Beckett proposes a very bleak worldview through the use of language, and characters. The language plays a huge role because it does have a concrete meaning. Language is suppose to help people understand things through communication. In this play, language failed to do that because the reader is left with no concrete understanding of what the play is suppose to be truly about. The frequent pauses reflects the failure of language to explain stuff. In Beckett’s case, language failed to explain the holocaust and why it happened. There is no way to express the horrors of that genocide to a unaffected individual. Metaphors and similes would be used but language still fails because the experience cannot be truly explained by words.

In addition, the characters are all miserable. For example, Hamm is blind and has no legs while Clov is a servant who cannot sit. They are stuck in their positions in life. Both of them did nothing the whole play. Clov remains a servant but for no apparent reason. It seems that he is doing it because that is what he has been doing. Hamm has no sense of individuality even though he is living because he relies on another human for everything. It is a life that no person would want. It brings into question the meaning of our existence. This made my group think of life crises. Why do we try to so hard to achieve something when, in most cases, it will not be enough? As an individual, we are so insignificant to the world. The world will still survive no matter what humans do.

This lack of meaning gives opportunity for a new beginning. The only time the play had actual meaning was when a story was told by a character. This may be a opportunity for humans to progress. Knowing the faults of language, we can play with language again and create new stories. We can break pre-accepted meanings and form our own language for whatever purpose we want language to serve. The “accepted’ language failed us and therefore, we do not have to follow it anymore. By playing with language, the importance of artistic movements increases as they are the pioneers of new ways of thinking and are discovering new meanings in life. Break tradition and build something new to replace it.