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Were headed for collapse, if you want my opinion, Missy. I can see it in the fallin off of the quality of vagrants. There was a time you could find real good company in almost any jungle youd pick, men who could talk, men whod read a book now and then; and now, what do you find, a lot of dirty little guttersnipes no decent tramp would want to associate with. Well, its been that way all through history. John Dos Passos In Kosovska Mitrovica during February 2001, the city library, after 130 years of work no longer exists. More than 11 thousand books in Serbian language were destroyed, recycled as old paper at the Factory of Waste Paper in Vladimir Han.
Any books regardless of language with topics related to Serbian culture were not spared. Luckily by pure chance, the last bundle to be thrown into the melting pot fell apart saving around a thousand books. It is alleged that the present director Mr. Harjrullah Mustafa, who is an ethnic Albanian is responsible for the destruction of the books in an attempt to eradicate the Serbian culture. This is evidence supporting that the destruction of cultures continues today. We have seen the effects of civilizations deterioration in the West.
With the collapse of values, what remains is a mass of hollow men falling away from articulation into the abyss of uncertainty. Christian traditions of 1900 years has dissolved into nothing. Values that once determined behaviour, motivated the weak to be strong, and encouraged right from wrong have become nonexistent. Men lack activity; conversations are bleak; time stands still. Without a center to provide a strong foundation, things fall apart.
Without a God and pronounced values, cultures collapse. Total collapse into meaninglessness would never be conceived as a possibility of a creature made in His image. Values that once flowed from the heavens now flow barren with no chance of revival. Heaven will not direct no more.
With the collapse of values mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. The truth of this predicament is clearly illustrated in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. The author presents this collapse by his characters lack of activity, absurd and meaningless conversations, and their treatment of time. The collapse of values is expressed by the inactivity of the characters in Waiting for Godot. His central characters, Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for Godot, of whom they know little. Estragon himself admits that he may never recognize Godot saying, Personally I wouldnt know him if I ever saw him.
The rest of the story follows with the two main characters waiting, without instruction or guidance just to wait til we know exactly how we stand, says Vladimir. Albert Camus believed that boredom or waiting, which is essentially the breakdown of routine or habit, causes the individual to think. He believed that attempting to answer these rhetorical questions of identity could drive someone to the point of insanity. We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression that we exist?
Waiting in the play induces boredom that is illustrated by the mundane repetition of actions. The two tramps repetitively inspect their empty hats and attempt to pass the time playing games and entertaining themselves. Baseless optimism; positive pretending; false hope; they wait. The opening of the play reveals a poor homeless tramp struggling desperately to pull his boots off. One foot is apparently swollen and sore, and he struggles in vain. That activity took a while to carry out, and after finally removing the boot, his partner plays with his hat and notes theres Nothing to be done.
These scenes collaborate to pursue the drift toward confusion. Man has no purpose, existence seems to be something imposed upon us by some unknown force. The world seems utterly chaotic, and though there is no apparent meaning to it, the characters suffer as a result of it. As time passes, Vladimir and Estragon quarrel, make up, contemplate suicide, try to sleep, entertain each other with stories, eat a carrot and gnaw on some chicken bones. Their pathetic attempts to fabricate a purpose all aim to distract themselves from the fact their situation is hopelessly unfathomable. It is unquestionable that the characters in Beckett's play are simply low in every aspect of human activity.
The individual has no place, modern man has no voice and is lacking in substance and will. Both characters are aware of different choices they can make but are hesitant, anxious, and generally inactive, as shown at the end of Act I when they decide to leave but are immobile. Throughout the play, Vladimir and Estragon remain stupidly cheerful, they act rather comical and their pointless activities make their hollowness apparent. T. S. Eliot's The Hollow Men, describes a world distant and terrifying.
No man can withstand the immense pressure of a mass society, and the timidity puts him into a paralyzed trance. The two tramps do nothing; their lives are futile; their work is barren. The setting of the play mirrors the barren wasteland of modern men. It is home to a herd of sheep in search of nothing, with nowhere to go.
Values drive behaviour, without a strong sense of duty, actions are bleak and the fall from virtuous conduct is inevitable. This is the collapse of values, two tramps returning to the same place, every day to wait for Godot, who never comes. They merely deflate. Without values, the center cannot hold; without meaning, conversations become dull. The low caliber of dialogue in the play shows empty men amidst a paralyzing sea of fear. There is utter confusion and it is seen in the characters inability to complete sentences, repetition of phrases and words, rhetorical or unanswered questions and their absurd vocabulary.
Estragon and Vladimir continually subside into the futility of their situation, reiterating the phrase, Nothing to be done. Vladimir also resolves with the notion that life is futile, or nothing is to be done. They back out from suicide saying, Dont lets do anything. Its safer...
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Research essay sample on Waiting For Godot Vladimir And Estragon
