe, though unsure, that what Vladimir is saying at the end is that he wonders why he continues to wait these long hours doing the same thing day after day if it doesn’t make him happy and why, after realizing he is not happy, does he not stop. Estragon replies that we are all born mad. Some remain so and that to me meant that some people can change and improve themselves while some people can’t; they happen to be those people.

This book is a bit depressing to me.

Book Blog 8- pg. 77

Wait… we embraced… we were happy… happy… what do we do nowe that we’re happy…go on waiting… waiting…let me think… it’s coming… go on waiting… now that we are happy… let me see… ah! The tree!

Page 72, Vladimir            

    This quote was super funny to me! When Vladimir is asking Estragon to wait for him to remember what he is trying to say he is also saying that they are only happy when they are waiting. I thought it was very witty, very witty indeed.



“We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?”
“Yes yes, we’re magicians.”

      Being in a philosophy class in the college, this quote was a direct correlation with what we had learned about today in class. David Hume, a Scottish Skeptic Empiricist, had a philosophy that directly pertains to this quote. His theories on Causation state that there is no such thing as cause and effect and that we are always looking for reasons to justify the actions we take and that others take, our existence, and the principles of life. Estragon is stating a thesis that acts as a footnote to Hume’s theories: humans need to find reasons to live in order to survive; Cause and effect may not exist but humans need it to justify their existence.

            Vladimir’s reply, ‘yes yes we are magicians’, is a sassy way of reinforcing Estragon’s observation. Not only does it reinforce Estragon’s thought but it also remarks mockingly that we are constantly fooling ourselves with false meaning and importance. Magicians present things to the audience in a way that fools their minds and makes them believe in an illusion. We are magicians because we make ourselves believe in nonsense.

Book Blog 7- pgs. 68- 69

Don’t touch me! Don’t question me! Don’t speak to me! Stay with me!

            -page 63, yet another example to my thesis in book blog 5.

            This is a conversation between the Vladimir and Estragon, the one I will be tearing apart for you: “To every man his little cross…Till he dies… and is forgotten.”, “in the meantime let us converse calmly, since we are incapable of keeping silent.”, “It is so we won’t think.”, “It’s so we won’t hear all the dead voices.”, “they make noise like wings.”, “like leaves”, “Like sand”, “They all speak as one, each one to itself.”, “To have lived is not enough for them, they have to talk about it.” “They make noise like feathers…leaves…ashes.”

 

            To summarize this passage, I think that the main point is that death is always in the living’s subconscious. Death is quiet but it is all around us every second of everyday and without constant distraction we are naked to its frightening existence and the horrifying truths of our own selves in perspective to death.

            The first line of dialogue, to every man his little cross till he dies and is forgotten, is yet another biblical reference about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ or perhaps, in a broader sense, a reference to the mass persecution of Christians and Jews at the time of Jesus Christ.  The cross is an image that represents belief and devotion to ideas. Every man may not hold a cross but everyman bares ideas that he is devoted to and believes in wholeheartedly. Beckett is saying that all of our ideas and legacy are with us until death and are lost from the world shortly after that in forgetfulness of the others who new us.

            After that, they talk about how they must talk to distract themselves with speech to forget about death and all the terrible truths in the world. I also feel like there is a widget of jealousy in their words. I feel like Vladimir and Estragon are the two people that do not have a ‘little cross’ or a strong belief, besides Godot, which doesn’t seem to ever come. Perhaps they are expressing their doubt about their own legacy, they’re jealous of the dead people’s lives they have lead. That may be what the ‘wing’ sounds and ‘leaf’ sounds are referring to. Either they are addressing the constant reminder of death itself, or their poor excuse for a legacy.

Book Blog 5- Continuation of Book Blog four on Lucky’s speech

Part 4: in spite of the strides of physical culture the practice of sports such as tennis football running cycling swimming flying floating riding gliding conating camogie skating tennis of all kinds dying flying sports of all sorts autumn summer winter winter tennis of all kinds hockey of all sorts penicillin and succedanea in a word I resume flying gliding golf over nine and eighteen holes tennis of all sorts in a word for reasons unknown in Feckham Peckham Fulham Clapham namely concurrently simultaneously.

