Cultural and Historical Context World War II

• Hitler’s invasion of Poland drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany in September 1939 beginning World War II.

• In May 1940 as many as seven countries had fallen under Nazi control including France which had been split into several zones.

• As Hitler’s empire in Europe expanded, Jews all over the continent were forcibly transported to Polish ghettoes where they stayed in concentration camps.

• Nazi’s wanted the operation of these camps to be kept secret however the scale of their killings made it virtually impossible.

DANIELLE

BOWSER

The Manhattan Project• It was early in 1939 when the scientific community discovered that German physicists

had learned how to split a uranium atom. This spread fear over the possibility that scientists would utilize this energy to produce a bomb capable of unspeakable damage.

• Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi persecution, and Enrico Fermi, who escaped the Fascist Italy, informed the United States president of the impeding danger if this weapon was successfully created. Einstein urged for the development of an atomic research project in the U.S. In late 1941 the American effort to build an Atomic bomb began. It later became known by the

code name – the Manhattan Project

• Since secrecy was of large importance because the Germans, Japanese, and even the Soviet Union needed to be kept in the dark about the project there was also no public debate on this issue of nuclear weapons.

• On July 16, 1945 the world’s first atomic bomb was tested. It was at the trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The bomb had been affixed to a 100-foot tower and had been discharged shortly before dawn.

However, no one was properly prepared for the result. A blinding flash was visible for 200 miles, a mushroom cloud reached 40,000 feet, and it even

blew out windows of civilian homes 100 miles away. There was a half-mile crater left and there was so much heat it morphed sand into a green glass. They later named the glass Trinitite.

DANIELLE

BOWSER

The Ending of World War II• D-Day turned the tide against Nazi Germany on June 6, 1944.

The Normandy landings are often referred to as the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

• On May 8, 1945, the following spring, the Allies had formally accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany with Hitler having committed suicide just a week earlier.

• On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Totaling an estimated 120,000 deaths. Japan surrendered on August 15 officially ending World War II.

• A new age of nuclear weapons had begun and a cold war emerged that would last for decades to come.

DANIELLE

BOWSER

The Cold War• After World War II, tension between the United States and the Soviet

Union increased so much so that there was an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. Many were wary of Soviet communism and were concerned about Postwar Soviet

expansionism. At the same time Soviets resented being refused treatment as a legitimate part of

the international community.

• The containment strategy against any Soviet threat was providing rationale for an unprecedented arms buildup. The encouragement for any development of atomic weapons created an “arms race”. Soviets were testing their own atom bomb in 1949 as President Truman

announced the United States would build an even more destructive atomic weapon: the hydrogen bomb. This only heightened the stakes of the Cold War.

American and Soviet testing of such weapons released radioactive waste into the atmosphere.

• The hydrogen bomb was much smaller in size than the atomic weapon used to bomb Hiroshima however it was 2500 times more powerful. Russia successfully created theirs in 1953 once again only adding to the already

existing threat of nuclear destruction.

• The Cold War did not end until 1991.

DANIELLE

BOWSER

Social Changes & Psychological Effects

• The lingering threat of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War had a large impact on domestic life. Many had built bomb shelters in their own backyards and schools would even practice attack drills.

• The 1950’s and 1960’s were also filled with movie depictions of nuclear devastation and it left many people living in constant fear of another war that would destroy the world.

• After World War II, there was a large effort to permanently dismantle the war-making abilities of countries such as Germany and Japan.

War crime trials were taking place which often lead to executions or prison sentences.

Also many Germans and Japanese living elsewhere were expelled from the territories they called home.

• The Iron Curtain was a political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal itself and its dependent European allies from open contact with the West.

This only heightened tension between opposing countries and some families were even left divided.

• While the United States saw an economic boom after the war many places in Europe still laid in ruins while millions had been displaced.

War victims found it hard to return to normal life and they would often experience more challenges long after WWII ended.

