Soviet Union example essay topic

The mood and attitude of Samuel Beckett's 1957 play, Endgame, are reflective of the year of its conception. The history that reflects directly on the play itself is worth sole attention. In that year, the world was a mixed rush of Cold War fear, existential reason, and race to accomplishment (Garraty 307). Countries either held a highlighted concern with present wartime / possibility of war, or involvement with the then sprouting movement of Existentialism. The then "absurdist theater" reflected the values and concerns of the modern society (Petty). The accomplishments of man, such as the Soviet launching of both Sputnik satellites, sparked international competition.

1957 was not a year of unification and worldly brotherhood, it was a time that pushed for individual accomplishment and responsibility. The world Endgame describes is a post-apocalyptic nightmare. There is a dwindling supply of pain medication and food, and most of the natural resources have utterly disappeared. Gulls, sawdust and even sunlight has ceased to exist " (Klaus 453-487). The inhabitants of this world are waiting for death, as it seems inevitable, and no longer hold to the hope of salvation. Even the dialogue produces a sense of sterility, being that Hamm and Clov believe they are the specks of life left on the planet.

References to death are scattered throughout the play. As Jacques Le marchand described it, "this may be the very game we play all the time, without ever believing it to be as close as it is to its end" (Klaus 484). The metaphor for death or coming to the "end" is referred to in the first lines of the play as Clov says, "Finished, it's nearly finished, it must be nearly finished" (Klaus 465). In the real world, the threat of nuclear war gave the people of both America and the Soviet Union a raw realization of the possibility of a barren and dead world, such as the world in Endgame. In Russia in 1957, it was noted that the "big guns" were as equally belonging to the Communist East, as to the Democratic West. Regarding Soviet Communism, a reporter for the New York Times commented, "Since 1945 United States foreign policy has been forced to concern itself with one major threat to the peaceful and orderly development of the kind of international community the American people desire" (Cold War).

America was seen worldwide as having the main responsibility of facilitating an end to Communism. As it was then, the "Soviet Union" not only had access to nuclear weapons capable of mass destruction, but they had an upper hand over The United States in the ever-competitive area of space exploration. In October, they successfully launched Sputnik I, the world's first artificial satellite (Stiefel 157). As a follow up achievement, in November Sputnik II was launched, carrying a dog-named "Laika" to study adaptation to space.

A heavy news highlight, which could be seen as integrated meaning into the macabre situations of the characters in the play, was that Laika did not survive the "accomplishment" of space travel (Cold War). Soviet technological know-how introduced new international competition in space exploration and missile capability. The Soviet Premier, Nikita Khruschev, had emerged from the post-Stalin interregnum as the new leader, and was eager to fan the flames of American / Soviet relations. Although the missile that launched both Sputnik satellites was too primitive for military deployment, Kruschev claimed that "long-range missiles were rolling off the assembly line like sausages", a lie that allowed US President Eisenhower's opponents to perceive a "missile gap" (Garraty 329-332). Kruschev tried to gain control over the "gap" in a series of crises, but his motives proved faulty and in turn provoked reactions in China, the United States, and Europe which hurt his own political support in the Soviet Union (Stiefel 160). Elsewhere in the world, other nations experienced tumultuous inter-relational struggles.

In Arab countries, political and economical unrest led to the formation of two unions. The first union was the "United Arab Republic", and was between Egypt and Syria (Garraty 333-335). The second, and more actively violent, union was the "Arab Union" made up by Iraq and Jordan. The attempt to live separately as factions proved inefficient, as both unions broke apart by 1958 (Garraty 326). In 1957, United States Marines landed in Lebanon to assuage hostility provoked by the "United Arab Republic" support of civil war, which led to violent counter protests (Garraty 340).

Nations were reforming by altering foundational politics of their land. In Asia, Malayan independence was reached that year. In Indonesia, "guided democracy" had been introduced, however resulting in revolts through the islands of the country (Garraty 342). Independence of the Gold Coast in Africa was reached through constitutional reform near the end of the year. There were "finely printed" strides of progress that were lost in the highlights of 1957 going on all around the world. Aside from wars, agreements, weapons, etc. that moved the headlines of the world in 1957, a new school of thought was being practiced and interpreted, more localized in Europe.

France, the birthplace of the play, fostered a school of thought that mocked the "absurdity of reality", inspiring a theater movement that embraced hopelessness and despair and seasoned it with a dash of poignant humor. The obvious influence of the nature of the play, is the idea of existentialism and how it can interpret one's view of life. In 1957, the full swing of new dramatic literature leaned towards "absurdist theater", which often pointed out the "meaninglessness of life" (Sandberg). A headliner in the world of existential philosophy was Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre was recognized and later accepted by American academic philosophers, and placed an emphasis on individual responsibility, choice, and freedom "helped reinvigorate" American philosophy (Eiermann 22). The world of 1957 was an "almost wartime" as well as a gardening ground for existential thought.

Sprouting from this time of fear, pessimism, and doubt, grew Beckett's Endgame, reflective of contemporary event and thought. From the threading of profound thought of the times into a story where the characters had no choice but to be subjects of the "absurdity of life", Beckett proved that art does indeed reflect life.

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