“More Out-There Thoughts”
One of the strangest moments in my undergraduate education came during the first
few weeks of freshman year. By that time school was in full swing, essays were
being assigned and grades were being handed out. It felt like “university”. Jonathan
screwed it all up. His essay on Waiting for Godot was so remarkably bad we had
public readings of it and most of the “pop quotes” of the time came from it.
“More out there thoughts”
“The play was written in two acts the same reason the bible is written in two acts”
In the end, it was Jon who was laughing. He ended up getting either a B+ or an A
on the assignment, both humiliating the more grammatically inclined and everyone
who ever took a cheap shot at him. The following is his essay in its entirety.
Did I Get It?
By Jonathan ___
Did I get it? Well, I actually don’t know, and by not knowing, I guess I didn’t, but at
the same time. I did pick up many aspects of it, I understood what Vladimir and
Estragon were going through, I understood their existence. At the same time, I
pondered many of the things that I took as “hints” towards the real meaning of the
play. I though that the play was written in two acts for the same reason that the
Bible is written in the New and Old Testament. I thought that the reasons that
people could not remember past in the second act had something to do with the
coming of Jesus in a sense, that now these people were saved and they needed
worry anymore, that they were now fine to go into heaven, because they could now
die and were fine, and that in the first act they were not saved and could not kill
themselves. That was just a thought, which did not make any sense in my head
after reading further and further into the second act. Perhaps you can see what my
mind was thinking at one point, or maybe I was just totally lost. I also saw Pozzo as
a snake, like in the creation “story”. I saw him tempting Vladimir and Estragon, and
maybe Lucky was someone that was his slave and could only think with the hat
because the hat was what could save Lucky, maybe that hat was more then the
reader first thinks it is. As far as liking Godot, I must say he does annoy me, and he
is never their for the characters, but then, if Godot, is actually God, maybe he was
there all along, but Vladimir and Estragon were blind to see him. As I type this,
more and more thoughts begin to creep into my head, more “out-there” thoughts
that may have some basis. I keep on thinking about the sudden blindness of Pozzo
and the dumbness of Lucky. I don’t get it, is it because they are being punished for
their ways? I also think that about what I think of God. I am Christian, but like most
rational people, doubt. I wonder if God does have “meanness” as a quality, or is it
something else that my human mind cannot comprehend? Is God(ot) really beating
the boys brother? Why Goat’s and Sheep? I know a song by a band called Cake
entitled “Sheep Go To Heaven, Goats Go To Hell”. Maybe that has something to do
with it, or maybe something to do with something. I am now more confused then
ever, but then again, is that not what a good book is supposed to do to you?
How this essay did so well is beyond me. My guess is that the kid was dating the
T.A. It’s the only explanation. Anyway, cheers to Mr. Jon A__ who managed to
shatter my faith in the Canadian education system.
