ASSIGNMENT : Modernist Literature

 

Name :- Dharti Makwana 

Batch :- 2019-2021

Roll No. :- 5

Semester :- M.A. Sem-3 

Enrollment No. :- 2069108420200024 

Submitted  :- Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of English, M.K.Bhavnagar University 

Email :- dharteemakwana789@gmail.com 

Paper No. :- Modernist Literature 

Topic :- 

Postmodernist Reading of "Waiting for Godot "

Introduction 

In art, postmodernism refers to a reaction against modernism. It is less a cohesive movement than an approach and attitude toward art, culture, and society. Its main characteristics include anti-authoritarianism, or refusal to recognize the authority of any single style or definition of what art should be; and the collapsing of the distinction between high culture and mass or popular culture.

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is often used as an example of a work astride two movements: modernism and postmodernism. It was written in 1955 when modernism was experiencing something of a revival in the wake of the Second World War, however, there is some distance between this play and earlier modernist works.

Without going into too much detail, modernism can be described as an early twentieth-century movement defined by formal innovation and the quest for meaning and self-realisation in an increasingly fragmented world (T.S.Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, anyone that ever wrote a literary manifesto). Postmodernism is both a reaction against modernist values and a natural progression from them; the quest for an overarching sense of meaning is largely abandoned, and the experimentation with new modes of expression is replaced by a reconfiguring of older modes (Thomas Pynchon, Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Ali Smith).

Research Question of this Assessment 

1. What are the basic features of postmodernism which will help us to analyze the text perfectly?

2. How can we say that Postmodernism is the term used to suggest a reaction or response to modernism in the late twentieth century.

3. Is it true that Postmodernism has opposite characteristics to traditionalism, realism?

4. Is there any there similarities between postmodernism and the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett 

Characteristics of the Postmodernism 

Postmodernism isn’t a word that’s easily defined, and its origins aren’t easily traced. We find it used to describe architecture, art, technology, and literature among other areas; either originating from modernism or opposed to it. Most notable is postmodern thought, which involves several key characteristics that are generally acknowledged by many of those who subscribe to the philosophy. In this instance, postmodernism is anti-modern, as evidenced in the following list:

1. Disillusionment with modernist thinking

Postmodernists are uncomfortable with the modernist’s inability to make strides in achieving peace and progress in society. Therefore, they challenge the conventional way of operating.

2. Opposition to traditional authority 

Overall, authority is dangerous and not to be trusted. Authority figures are to be opposed due to their loyalty to the establishment and rigid beliefs in moral truths.

3. Truth is relative

There are no impartial truths. They have been defined by people and groups who use them to obtain power. One individual’s perception of reality doesn’t always match another individual’s perception of reality. For instance, even though you may view an individual of the opposite sex as in a relationship based on their apparently conventional practices that suggest that they’retaken, they may not see themselves as in a relationship.

4. Facts are useless

Facts can change daily or they may be utter lies. This comes with believing that truth is subjective and that it’s something that shouldn’t be generally acknowledged.

5. Rationalization

Opinions are what matter in postmodern thinking. Provided that the opinion is rationalized, it can be accepted as the best explanation. This means that science is rejected for the reason that there is no objectivity.

6. Morality is relative

There isn’t a moral system that’s right for everyone. Traditional beliefs that have been accepted for hundreds of years fall by the wayside when people accept that truth is relative. This is where many Christians are at odds with postmodernists.

7. Each religion is legitimate

Postmodern thinkers believe that there isn’t one religion that’s “right.” Instead, all of them are legitimate. If you subscribe to a faith based on personal experiences and it’s compatible with you, then it’s accepted by postmodern thinkers.

8. Belief in internationalism

Postmodernists reject the idea of nationalism for the reason that it drives nations into conflict with each other, discouraging healthy human progress. Internationalism ensures that we’re looking out for the greater good, uniting instead of dividing.

9. Collective ownership

Postmodern thinkers disapprove of the idea of individual ownership. It would be most fair if we divided and distributed goods as a group. 

10. Equality

Postmodernists believe in equality for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation, class or religion. Therefore, there isn’t one right way to live.

What is Waiting for Godot about?

Waiting for Godot is centred two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, waiting on a country road for the elusive Godot. While they wait, they pass the time with a series of repetitive, habitualised activities. Soon, Pozzo and Lucky appear. The interaction between the four characters provides a brief distraction for Vladimir and Estragon before Pozzo and Lucky continue on their way. A messenger then arrives to let them know that Godot won’t be coming.

The two acts of the play follow exactly the same structure, though the second act is slightly shorter. It is a play in which famously “nothing happens, twice”:

Estragon: Nothing to be done

Vladimir: I’m beginning to come round to that opinion

It is classed as a tragicomedy in two acts. It earns this classification through the intermixing of the tragedy of the characters’ existential crises with the vaudevillian elements of physical humour and the form of the ‘double act’. The tragedy and the comedy are inextricable, each adding to the other.