            I’d say the most important word in this large group of words is the made up word ‘conating’. If you were to break this word apart you would get two parts: Con meaning ‘with’ or ‘together’, and Ating, which makes the word a verb. So the word conating is the act of being together. I think this is the main idea for this blob and I believe the book as a whole.  Humans are codependent of each other. We need each other’s company to survive. That is why even though Estragon and Vladimir seem to dislike each other and long to be away from each other, they remain together and are excited to see each other at being separated for a night. Another example was Pozzo and Lucky. Estragon asks why Pozzo why he doesn’t just throw lucky on the street to rot and Pozzo are unable to place it, it is that same interdependence that Vladimir and Estragon feel for each other. Lucky and Pozzo need each other’s company in order to survive and carry on.  And yet another example of this, it is the last one I assure you, is when Pozzo goes to part with Vladimir and Estragon and he is unable to do it.

            The sports are just simply referring to ceremony and ritual and how people come together to participate in them and see each other. We use sports, all ceremony and ritual, as an excuse to engage in each other. ‘…tennis of all kinds, hockey of all sorts, penicillin and Succedanea in a word…’ means that all these sports are a replacement for the word conating because Succedanea is ‘something that is used in the place of something else’ and that is what he is undoubtedly referring to.

Waiting for Godot- Book Blog 6   page 52

            Upon the departure of Pozzo and Lucky.

            Vl: How they have changed!

            Es: Who?

            Vl:  Those two.

            Es: That’s the idea, let’s make some conversation.

            Vl: Haven’t they?

            Es: What?

            Vl: Changed.

            Es: Very likely. They all change. Only we can’t.

            Vl: Likely! It’s certain. Didn’t you see them?

            Es: I suppose I did. But I don’t know them.

            Vl: Yes you do know them.

            Es: No I don’t know them.

            Vl: We know them, I tell you.  You forget everything. Unless they’re not the                 same…

            Es: Why didn’t they recognize us then?

            Vl: That means nothing. I too pretended not to recognize them. And then nobody ever recognizes us.

 

            This quote gives me the fuzzes but I don’t know the reason why. It may be because it is a farewell; they make me tear up regardless of what they are and what they mean.

            Vladimir is seemingly amazed by how Pozzo and Lucky had changed. Earlier in the text Vladimir and Estragon were pondering who these strangers were, thinking either of them could be Godot. I really doubt that Vladimir had had any prior relationship with either Pozzo or Lucky.

            I think that Vladimir was referring to a lifelong growth that everyone goes though; the growth and death of the mind, the metamorphosis from sperm to old man. The transformation is inevitable and to see it once is to see them all, that is, unless you are Benjamin Button.

    Saying that, perhaps people should be generalized or at least thrown into a large pile. We know each other though this transformation. We should be able to wink at each other nonchalantly because we have all performed this act of transformation. We are all chained together in knowledge of each other.
    Very melancholic, Estragon admits that there is a change but that they could not change.  I assume that the reason that they are unable to grow is not because they have aged to the point of no growth, but because they are always waiting for Godot. If I were to take Anna's suggestion that Godot symbolizes an idea, the truth to enlightenment, that would mean that Estragon and Vladimir are stagnant minded and no growth is taking place. Only the act of waiting for growth is taking place. Lucky and Pozzo on the other hand pursue their life without having waited for Godot and are able to grow though experience and existence. Beckett perhaps hints at the time he has spent not growing, looking for the truth, waiting for Godot. Perhaps he too is too obsessed with the idea of Godot that he may never grow from all of this waiting. I might even be in the same position as Estragon and Vladimir.
    The last line is an interesting line. The drift I got from it was that human communication is so flawed that acquaintances are afraid to greet each other in fear that the other party may not remember them. It could also be refering to the paragraph about the 'common transformation'. Vladimir may be saying that people don't recognize each other as whose who go through the transformation.

