The Negative Effects of Knowledge in Becketts Waiting for Godot and Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Negative Effects of Knowledge in Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five The whole of our existence seems to often be that of scientific advancement. Technology and the cold, hard facts are often placed above human values. A country's, or an individual's, power is marked by its technology, its "smarts." So everyone constantly strives to outsmart one another. Of course, with technology comes great power. The power to build and create and the power to destroy. Oftentimes the one leads to the other. Take for instance the creation of the atomic bomb, a huge leap in technology and knowledge that, once created, destroyed the lives of millions. Knowledge can be used for or against us, depending on who is holding the strings. Of course we want to be the ones holding those strings, standing behind the defenses of our war weapons, but what if the tables were turned and our "smarts" and technology could not save us? Is there something else that can be taken from this world besides this scientific advancement? What is it that civilization needs besides more and bette r machines and more insight into the basic nature of the universe? Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot asks that same question. Is there more to life than simply knowing things? The two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, seem not to know anything at all, even the reason why they come to the same tree to wait everyday for someone named Godot. They constantly have to remind one another why they are there and waiting. Is there really any purpose to their lives? Beckett seems to think that the answer, not only for Vladimir and Estragon, is no. There is no meaning to the monotonous existence that we put ourselves through day after day after day. If indeed Beckett is symbolizing God as the man Godot who the naà ¯ve fools constantly wait for, he is also insinuating that they are wasting their lives because Godot, or God, is never going to come. Either He does not really exist or He does not care enough about these poor, gullible fools to come. Beckett is trying to show that civilization needs to rid itself of its "misconceptions" about the existe nce of God; that these people who have "got religion" are wasting their time waiting around for a being that either does not exist or does not care. Either way, Beckett thinks they are wasting their time.