There are any number of answers; it is about nothing, it is about waiting, it is about a life of meaningless repetition until death, it is about the moments of joy and comedy that break up a life of otherwise meaningless repetition until death.

Postmodernist Reading of Waiting for Godot 

Waiting for Godot is also a play in the Theatre of Absurd, a theatrical outcome of  postmodernism. Through the portrayal of characters, Beckeet asserts that at the root of our being there is nothingness. Vladimir and Estragon face an existential crisis as life seems nothing to them.This frustration is expressed through the repetition of the sentence, "Nothing to be done” by Estragon. Almost all modern people after two world wars experience the same feelings. Life appears to them as an absurd thing full of purposeless, nothingness and meaninglessness.

However, the play sometime confuses us and causes us to wonder if the play really has any meaning, or if the pair Vladimir and Estragon were just playing games with useless words. In a postmodernism study, Peter Barry discusses Nealon’s literary analysis of the play, claiming that 

“Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett’s play, engage in ‘language games’ of this type (the type of the language which is ‘disappearance from the real’), but without realizing their full significance”. 

So the postmodernists agree there is no “transcendent reality” behind those words and that, “They are actually self-validating, and provide us with the social identity we seek” Furthermore, Nealon says it is a play of the tramps’ words, there is no significant meaning in it 

“Waiting for legitimation of their society”and Godot is from the beginning unnecessary (Beginning Theory, 92). 

Maybe he is correct may be he is not, but the most important thing is to find out that Vladimir and Estragon represent us as Vladimir says 

“At this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it 

or not” (51).

While Postmodernism is difficult to define exactly, Waiting for Godot displays a number of the defining features of a Postmodern conception of the world. One of these is an alienation from tradition and a questioning of the grand narratives that were previously seen to have some kind of authority. This includes grand narratives of historical progress—that history is the story of human life continually getting better—as well as religious narratives like the Bible. There are some biblical and classical references in the play, but they are only used ironically. Estragon compares himself to Christ in act one, for example, but the comparison is rather ridiculous. And Pozzo invokes "Atlas, son of Jupiter!" but doesn't actually believe in the force of this classical reference (what's more, he gets his mythological family tree wrong). 

The religious and cultural traditions of the past have lost their authority and centrality in the world of the play. Another Postmodern feature of the play is a pervasive sense of entrapment or enslavement, but a lack of any central authority. 

Characters are often unable to move or get up from the ground for no apparent reason. Vladimir and Estragon are, in a sense, trapped in their place of waiting, even though no one is forcing them to stay. Pozzo is Lucky's master, but he is far from free or powerful. Everyone in the play seems to be trapped or enslaved in some way, but no one seems to be the master. The characters of Waiting for Godot are also profoundly disoriented: they don't know where, or when, they are. At this point I must have to  confess that I have used the term for postmodernism one in the concluding remarks of my own Beckett book

"A spiritual and  linguistic complexity of bucket collision at certain point with the brasher  superficial  and more technological  postmodernist culture( at somewhat ill defined term for literature used here only as pointer)"

At times, the characters don't even know who they are, as Estragon cannot remember his own past, for example. Finally, some of Beckett's characters feel a separation from reality. Both Vladimir and Pozzo question, in act two, whether they are actually awake or are simply dreaming. This confusion of reality with a dream or a false representation is a central, common feature of Postmodernism.

Seeing Beckett's play as Postmodernist is more than just labeling it as part of a particular literary movement; it gets to the heart of the world Beckett represents, one defined by alienation, entrapment, disorientation, and a questioning of reality. With the play's lack of specifics regarding its place or time, the circumstances of its events, or the particular back stories of its characters, Waiting for Godot can even be seen as a kind of allegory for the Postmodern condition.

Beckett wrote his play before Postmodernism really coalesced or was written about as a distinct period or movement. Nonetheless, while in some ways still belonging to Modernism, the play presciently depicts many of the defining aspects of a Postmodern world. In representing these negative features, the play can be seen as either a pessimistic indictment of the present or as a chilling warning of what the future might look like: as how Beckett saw the world to be or as he feared it might become.

Conclusion 

Thus, we can say that the play Waiting for Godot is an interesting play for a study from postmodernist perspectives. The character, setting, language, and the style of the play go with the later 20th century literary movement called postmodernism. Moreover, it is also debated whether Postmodernism continues the aspirations of Modernism, or is a more radical break with it. In any case, Beckett's play sits on the fence between these two movements.

Citations 

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory. Manchester: Manchester University press, 1995.

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. New York: Grove press, 1954.

Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. London: Methuen Publishing Limited, 1961.

Fredericksen, Erik. "Waiting for Godot Themes: Modernism and Postmodernism." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 15 Dec 2013. Web. 1 Dec 2020.

Tanaka, Mariko Hori. “POSTMODERN STAGINGS OF ‘WAITING FOR GODOT.’” Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui, vol. 6, 1997, pp. 55–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25781208. Accessed 1 Dec. 2020.Copy