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Kyle Jarrett

Mrs. Parlette

English 12 Honors

01/27/10

Absurdest Literature, Waiting for Godot, and The Human Condition

If there is a fundamental flaw in the understanding of the Absurdest movement, it rests

not with the artists and writers, but with the understanding of mainstream society. If one were to

ask the average person what “absurd” means to them, you would likely hear “silly”, “pointless”,

or “stupid”. While this may stand to be true in everyday life, it is not so when referring to

Absurdest Arts, most notably Absurdest Literature. Absurd, as defined by Webster's New World

Dictionary means “Hard to understand; Deep; Recondite”. This is a much more accurate way of

thinking about the topic at hand.

The hallmark of Absurdest Literature is the throwing off of standards of writing. Rising

out of Modernist Literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it often uses complicated

story arcs, or the entire lack thereof, as well as non-sequiturs, a lack of linearity, and the absence

of a defined goal or climax. This combination of factors often produces works that are indeed

very hard to comprehend, but also very profound and open to interpretation. Absurdism often

casts light onto the flaws of both humanity and the world, flaws many of us would much rather

pretend don't exist. It is often very nihilist, casting its characters in neither a positive nor negative

light, leaving this choice to the reader, leading to the literature's thought provoking style

(“Britannica, and Goetz”).

One of the prime examples of Absurdest literature is The Bald Soprano, written by
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Eugene Lonesco in 1950. The Bald Soprano tells of a traditional couple from London, who have

invited another couple, the Martins, over for a visit and dinner. Later on in the story they are

joined by the Smiths' maid, Mary, and her lover, the local fire chief. They engage in small talk,

telling anecdotes and sharing nonsensical poems. As the fire chief prepares himself to take his

leave, he offhandedly mentions “The Bald Soprano”, which seems to have a very unsettling

effect on the rest of the cast, with Mrs. Smith replying “She always wears her hair in the same

style”. After the fire cheif's exit, the communication in the play deteriorates into a series of non-

sequiturs, completely unlike all forms of normal communication. This continues, eventually

culminating in both couples shouting, in unison, “It's not that way. It's over here!”, and the play

ending.

Where as this first would seem to be arbitrary and meaningless, and by all means, it very

well may be, if one applies abstract thought, a cavalcade of ideas could be pulled from The Bald

Soprano. At one point, early in play, Mrs. Smith converses with her husband as though he were a

stranger she had never met before. It could be interpreted that this displays the transience of

human affection, or the lack of persistence of thought in modern society. It is widely regarded,

however, that The Bald Soprano explores the futility of meaningful conversation in modern

society. It is that reason why its a favorite among scholars; It lends itself to interpretation and

debate very easily (“GrossAbsurdity.com”).

Another popular example is The Nose, written by Nikolai Gogol, in 1836. The story starts

on the 25th of March. A barber by the name of Ivan Yakovlevich awakes to find that his morning

bread contains the nose of one of his regular customers, a Collegiate Assessor, who's given

names in Kavalyov. Ivan tried to rid himself of the nose by throwing it in a river, but is
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discovered by a police officer. During this time, Kavalyov awakes, and finds his nose missing.

He discovers that his nose is pretending to be a human. He finds the nose in a cathedral, but due

to the nose's clothing it becomes apparent that the nose has attained a higher social standing than

Kavalyov, and refuses to return to his face. Kavaltov goes to a newspaper office to place an

advertisement about his wayward nose, but if refused. He returns to his apartment where the

police officer (who caught Ivan trying to throw the nose into the river) finds him, and returns his

nose. The Police Officer caught the nose at a bus station, trying to flee the city. His joy is cut

short, however, as he finds that he cannot reattach the nose, and thinks it to be the curse of an old

woman named Podtochina, because he had refused to marry her daughter. He writes a letter,

asking her to undo the curse, but when his letter is misinterpreted as a proposal to marry the

daughter, he becomes convinced that she is innocent. In the city, people become aware of the

nose's escapades, and crowds gather in search of it. On April 7th, Kavalyov awakes and finds his

nose reattached. He goes to the barber, receives a careful shave, and goes off to parade about

showing off his nose.

Throughout this entire tail, no information is given on how the nose because detached,

why is was acting like a human, how it became reattached, or any of the ensuing questions. This

follows the (somewhat disjointed) form of absurdest literature. It has a plot, but its highly

irrational and without explanation, and the blatant Deus Ex Machina of the nose magically being

reattached, and arguably everything else the nose does, aids its classification of a member of the

Absurd.

Let our next example be Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. This is a very famous work,

and is referenced in a number of popular works.