Lucky's speech: Page 45-47

Given the existence as uttered forth in the public works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell and suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons unknown but time will tell are plunged in torment plunged in fire whose fire flames if that continues and who can doubt it will fire the firmament that is to say blast hell to heaven so blue still and calm so calm with a calm which even though intermittent is better than nothing but not so fast and considering what is more that as a result of the labors left unfinished crowned by the Acacacacademy of Anthropopopometry of Essy-in-Possy of Testew and Cunard it is established beyond all doubt all other doubt than that which clings to the labors of men that as a result of the labors unfinished of Testew and Cunnard it is established as hereinafter but not so fast for reasons unknown that as a result of the public works of Puncher and Wattmann it is established beyond all doubt that in view of the labors of Fartov and Belcher left unfinished for reasons unknown of Testew and Cunard left unfinished it is established what many deny that man in Possy of Testew and Cunard that man in Essy that man in short that man in brief in spite of the strides of alimentation and defecation wastes and pines wastes and pines and concurrently simultaneously what is more for reasons unknown in spite of the strides of physical culture the practice of sports such as tennis football running cycling swimming flying floating riding gliding conating camogie skating tennis of all kinds dying flying sports of all sorts autumn summer winter winter tennis of all kinds hockey of all sorts penicillin and succedanea in a word I resume flying gliding golf over nine and eighteen holes tennis of all sorts in a word for reasons unknown in Feckham Peckham Fulham Clapham namely concurrently simultaneously what is more for reasons unknown but time will tell fades away I resume Fulham Clapham in a word the dead loss per head since the death of Bishop Berkeley being to the tune of one inch four ounce per head approximately by and large more or less to the nearest decimal good measure round figures stark naked in the stockinged feet in Connemara in a word for reasons unknown no matter what matter the facts are there and considering what is more much more grave that in the light of the labors lost of Steinweg and Peterman it appears what is more much more grave that in the light the light the light of the labors lost of Steinweg and Peterman that in the plains in the mountains by the seas by the rivers running water running fire the air is the same and then the earth namely the air and then the earth in the great cold the great dark the air and the earth abode of stones in the great cold alas alas in the year of their Lord six hundred and something the air the earth the sea the earth abode of stones in the great deeps the great cold on sea on land and in the air I resume for reasons unknown in spite of the tennis the facts are there but time will tell I resume alas alas on on in short in fine on on abode of stones who can doubt it I resume but not so fast I resume the skull fading fading fading and concurrently simultaneously what is more for reasons unknown in spite of the tennis on on the beard the flames the tears the stones so blue so calm alas alas on on the skull the skull the skull the skull in Connemara in spite of the tennis the labors abandoned left unfinished graver still abode of stones in a word I resume alas alas abandoned unfinished the skull the skull in Connemara in spite of the tennis the skull alas the stones Cunard…tennis . . . the stones . . . so calm . . . Cunard . . . unfinished . . .

            This speech was delivered by Lucky under the orders of Pozzo. Often thought of as nonsensical (which can be argued so), I believe that (almost) every word that comprises the speech has a meaning. This is my attempt to rip apart the meanings.

Line one: Given the existence as uttered forth in the public works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown.

This part is saying that if God were to truly have a white beard, as he is commonly depicted as having one, then it is impossible to live outside time. White beards are a sign of aging, so if God is truly immortal, then it is unlikely that ANY facial hair would be present, let alone a white beard. This means that humans may have a big misunderstanding about the appearance and may not even know a bit about what God is. The ‘quaquaquaqua’ simply is the repetition of the conjunction ‘qua’ which means ‘to be’ or ‘to exist’. He goes on to say that God governs over us without emotion, calm and collected; but he is unable to reveal himself to us because of this ‘divine aphasia’ he governs by. Lastly, Lucky says that God’s love is only conditional and we are unable to perceive or believe the reasons why because god is too divine.

Line two: (God) Suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons unknown but time will tell are plunged in torment plunged in fire whose fire flames if that continues and who can doubt it will fire the firmament that is to say blast hell to heaven so blue still and calm so calm with a calm which even though intermittent is better than nothing but not so fast…

I believe that the ‘divine Miranda’ is simply one of the tiny bits of nonsense spattered without. If the ‘divine Miranda’ were to contain any significance at all, I think it would only be to personalize the group of people being caste into Hell later in the sentence. Lucky goes on to say that if we keep on fueling this hell fire with all of these souls, the number burned is of course growing, that the flames of hell would begin to invade the realms of heaven. If the flames of hell were to invade heaven, heaven would slowly become hell, and perhaps that is what is happening now.