DANIELLE

BOWSER

The Man of Avant-GardeThe L i fe of Samuel Beckett

• Born in the Dublin suburb of Foxrock • Had an older brother• He attended Trinity College from 1923

to 1927, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in French and Italian. During this time he developed a love for poetry • He was strongly influenced by fellow

Irish writer James Joyce• He is considered the last of the

modernists

J O H N M A G U I R E

Beckett’s Work• Assumption was Samuel Beckett’s

first published work• He won a literary prize the following

year for the poem Whoroscope • Beckett begun work on his first

novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, but didn’t publish it, because their was little interest from publishers • He released his most famous work,

Waiting for Godot, in 1953J O H N M A G U I R E

J O H N M A G U I R E

Endgame • A play by Samuel Beckett • The play was first performed in London, on April 3rd 1957 • After the initial performances, Samuel Beckett directed two other productions of the play, at the Schiller Theatre in Berlin, in September 26th 1967 • This play was performed in New York City in 2005

A (Post?) Modernist, Minimalist, Darkly Humored Phenomenon

One of the worst defined pairs of movements in the history or literature, the debate about what should be considered modernist and what should be considered postmodern is a lively one. As the name suggests, postmodern is easily described as a classification for what is no longer modern. But what is modernist?

Many scholars contend that no one can say for sure because while postmodern implies that there is a movement understood as “modern”, modernist work is actually a name for a large number of movements, which may or may not contain completely opposite sides of the spectrum depending on the area of each other.

A very good example of this is Samuel Beckett’s influential friend James Joyce. James Joyce is considered to be a modernist writer himself. However, Beckett time and time again contrasts his work with Joyce’s, claiming that he is heading in the opposite direction that Joyce did: “The more Joyce knew the more he could. He’s tending towards omnipotence as an artist. I’m working with impotence, ignorance.” (1522) If both were modernist, what would be postmodern? While a few analysts argue that Beckett was postmodern, the majority of critics assert that Beckett is modernist, and therefore, modernist literature is ill-defined.

With that being understood, it is more important to classify the literary movement for it’s sub-genres. Not only was it considered Avant-Garde, it was extremely minimalist. Not only was his play funny- it was dark, gallows humor.

DANIEL SEABAUGH

Debate: Postmodernist vs Modernist

DANIEL SEABAUGH

Minimalistic

To add on to Beckett’s own (possibly apocryphal) admission that he is working towards ignorance, it can be said that Beckett was one of the most influential minimalists. So much of what Beckett wrote was remarkably lacking in wordplay, a departure from earlier writers who were working towards mastery and intelligence in their writing. This made him intrinsically Avant-Garde- cutting edge- with his work.

Many of his plays were written in French, not English, which allowed him to easily avoid the temptation to show off his mastery of language. He once stated that writing in French allowed his to more easily “write without style.”

Reading the text on page 1526 exemplifies this the best. At the top of the page, it is shown that Hamm lacks creativity in his naming of his possessions.

When referring to the handkerchief he uses to stop his blood flow, he says “Old Stancher!”

When Hamm and Clov enter a conversation, both answer each other’s questions in the most literal way they can.

When asked if he had looked at the window, Clov just replies “yes.” Ignoring the subtext of the question from Hamm.

DANIEL SEABAUGH

Minimalistic Stage

In addition to the script for Endgame, the stage helps create the feeling of minimalistic.

The stage for the play is simply a room with a pair of windows, high enough up to require a ladder to see out of.

It is dark, and only one character has access to the outside world’s reality.

For all intents and purposes, the four characters are simply waiting until their dying days in a bunker- no doubt influenced by the fear of nuclear war at the time.

DANIEL SEABAUGH

Dark Humor The play is also filled with good examples of dark, or “gallows” humor. This means that situations that are painful or grave are presented in a way that makes us laugh. Watching a performance of the play reinforces this aspect, as each of the characters are ridiculous in description and in action.

https://youtu.be/ok7Vc3jczNg?t=2618 (following this link will lead to a funny interaction between Hamm and Clov. It’s pretty clear that neither of them are excessively cheerful in their everyday doings.)

“I haven’t made you suffer too much?”

“No”

“[Relieved.] Ah you gave me a fright! [Pause. Coldly.] Forgive me. [Pause. Louder.] I said, Forgive me!” “Why do you stay with me?”

“Why do you keep me?”

“There’s no one else.”