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Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find himself inexplicably and incredibly

transformed from a human into a “monstrous vermin”. Please note that this is how it should be

translated, not the popular “Giant Cockroach” translation. Although this is how it is normally

portrayed, Kafka wanted to draw attention to his repulsion at this condition, as the literal

translation is “vermin” (“Ungeziefer”). Rather than be concerned about the fact that hes been

turned into a giant insect/vermin, he is highly concerned about how he will serve in his job as a

traveling salesmen; Gregor is the sole financial provider for his parents and sister, Grete, and

their financial stability is highly dependent on Gregor's working. Gregor's supervisor comes to

his house, demanding to see him. Gregor manages to roll out of bed and open his door. His

appearance horrifies his family and supervisor; his supervisor flees while his family chases him

back into his room. Grete attempts to care for her brother by providing him with water and the

stale, rotten food he now prefers. Gregor also develops the fears of a vermin, being effectively

shooed away by hissing voices and stamping feet.

However, Gregor keeps the best interests of the family at heart, and hides whenever

someone comes into the room, to protect them from his hideous form. To pass the time he now

spends alone, we crawls along the walls, and up onto the ceiling. No longer receiving money

from Gregor, the family picks up odd jobs, and his sisters care for him slowly deteriorates into

nothing. One day, Gregor ventures out of his room, and his own father chases him around the

dining room, throwing apples at him. One of the apples sticks in his back, causing an infection.

Due to his infection and his hunger, soon he is hardly capable of moving about his room at all.

Later, his parents rent out spare rooms in the house, and Gregor's room because a catch-all for

unwanted objects. Gregor, unable to care for himself slowly becomes covered in dirt and trash.
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One day, Gregor hears Grete playing her violin to entertain the lodgers. Gregor enjoys the sound,

following it out of his room, despite his current appearance, nursing a mild fantasy that his sister

would come to his room to play the music for him The lodgers see him and give decide they can

no longer stay there, refuse to pay the rent they already owe, and even threaten to sue the family

for keeping him in the same house they were staying in. Grete decides that the horrible creature

can no longer be Gregor, because Gregor would of left the family and released them from the

horrible burden he has now become, and decide that they simply must get rid of him. Gregor

hurriedly and alarmedly returns to his room, before finally dying from the apple-wound on his

back. The feelings of the family drasticly shift upon the discovery of the corpse, from regret and

sorrow they had felt at the burden, instead to joy and hope for the future. The family realises that

they aren't doing financially badly at all, especially since, following Gregor's death, they can take

a smaller apartment. The brief process of forgetting Gregor and shutting him from their lives is

quickly completed.

The possible implications of this story are numerous and one could easily write an entire

paper on this work alone. Its possible that it speaks of the transience of human life; How quickly

ones goes from a thriving member of a society to being a vermin, exiled and ostracised. Its

possible that its a study in the cruelty of the human phyche. Showing how Gregor, despite being

the families soul provider for a number of years, is cut loose and rejected when hes ceases to be

of any positive use. As with almost all absurdest literature, it is for the reader to decide.

Arguably one of the most popular absurdest works, and certainly one of the few to

become dangerously close to mainstream, is Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Samuel

Beckett was born on the 13th of April, 1906, to a nurse and an accountant for a construction
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company , near Dublin, Ireland. He had a wholly unremarkable childhood, not remembered with

fondness by Beckett, who later commented “I had little talent for happiness” (“Imagi-Nation”).

Beckett often stayed in bed until noon, and was a very morose and generally depressed

person. He was nomadic, traveling frequently and despising routine and habit, calling it a

“Cancer of Time”. It was because of this that Beckett visited Paris, and the city won his heart. He

stayed in Paris even during the World War, and fought for an underground resistance movement

until they were forced out,a nd he moved into the Unoccupied Zone (“Imagi-Nation”).

It was during his later years that he had an incident in Paris that would seem to echo

throughout his works. While walking the street one day, he was approached by a man under the

guise of asking for money. The man stabbed Beckett, which he would later learn resulted in a

perforated lung. Upon his recovery, Beckett visited his attacked in prison, and asked him why he

had attacked Beckett. The mans response was a bleak “Je ne sais pas, Monsieur.” “I do not know,

Sir” (“Imagi-Nation”). This disheartening phrase seems to accompany many of Beckett's lost and

confused characters.

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot was one of the first absurdest works to reach

acceptance outside of literary and scholarly circles. Waiting outlines a few days in the lives of a

pair of men, Vladimir and Estragon. The only thing outlined in the character description is that

both men wear bowler hats, and boots. Despite this sparse description, both characters reveal

more about themselves in the context of the play that any length of descriptive language could

dare approach.

Vladimir comes across as the more intelligent of the two vagabonds. He frequently muses

on topics such as religion, and philosophy, standing as a contrast to his companion. He also
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seems to be the more resilient of the two, or perhaps, simply the more tolerant. Estragon seems to

suffer from memory problems, and is concerned with simpler matters than his companion. The

issues he preoccupies himself with include what hes going to eat that day, or where hes going to

sleep. He seems to be either more fragile or less tolerant that his friend. Vladimir and Estragon

refer to each other with pet names throughout the story, Didi and Gogo, respectively.