Line three: considering what is more that as a result of the labors left unfinished crowned by the Acacacacademy of Anthropopopometry of Essy-in-Possy of Testew and Cunard it is established beyond all doubt all other doubt than that which clings to the labors of men that as a result of the labors unfinished of Testew and Cunnard it is established as hereinafter but not so fast for reasons unknown that as a result of the public works of Puncher and Wattmann it is established beyond all doubt that in view of the labors of Fartov and Belcher left unfinished for reasons unknown of Testew and Cunard left unfinished it is established what many deny that man in Possy of Testew and Cunard that man in Essy that man in short that man in brief in spite of the strides of alimentation and defecation wastes and pines wastes and pines and concurrently simultaneously

            What the first blob of the sentence is saying is that most human labor is insignificant and unfinished. All human labor is only a comfort mechanism and done for a reward. The stutter in Academy in this section was to compare the Academy to a turd. The Ca when stuttered creates the word ‘caca’ which mean feces, therefore hinting that the academy is a joke and slightly turd-like.  Again with the next word: Anthropometry, which means the measurement the individual human. The Po is stuttered to form the word ‘popo’ which again refers to feces. He is saying that the measurement of human is just poop. (Perhaps it can’t be measured) The names Testew and Cunard mean in french ‘the stubborn and stupid’ and the names ‘Fartov and Belcher’ mean that either two things: Toots and giggles (Belcher as a name means to laugh), or farts and facial flocculants. Whatever floats your boat. He then says that every labor that the ‘stupid and stubborn’, the loving (Essy), or any human does is rewarded in a nasty demise (hence the ‘waste and pine’) 

BOOK BLOG THREE- Waiting for Godot, Godet, Godin            
            “Charming evening we are having”

            “Unforgettable”           
             “And it’s not over”

            “It’s only beginning”

            “It’s awful”

            “Worse then the Pantomime”

            “The circus”            

    “The music-hall”

            This was said after a long episode of drama between Lucky, Pozzo, Estragon, and Vladimir. During that episode conversations regarding human torture, human relationships, and the complexity of morality were had, but nothing solid became of any of these conversations. The final idea of this long panoramic of discussions was as meaningless as the word ‘waageerrim’. Saying this, the word that popped out to me (not because it is bolded) was the word pantomime. Pantomime is a dramatic performance that is solely done in movement without any words. The same is true with the circus or the music-hall; ideas are shown wordlessly through these mediums. The dialogue this far in Waiting for Godot, and even in that small tidbit of a quote, is contradicting and nonsensical, perhaps only to be nonsensical. Words in expressing ideas and emotion sometimes become unreliable and seemingly impossible to accurately compose. I think that Beckett is trying to say by using the word pantomime that this whole play is better portrayed through movements and the reactions of the characters than the words they speak.     

Book Blog Two- Waiting for Godot pages 12-24

 

The most puzzling collection of dialog I have ever read begins this section of the book. It starts with this: ‘Vladimir-What do we do when we are waiting?, Estragon- What about hanging ourselves.’ This line comes out of nowhere. What follows is even more absurd: ‘Vladimir-Hmm. It’d give us an erection; Estragon- An erection!; Vladimir: With all that follows. Where it falls mandrakes grow. That is why they shriek when you pull them up. Did you know that?’ These series of lines took me a while to figure out or at least develop a theory. I started by researching the physical results of hanging yourself. Hanging yourself may in fact induce an erection (according to a few semi-reliable web sources) but ejaculation is not mentioned as much. I think that what Samuel Beckett was trying to say in this section, up to ‘With all that follows’, can mean a number of things: That human beings would kill themselves to satisfy their lust and their drive to obtain momentary pleasure; That the two men are literally bored to death from waiting so long and that self-preservation is no longer important; or That they are simply crazed by the idea of a resolution, that they are tired of waiting for death to come and tired of waiting for Godot to come meet them.   Then comes the dialog about the mangrove. I also did some research on the mangrove to help make sense of this line. Mangroves are a Mediterranean flower with many humanlike qualities. It is also used as a narcotic and a psychological healer. Its roots are shaped like little humans and they do indeed sheik when they are pulled from the ground. Vladimir is saying that by ejaculating on the ground, they are giving birth to a human-like life form that is afraid of death, or that is horrified in how it was birthed (I want to emphasize this though I do not want to explain this), a small screaming and scared human. Samuel, I believe, had intended to mean even more than that. Perhaps Samuel means that human birth is, a lot of a time, a result of boredom and that it is our erotic sex drive that made us dominant and so widely dispersed across the globe. If humans were not produced at the rate in which they were, we would probably not thrive the way we did (or perhaps I’m reading into this too much). 

