I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (Pause. Low) Let me in.
Samuel BeckettRead
She felt, as she felt so often with Murphy, spattered with words that went dead as soon as they sounded; each word obliterated, before it had time to make sense, by the word that came next; so that in the end she did not know what had been said. It was like difficult music heard for the first time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Communication can often be confusing and overwhelming, making it hard to grasp meaning.
In this quote, Samuel Beckett illustrates the challenges of communication through a character's experience with words that seem scattered and chaotic. The comparison to difficult music highlights how complex and intricate language can make understanding elusive, suggesting that the flow of conversation can sometimes erase clarity before meaning can be fully absorbed.
Themes
CommunicationConfusionLanguageUnderstandingMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the challenges of modern communication, this quote can illustrate how meanings can get lost.
More from Samuel Beckett
All quotes →Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
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I shall state silences more competently than ever a better man spangled the butterflies of vertigo.
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And what I have, what I am, is enough, was always enough for me, and as far as my dear little sweet little future is concerned I have no qualms, I have a good time coming.
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I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still, and each thing in its last place, under the last dust.
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We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom, our ideals.
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