great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Emptiness and hardship are one of many themes connecting these three works. The characters portray some sort of sign of deprivation and suffering. Not only is this shown through emotion but setting as well. In the Endgame for instance, the story for the most part takes place in one grey room with very little natural light. Not to mention Clov’s parents living in trash bins. In addition, all of the characters seem to be losing their purpose and feel some sort of emptiness in their lives. In the video for example, it seems as if the purpose was to depict what the characters were feeling inside as opposed to what they depicted on the outside through their facial expressions. On the other hand, in certain situations one can only take so much hardship to the point where their lives come to an end, unfortunately.

• Farhan Zaman

As Farhan said certain situations one could only take so much hardship to the point where their lives come to end. In The Endgame all the characters are dealing with hardship, Clov’s parents live in the garbage, Clov is blind and disabled, and Hamm serves Clov.  All these aspects don’t allow the characters to live a life filled with substance, which shows their hardship will lead to their lives ending. By watching Breath you are able to see hardship in the setting, the setting appears to be a room filled with garbage.  Hardship is also seen in Breath by hearing the sound of breath and gasp of air of an absent character, then all of a sudden it goes silent making me believe their live came to an end. Lastly while reading Virginal, Vibrant, and Beautiful Dawn hardship is seen throughout the whole poem but the line that stood out to me the most was  “Phantom whose pure brightness assigns it this domain, It stiffens in the cold dream of disdain”.  This stood out to me because in my opinion it meant the Phantom was fighting his hardship, by looking for pure brightness but because a phantom isn’t supposed to be perceived in light so his life came to an end because he couldn’t overcome being a phantom.

-Katarina Stojanovic

Farhan and Kat provide great insight on the three pieces that come together sharing the ideas of hardship and emptiness. In Breath, the sound, the hard breathing as if you’re in pain, struggling to even catch a breath, show the hardship and the setting makes you feel alone. As if whatever it is that’s breathing so hard, is by itself, struggling in that moment. You don’t know for how long, or when, but you know there’s something uneasy about everything going on at that moment. In Endgame, emptiness and lonely surrounds the characters with their cold behaviors towards each other as well as the physical space they occupy. The house is empty, even if there is people in it. In Virginal, Vibrant and Beautiful Dawn, the swan as majestic as it is, it struggles alone in its environment. The environment gets the best of the swan, as does for Hamm and Clov or the odd voice that is trapped by its environment.

-Onu Mezbah

As my classmates previously mentioned all the pieces portray a very dramatic and dark setting.  In “The Endgame”, the hardship and suffering is strongly expressed through the characters physical condition and situation in which they live.  In “Breath”, the agony is shown through sounds and in the poem, the agony is expressed by using very words that illustrate a very negative imagery.  The poem reminds me to “The Endgame” in a sense that they are both very hopeless with a dark future ahead.  “The horror of the earth will remain where it lies.”  It is one of the most clear sentences in the poem and I believe it connects directly to The Endgame’s constant pain and struggles.  All in all, I feel both pieces share very sad and dramatic themes, “The Endgame” does it through imagery and characters while the poem through a very strong use of words.  

• Joaquin Azcue