In this research frenzy, I also took upon the task of figuring out what the main characters names mean. Estagon was slightly interesting (but it was probably unintentional). I knew from geometry class that the suffix gon means “sided”. I looked up what the prefix est meant and found that it means “most”. Together it means “most sided” (ra isn’t a suffix). Perhaps this is a clue to what kind of character Estragon is. It could mean that he is a faceless, identity-less meanderer; or that he is open minded and seeking truth. Vladimir doesn’t have any significance or encrypted meaning but maybe it is a reference to Vladimir Lenin since he was an important and controversial figure during the time period that Waiting for Godot was written. 

 

For the next few pages the dialog is just turbulent arguments and comical bickering about who would hang themselves first.  Gotta love dark humor! Then we are confronted with the problem of Godot and what he is. They compromise to ask Godot for guidance about the whole hanging thing when they meet with him later. In the next few pages we learn a lot about Godot and its characteristics. We learn that Godot is somewhat of a Buddha and is able to lead people in the right path. We learn that Godot has a home, family friends, agents, correspondents, books and bank account so my early prediction that Godot is some kind of god is most likely false.

BOOK BLOG ONE- Pages 1-12 from the script Waiting For Godot

 

            In the first twelve pages, the only characters are two gentlemen named Estragon and Vladimir. They appear to be homeless, wearing heavy-duty clothes that are meant to shield them from the outdoor elements. These two characters have a strong spouse-like relationship. They spend the majority of the time bickering, comforting each other, and showing each other great care.

            The dialogue is laced with Charlie Chaplin humor and an atmosphere that reminds me of the Marx Brothers. Things like struggling to take off a boot and searching your hat every time you take it off remind me greatly of the old black-and-white movies from the early twentieth century.

            Estragon takes off his boot he peers inside it. I pondered this for a while until I realized that Estragon was only looking for a pebble or a deformity inside the boot that would justify the pain in his foot. This has a greater significance. The boot is repeatedly compared to life and the wild wrestle to remove the boot was referred to as ‘the struggle’. After the boot is removed Estragon airs his foot as it swells up. Vladimir then says: “There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet.”  This quote to me is a metaphor for life. Perhaps the discomfort that we experience in life is not life itself, but the way we live it. There is a way to ware a boot correctly so it doesn’t damage your feet but Estragon does not comply with the rules and is stuck with this struggle and discomfort.

            Vladimir also tells Estragon a Bible story when they are waiting. It is about the two thieves that are crucified at the same time as Jesus. Vladimir is pondering the fact that one thieve had survived when he remembers that only two of the four Evangelists mentioned the thieves when recalling the events of the crucifixion. He then says that of these two, one said that the thieves had abused Jesus and were both damned. I think this was brought up to show how society views people in their situation. To some Evangelists, the thieves were inexistent in their eyes, and to the other they were both hideous creatures, but it is revealed by one that the thief was saved.  Vladimir is trying to say that some people are thought of more highly and genuinely then others and are held at more importance than those who are criminals or squatters (just like themselves).

            Continuing the story of the thief, it also sounds as if Vladimir also makes the case that humans are more drawn to the positive. Even though three of the four Evangelists said the thieves were both damned, people grasped to the story where the thief was saved because it had positive connotations.

            Estragon and Vladimir are constantly forgetting things. They are often clueless to why they are there, what they did yesterday, and when exactly Godot would be coming. I believe this is hinting that they spend a great deal of their time waiting for Godot. The blandness of this lifestyle and the lack of stimuli have made days morph together and memory harder to recall.

            Godot has not yet revealed itself yet. It has been talked about as a it, or a he. One refers to object, the other to man; both refer to god. So what is Godot? Is it god? An object? Or an human?