Hello Friends,
This blog is my response to the task assigned to us by our teacher Dr. HeenaMa'am in the thinking activity on Waiting for Godot. So read, understand and enjoy. Happy Learning!!!
Waiting For Godot is about existential crisis of a human being. Read from the existential perspective the play is about futility and meaninglessness of life. It is observed that the characters are helpless and hopeless. They do not do anything except 'waiting' which does not add any meaning to their existence. They are like dead bodies without hope. It is the choice they made in their life.
Existentialism is about an individual's existence, choice and freedom in life. It is about meaning given to life by using the freedom to choose.
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So Let's find answers to some of the questions
Q-1 What do you think about the characters of the play?
Ans. Two homeless old men wait in a bare road with a single tree. They are in no particular time or place - nowhere and everywhere. Over two days they argue, get bored, clown around, repeat themselves, contemplate suicide, and wait. They're waiting for the one who will never come. They're waiting for Godot.
Q-2 What do you say about their activities and its significance?
Ans. Estragon and Vladimir, their activities are like rocking chair. Just as the rocking chair is moving but it goes nowhere. So similarly they every morning come at a place, wait whole day, talk useless and at evening go away without any gain.
When people are mentally unstable then they do such activities. But it's well said that
"Worrying is like a rocking chair."
The chair keeps moving but it won't lead us anywhere. So in life we all sometimes are trapped in such situations where we may also behave like Estragon and Vladimir. But this play teaches us that we've to come out of such situations and go ahead in life. Because it's of no use to wait for something.
"Something that's meant for us will come to us. Nobody can stop God's plan for our life."
So wherever we're in life, it's very important that to come out of such situations and go ahead in life. And not to do things that have no purpose and no output.
For the text is the perfect statement of futility and redemption, of lying in the gutter but looking at the stars, and audiences who seek the pattern of their own fears will find it for themselves. A hundred years from now, the recession, it must be hoped, will be in the history books, but Vladimir and Estragon will still be on a stage somewhere - still waiting for Godot.
Q-3 Is there any similarity between the situations in the play and the lockdown period of 2020?
Ans. This question can have two answers Yes and No.
Yes: The characters in the play are helpless and hopeless. So in Lockdown period we all were also waiting for the things to get normal. But it was a very long wait which made us bored sitting in the four walls at our homes. No fun, no play, no outings. It was really very much boring. We were doing routine things like the characters in the play. Get up do nothing special eat, play mobile and sleep. This was our same monotonous routine. This pause in life creates a gap in our minds which needs to be filled. We are disturbed.
No: No because we all had some purpose at least. For example, many of us were waiting for our exams, so we got some more time to study. Some of us tried to utilize this time and almost completed our syllabus, our preparations for exam. But in middle we were definately bored, enjoyed also because for the first we got so much time to study along with some free time too. We did some cleaning of the homes, which in routine life due to lack of time we are unable to do. We were free to do lot many things like reading story books, watching movies, reading novels. And most importantly we got some time when we were all together at home with our family which very rare in the hustle and bustle of city life. Normally in cities, both the parents are working, children busy with their own schedules, so for some time we were together with our families, watching television, movies, taking lunch, dinner together. We can also say that lockdown brought us close to our families. It brought the couples also more closer because otherwise when both are working, they hardly get some time to spend together.
Q-4 Did you feel like existential crisis?
Ans. First let's understand what does this term "Existential Crisis" mean,
Most people experience anxiety, depression, and stress at some point in their lives. For many, these emotions are short-term and don’t interfere too much with their quality of life.
But for others, negative emotions can lead to deep despair, causing them to question their place in life. This is known as an existential crisis.
☆ Existential crisis definition
“People can have an existential crisis when they start to wonder what life means, and what their purpose or the purpose to life as a whole is,” explains Katie Leikam, a licensed therapist in Decatur, Georgia, who specializes in working with anxiety, relationship stress, and gender identity. “It can be a break in thinking patterns where you suddenly want answers to life’s big questions.”
An existential crisis can affect anyone at any age, but many experience a crisis in the face of a difficult situation, perhaps the struggle to succeed.
☆ Crisis of isolation and connectedness
Even if you enjoy periods of isolation and solitude, humans are social beings. Strong relationships can give you mental and emotional support, bringing satisfaction and inner joy. The problem is that relationships aren’t always permanent.
People can drift apart physically and emotionally, and death often separates loved ones. This can lead to isolation and loneliness, causing some people to feel that their life is pointless.
☆ Crisis of meaning and meaninglessness
Having a meaning and purpose in life can provide hope. But after reflecting on your life, you may feel that you didn’t accomplish anything significant or make a difference. This can lead people to question their very existence.
