Beckett makes a fool of me.

During this week’s class, I have to admit that I found myself giggling a lot. This had nothing to do with Dr. Van Noordt because I thought she did a FANTASTIC job. I was giggling because I found it a bit funny that we spent 3 hours analyzing “Endgame” by Beckett.

I was reminded of an activity that I did a year ago with one of the classes I teach. It was an AP Spanish Language class and it was during May, after they had already taken the AP Exam. We had been working extremely hard up to that point, so we were a bit relieved, and worn out, after the test had been taken. You know the feeling. It is that gigantic sigh of relief where exhaustion and insanity hit you. Basically, I was at the point where my brain had reached its maximum temporal capacity and I was kind of in a surreal, delirious, on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown state. In other words, my brain went nuts for the day. So, I decided to have some fun and wrote down the most random nonsense on the board. Now, at the time I thought this was hilarious, but now looking back, I realize that I should have gotten more sleep ;) Anyways, I wrote down this babble on the board in the form of a poem. I then told my students, in a very serious voice, that this was called “abstract poetry.” The students were then to attempt to make sense of the poem and share their interpretations with the class. This lasted about 5 minutes, as I just couldn’t hold in my laughter any longer. Finally, I told them that I had simply written down arbitrary nonsense and they all started laughing hysterically as they, too, had gone insane. Then, they decided to write their own abstract poem, and it was actually kind of fun… and I am sure there is a lesson in their somewhere. If not, oh well because we needed a break.

Ok, so the point of this embarrassing story is that sometimes I wonder if we have a tendency to overanalyze things. Sometimes in my crazy head, when I am not daydreaming about new salsa dance moves, I fantasize about writing a “profound” novel or essay just for the heck of it. Then I wonder about how people will analyze my work and try to better understand my “message.” I’d probably find it amusing. Or maybe someone could actually figure me out, in which case I wish they could let me know what they find!

It sort of reminds me of that famous artist who wrote his name on a toilet bowl just to see if people truly appreciated his art, or if it was just his name that attracted them. Well, the toilet bowl is now in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, so obviously it was considered to be an amazing piece of inspirational art!

I enjoyed “Endgame.” I could sit here and analyze it and try to interpret its message, but I question if there really is one. Maybe Beckett just wanted to write a crazy play, and played with language and common themes that people are familiar with because he knew we would try to make connections. Maybe he just wanted to see what nonsense we could come up with… or maybe he wanted us to get what we, personally, wanted out of it. Or better yet, perhaps the reaction we have is the art. I don’t know. Sometimes, I think Beckett is somewhere laughing at us. I have to admit, I may join him in his absurdity and laughter. Earth can definitely be amusing... or depressing.