“There’s nowhere else.”

This series below from page 1527 sets the tone for the play- we are laughing at the obvious emotional abuse of Clov. The following back and forth between them reinforces their less than ideal relationship in a humorous way.

Literary AnalysisThe Glue called “relationship”• Loneliness, routine, and co-dependency keeps Clov and

Hamm together despite how they’ve come to detest each otheroClov needs Hamm as a provider of food and shelter. Hamm needs

Clov as his eyes and hands/legs to move about his small world (his room) as he is blind and too frail to do anything himself.

oHamm often tells Clov to leave him and wonders why he hasn’t yet. The minute he leaves the room, Hamm feels compelled to quickly call him back. He is unable to be by himself.

oEvery number is repetitive: how many steps Clov takes, how many knocks Hamm makes on the wall, how many Nagg makes on Nell’s ashbin, the daily viewing out the window (SparkNotes Editors)

• Nell is the only character dependent of herself and rejects the “farce” called “routine” by dying without warning

XAI

ROGERS

Into the Characters

Hamm• Afraid of change and finality• Obsessive Compulsive• Irritable and crabby• Separation Anxiety

Nell• Cynical

• Sternly realistic• Embraces Change and

finality

Clov• Loyal against better judgement• Hesitant to change and finality

• Forthright and honest• Forgetful at times

• Frisky• Youthfully optimistic• Dismissal of change and

finality

Nagg

XAI

ROGERS

- Hamm can’t imagine what Clov does in the other

room- Has a need to be

EXACTLY in the center of the room

- Limited items around him

- Limited capabilities

- A morbidly finite area reflecting

despair

- Hamm is in denial of anything good out the window yet he continues a routine of having Clov check for him - The Window is a symbol of hope for change yet it seems to never change until the arrival of a wandering child which Clov feels is his duty to kill

The Two Worlds

Both worlds

are gray and have reached

their final stage of

life

Inside the Room Outside the Room

XAI

ROGERS

Core Themes• “The title ‘Endgame’ refers to the final stage of a chess

match in which the outcome is clear” (Caruso 2). o Four characters, all very old and only have one more thing to

look forward to: death. Yet all but one are hesitant to ‘leave the board’ (McDaniel) even though they know they have no more moves to make.

• Hamm is the King but like in Chess he is limited in mobility. He relies on his Knight, bossing him from all over the board

• Circular Reasoning pervades the play; Hope and Despair being intertwined dualities. o They Hope for new life after death but Despair there is none and

Hope to find new life while yet alive but Despair there will ever be. Their entire existence in one of uncertainty.

• Hamm wants to know what’s out the window but dismisses it as “just as dead”. Life outside may have been destroyed by nuclear bombs (McDaniel). They describing outside as “Zero”.

XAI

ROGERS

Focus Questions

• Why do you think Clov was laughing when he peered out the windows? Why do you think Beckett arranged it that way? (Xai)• "Why do you think Samuel Beckett consciously distanced himself from the norm of become more and more intelligent and descriptive in his writing? Why do you think we use gallows humor so easily and frequently?“ (Daniel)

• Why do you think Beckett titled the play as Endgame and what relation does it have to issues going on in the world during the time it was created? (Danielle)

XAI

ROGERS

DANIELLE

BOWSER

JOHN

MAGUIRE

DANIEL

SEABAUGH

Sources Cited "black humour". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 19

Apr. 2015

Caruso, Maria K. (2011) "Outside of Here There’s Hope: A Heideggerian Analysis of Beckett’s "Endgame","Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 2, Article 8. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

"Cold War." History. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

"Effects of the WWII Atomic Bombs." Novelguide. Novelguide.com, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

"Iron Curtain." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Irvine, Martin. "The Po-Mo." The Po-Mo Page: Postmodern to Post-postmodern. Georgetown, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

"French literature". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015

McDaniel, Daryl. "Critical Essay on Endgame." Drama for Students. Ed. David A. Galens. Vol. 18. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Endgame.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

“The Manhattan Project." U.S. History. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

"World War II." History. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

"World War II." History Net. World History Group, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015. http://www.egs.edu/library/samuel-beckett/biography/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame_%28play%29