The other two characters that make an important appearance in Waiting for Godot are the

slave Lucky, and his prodigious owner, Pozzo. Pozzo and Lucky make their entrance in such a

manner that it sets the theme of their relationship immediately. That is to say, Pozzo enters with

Lucky on a rope. Lucky is Pozzo's abused slave, and is carrying all the baggage for the

expedition that he and Pozzo are out on. He doesn't speak, and simply follows orders. There is a

distinct exception to this, however. At one point, Lucky has a hat put atop his head, and is

ordered to “think”. Lucky embarks on a tirade of rambling and disjointed thoughts. This speech

includes books, sports, rocks and many other topics. He slurs and alliterates, repeating himself,

and generally seems to brute force his way into a coherent thought. This speech is put to an end

when Didi and Gogo, with help from Pozzo, wrench the hat from the top of Lucky's head, with

Pozzo crushing it in the dust. Lucky slowly resumes his state as the mute slave thereafter. Pozzo

is loud, opinionated, and booming; ordering Lucky around with a heavy hand and no tolerance

for disobedience or delay. (“Beckett”)

Waiting for Godot is experimental and innovative. It helped to pioneer the Absurdest

Theatre (“Mayoux”). It, like The Metamorphosis, could arguably explore a wide range of ideas

and concepts. Among them are themes of Human Futility, a pointlessness inherent in everything

we do in this world. The fact that Di-do and Gogo are, as the name says, waiting for a man called
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Godot, but admit to not knowing if their in the right place, what time they were supposed to meet

him, or even that that they would recognize him if they saw him (at one point mistaking Pozzo

for Godot) seems to show that there is no definitive ending or goal. No matter what they do, they

could be wrong, or be doing nothing of any importance at all. They could be trying endlessly to

escape the cycle of waiting for Godot, but simply cannot, and this may be a powerful parallel to

human life.

Another potential theme of the Waiting is the tenancy of the human race to avoid or even

fear change. Near the end of Pozzo's stay on the stage, he states that he “Will be going now”. The

stage directions inform us that “no one moves”. There is a brief moment of silence and stillness,

then Pozzo comments “I don't seem to be able to depart” (“Beckett”). Although it seems

arbitrary, this is the precise type of scenario that makes Absurdest literature so popular among

people looking for something thought provoking, as it lends itself to interpretation and discussion

so readily.

Another possible theme is the depravity of the world that we all live in. Most plays have

elaborate or atleast interesting scenes and stage designs. This is not so in Waiting. The entire

given layout for the stage is as follows:

“A country road. A tree. Evening” (“Beckett”)

This is very very plain, and very depressing. Later on in the text it is learned that the tree

is an old dying weeping willow. This is very prophetic in itself, showing how seemingly

hopeless the surroundings are. Even though humans may try to make the world as warm and

welcoming as we can, there still may be nothing in it left for us in the end.

There is another very power theme that runs throughout Waiting for Godot; And that is
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the desire for companionship. Vladimir and Estragon both comment several times their

repulsion at the idea of being alone, and at one point seem to fear it. Estragon, in an attempt to

tell an upsetting dream he had to Vladimir, upon being told not to, quips back “It's not nice of

you, Didi. Who am I to tell my private nightmares to if I can't tell them to you?” (“Beckett”).

This need for someone to talk to and the caution to avoid ostracizing themselves is very

prevalent in Beckett's works. This point is driven home when, at one point, Didi and Gogo

consider hanging themselves to pass the time. This ideas is rapidly abandoned when Vladimir

realises that its possible that one of them would be left alone, a completely unacceptable outcome

in the eyes of our two vagabonds.

It is in these examples of potential ideas that Beckett has woven into Waiting that shows

why this particular work is such a good example of the Absurdest genre. Its lack of a plot, and

the apparent neutral morality of the characters (excepting Pozzo and Lucky) leave the perception

of right and wrong to the reader. The other examples of absurdest literature covered earlier in

this paper also demonstrate common threads among themselves and the rest of the genre

It is because of this that Vladimir the humble hobo has been called more inspirational

than “A dozen Susan Boyles” (“Brantley”), and continues to be popular long after its writing and

initial debut. The absurdest genre, even in its relative obscurity, will continue to shout volumes

into the silence that is introspective media in today's fast paced, extroverted world. And

hopefully one day, it will be more than scholars and literary students listening.
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Works Cited

"Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)." Imagi-Nation. Web. 7 Jan 2010.

Brantley, Ben. "Tramps for Eternity ." New York Times (2009): Web. 11 Jan 2010.

Beckett, Samuel. "Waiting for Godot." Samuel-Beckett.net. Web. 11 Jan 2010.

Mayoux, Jean-Jacques. Samuel Beckett. Longman Group Ltd., 1974. 48. Print.

Britannica, Encyclopaedia, and Philip Goetz. "Absurd, Theatre of the" The new encyclopædia
Britannica in 30 vol. 15th. 1. Chicago: 1993, 1993. 42. Print.

"Absurd." Webster's New World Dictionary. College. 1. Cleveland and New York: The World
Publishing Company, 1966. Print.

"Absurdist Fiction." GrossAbsurdity.com. Web. 28 Jan 2010.

"Ungeziefer." Beolingus. TuChemnitz, Web. 2 Feb 2010.