Academic: Watt Literary Analysis

6-2 Short Paper: Watt Literary Analysis

Shifting times often bring up shifting ideas, encouraging many to take a step out of zones of comfort to embrace new ideas. While considered a Modernist by definition of times, Samuel Beckett is well known for his contributions to the pioneering of Postmodernist literature. In the novel Watt, Beckett encompasses a beginning to the pioneering of postmodernism qualities through his use of Fragmentation to encompass the chaos of life through a unique narration style breaking from traditional molds.

In postmodernism, fragmentation represents the deliberate acknowledgment of authors to the chaos of life through the experimental chaos of the word. Unlike modernists, postmodernists did not find sorrow or loss in fragmentation, but embraced it as a means to embrace the world, creating a question of subjectivity. Given the chaotic nature of the writing of Watt, this novel represents this shifting view from modernism to postmodernism. The way Watt is written is, on its own, very chaotic. The story features very limited streamlined plot and consists, instead of many chaotic instances of events. An example is the chaotic nature in which Watt attempts to enter Mr. Knott’s estate:

Finding the front door locked, Watt went to the back door. He could not very well ring, or knock, for the house was in darkness.

Finding the back door locked also, Watt returned to the front door.

Finding the front door locked still, Watt returned to the back door.

Finding the back door now open, oh not open wide, but on the latch, as the saying is, Watt was able to enter the house. (Beckett 29)

In this scenario, Beckett describes a moment of chaos through Watt’s interactions with his environment. He takes advantage of repetition to display the disorderly and chaotic environment, disrupting the flow of an already breaking plot utilizing repletion as a way to represent the fragmentation in an experimental stylistic manner. Anna Teekell observes the chaos of the novel as a break from traditional readings, bringing discomfort to the readers in attempts to acknowledge the individuality of the work “The novel is so riddled with lists and repetitions…that even the most devoted reader might be tempted to skim. In format alone, that is, the book is very nearly unreadable…To read Watt, then, is to be aware of reading as particularly difficult work,” (Teekell). These breaks help represent the chaos of the piece, indicating a post-modernist observation through the use of repetition to tackle the ideas of meaning within the works, confronting the fears of shifting tradition in a way that displays a back and forth battle with change.

Beckett’s work is further fragmented by his unique choices in format and literary style. He repeatedly utilizes unique word choices and interruptions within the work that fracture the story as a whole, such as division of the following lines

And then to pass to the next generation there was Tom’s boy young Simon aged twenty, whose it is painful to relate

?

And his young cousin wife his uncle Sam’s girl Ann, aged nineteen, whose it will be learnt with regret beauty and utility were greatly diminished by two withered arms and a game of leg of unsuspected tubercular origin… (Beckett 82)

Beckett fragments his paragraphs in a unique and unexpected style, stopping short at a strange place following the word “relate” in insert a question mark before continuing to run on in his narration, providing no true and apparent reasoning for the break grammatically. He further does this through his inclusion of seemingly erratic and out of place inclusions such as “Krak! -- -- -- -- -- -- -- / Krek! -- -- -- -- Krek! -- -- / Krik! -- -- Krik! -- -- Krik! –“ (111) and continuing in similar repetition. In utilizing these unique breaks in his work, and continued repetition, Beckett fragments his work further to emphasize the chaos not just of the piece itself, but also the thought process behind it. Beckett presents that there is no simply way to examine something for an exacting answer, as the mind itself is questionable, just as the world. He subverts traditional storytelling for a way to further break traditional examination of the mind and of literary composure. In doing so, Beckett brings to attention the importance of this literary experimentation in this novel as an experiment itself.

In the novel’s initial composure, Beckett makes it clear that this novel, as it is, is in and of itself, an experiment. Representing this, the title of the book, Watt and the character of the same name can literally be seen as meaning “what?” With this observation, the importance of the fragmentation of the story can be seen as it represents this very question presented from the very beginning: what? The fragmentation in this story, represented by unique pursuance’s of linguistic style, allows the reader to consider this question, and brings up the questioning of traditional literature, Zsolt Sogor relating this to the dysfunctional switches between French and English language in the book “Watt is, however, an English book. Yet, it has a sort of transitory character, it presses the problematic of language so much that the reader is bound to feel some doubt at least concerning language,” (Sogor). It allows for the observation that there is, as it were, no exact way to define things or life, an important characteristic in post-modernism. There is, at points, sometimes no more to a word than what is shown, and this is represented in importance by Beckett’s final lines in the novel “no symbols where none intended,” (Beckett 214) in reference to that which as discluded because of “fatigue and disgust” (205) acknowledging that, despite the chaos, everything is in its place, and should be defined only as it were. However, given the nature of this novel and the intentions behind it to ask questions such as “what”, its subjectivity is called into question. It leaves father questions regarding where symbols were meant to be, what they were meant to represent or if they were meant to be intended at all. Leaving the reader with this final Addenda, Beckett, in doing so, fragments the very story from the reader as it challenges the reader to find withheld understanding among the chaos around them, embracing the skepticism of exact understanding and explanation just as Watt attempted to do.

In his writing of Watt, Samuel Beckett began to encompass characteristics of a new standard, progressing towards the pioneering of Post-modernism through the use of fragmentation as a method to define chaos and break from traditional storytelling. Through his use of repetition, unique breaks in story, and disjointed literal symbolism, Beckett presents his desires to experiment with unique literary style. The use of fragmentation extends beyond the use of a fragmented way of storytelling, but extends into the division of the reader from their world of understanding, having the reader question the consciousness of the story as well as of themselves. In doing such, Beckett succeeds in breaking understanding and creating a story that assists in pioneering a novel that breaks traditional ideas in favor of moving towards a new age.

Works Cited

Beckett, Samuel. Watt. New York Berkeley, Calif: Grove Press,Distributed by Publishers Group West, 2009. Print.

Sogor, Zsolt. "Beckett between the lines: from Murphy to Watt." The AnaChronisT, 2004, p. 80+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/apps/doc/A225938465/LitRC?u=nhc_main&sid=LitRC&xid=408b4848. Accessed 8 Feb. 2020.

Teekell, Anna. "Beckett in purgatory: 'unspeakable' Watt and the Second World War." Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 62, no. 3, 2016, p. 247+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/apps/doc/A464822663/LitRC?u=nhc_main&sid=LitRC&xid=a2d48c69. Accessed 8 Feb. 2020.