☆ Existential crisis symptoms
Experiencing anxiety and depression when your life is off track doesn’t always mean that you’re going through an existential crisis. These emotions, however, are tied to a crisis when accompanied by a need to find meaning in life.
☆ Existential crisis depression
During an existential crisis, you may experience normal feelings of depression. These symptoms might include loss of interest in favorite activities, fatigue, headaches, feelings of hopelessness, and persistent sadness.
In the case of existential depression, you may also have thoughts about suicide or the end of life, or feel that your life doesn’t have purpose, Leikam says.
Hopelessness with this type of depression is deeply related to feelings of a meaningless life. You might question the purpose of it all:“Is it only to work, pay bills, and eventually die?”
☆ Existential crisis anxiety
“Existential anxiety can present itself as being preoccupied with the afterlife or being upset or nervous about your place and plans in life,” Leikam says.
This anxiety differs from everyday stress in the sense that everything can make you uncomfortable and anxious, including your very existence. You may ask yourself, “What is my purpose and where do I fit in?”
“It can present in the need to ask questions over and over again, or not being able to rest until you have answers to your questions,” says Leikam.
☆ Existential crisis help
Finding your purpose and meaning in life can help you break free of an existential crisis. Here are a few tips to cope:
☆ Take control of your thoughts
Replace negative and pessimistic ideas with positive ones. Telling yourself that your life is meaningless can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, take steps to live a more meaningful life. Pursue a passion, volunteer for a cause in which you believe, or practice being compassionate.
☆ Keep a gratitude journal to overcome negative feelings
Your life probably has more meaning than you think. Write down everything for which you’re grateful. This might include your family, work, talents, qualities, and accomplishments.
☆ Remind yourself of why life has meaning
Taking the time to self-explore can also help you break through an existential crisis, Leikam says.
If you have difficulty seeing the good in yourself, ask friends and family to identify your positive qualities. What positive impact have you had on their lives? What are your strongest, most admirable qualities?
☆ Don’t expect to find all the answers
This doesn’t mean that you can’t seek answers to life’s big questions. At the same time, understand that some questions won’t have answers.
To get through an existential crisis, Leikam also suggests breaking down questions into smaller answers, and then working to become satisfied with learning the answers to the smaller questions that make up the bigger picture.
As a student we may not feel like existential crisis during lockdown but we see our family members and others also who have lost their jobs, so they are in severe anxiety about how to survive now. The question arises when one is having no choice, people lost their jobs so of course the tension will arise of livelihood, they may worry about how now they will support their family. So somewhere around us we find many people in this type of existential crisis.
When dreams are shattered, plans are not working, real life situations differ from our expectations that one faces such existential crisis. And some faced depression during the lockdown period. Yes most of us faced depression also during this time due lack of outings and due lack of our favourite activities. It changed our life drastically and it's not easy to meet or to accept the changes so easily. It's difficult for our mind and body to cope up such a big change. So yes most of us, more or less, in one way or another, we did face existential crisis.
Q-5 What did you do to pass time?
Ans. I slept a lot to pass time. In morning also I used to get up late and afternoon I used to sleep. So most of my day used to go in eating and sleeping and in other time I used play with mobile. We can say that such a thing arises due to depression also. We were bored, can't go out, and what better can one do than this! I was also tensed about exams, whether they'll be taken or not because again and again they were postponing the exams and if exams will be taken then when? All these and many questions disturbed our minds. Can we study for all the many like around more than six months without getting out of our homes. It's nearly impossible. And that leads us to many mental and emotional disorders. So we can say that we were totally helpless in such situations of Corona pandemic and lockdown.
Q-6 How was your psychological condition?
Ans. My psychological condition was not so good. I was very much disturbed. I don't like to sit at home for so many days. On one hand I was not able to concentrate on my studies and on other hand the stress that if exam will be taken then? My condition was like Hamlet "To be or not to be." It's said that prayer helps us a lot and may be if today I'm able to write this blog then it's only because of grace of God. May be God heard my prayers and helped me till here to do what I'm supposed to do. My deep prayers helped me to deal with the worst situations in life. So I believe that prayers from the heart are always heard by God. God helps us to do what's impossible for us to do. God gives us strength to deal with difficulties that life brings.
2,033 Words.
Works Cited
1. Higuera, Valencia. "Existential Crisis: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment." Healthline, www.healthline.com/health/existential-crisis#symptoms.
2. Smith, David. "David Smith on Why Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot Still Matters More Than 50 Years on." The Guardian, 26 Mar. 2020, www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/mar/08/samuel-beckett-waiting-for-godot.