10/5/26

It's 5:30pm.

I find Waiting for Godot both irritating and
interesting. Its like watching a car
repeatedly fail to start. At the turn of the
key, it would roar to life in a stuttering
crescendo, only to quickly return to its
initial inertia, over and over and over again.
Of course, it is not the car's fault that it
broke down. The same cannot be said for
Waiting for Godot, where the characters would
routinely sabotage any narrative movement.

Here are some of the ways they do that:

-> Estragon keeps forgetting past events.
When Vladimir tries to remind him, he
violently resists. In stories, future events
are built upon a shared acknowledgemet of the
past, for both character and audience. So much
time is spent reestablishing past events that
there is no opportunity to advance the "plot"!

-> Every time Estragon tries to tell Vladimir
about his dreams, a possible source of
character development, Vladimir would refuse
to hear it. Vladimir can't stand hearing
about dreams. Estragon is the grumpier and
more apathetic of the two. The fact that he
wants to share his inner world is a rare
chance for the audience to know him better.
Unfortunately, we never find out about 
Estragon's dreams.

-> Vladimir and Estragon would suddenly
argue sometimes, teasing the potential for
some conflict. But it always resolves itself
just as abruptly.

-> There's a running gag where one of them
(usually Estragon) says "I'm going" or "Let's
go" but doesn't move. And the conversation
just continues.

-> Theres also:
    "Let's go."
    "We can't."
    "Why not?"
    "We're waiting for Godot."
    "Ah."

-> They decide to hang themselves on the tree
multiple times throughout the play, including
at the end of each act. But they are unable
to for various reasons - no rope, belt's too
short, Godot might come. They would always
agree to bring a rope the next day, but would
forget. I wonder if ending their lives might
reflect the audience's desire to stop watching.

-> The characters often aren't listening or
paying attention to each other. This is
especially prominent when the pair interacts
with Pozzo. One character would ask a
question, the other would begin a monologue.
The initial character would keep repeating
the question until they get an answer, while
the other would monologue until they are done.
Both parties are too deafened by their own
preoccupations to hear what the other is saying.
This brings the narrative to a halt until they
finally notice each other again.

Side note: I think the way they call each
other Didi and Gogo is really cute. It adds
alot of warmth and humanity to this otherwise
desolate setting.

I finished reading the Waiting for Godot script
a few days ago. As I sat with it and started 
paying attention to my daily interactions, 
I realised that my irritation towards this 
play is the same irritation I feel when trying 
to communicate with other people. The 
interrupting, the forgetting, the pointless 
arguing, the repitition, the talking over each
other, the apathy. It's not as absurd as I 
thought. It's actually pretty unrealistic how 
characters perfectly hear and respond to each 
other in other media.

I have an ongoing art project thingie that
takes place in the fictional town of Bandar
Esok, where there is an eternal celebration
of Chinese New Year. At the moment, the
residents are unknowingly trapped within the
town by external forces. It might be worth
introducing a self-sabotaging element. Might
open up more narrtive possibilities.

(18/5/26 addition)
-> At the end of each act, a boy would come
to tell Vladimir and Estragon that Godot
isn't coming, and that he will come
tomorrow. The boy then asks for a message
for Godot. Each time the boy shows up, he
would forget his previous interaction with
the two men. It's likely that the message
never reaches Godot either. This reminds me
of a section from Beckett's other work -
Worstward Ho:

  "All of old. Nothing else ever. 
  Ever tried, Ever failed. Not matter.
  Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

When Vladimir gives the boy a message -
to tell Godot that they're waiting, there is
hope attached to it, hope that Godot will
acknowlege their diligence. Perhaps if the
boy reports their efforts enough, Godot would
be persuaded to come. But the boy always
forgets.

If the arrival of Godot is success, the
arrival of the boy would be failure.
Failure does not beget success.
Hard work does not beget success.

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