Trips of Death and Alienation in Beckett's All That Fall

Abstract

Samuel Beckett, besides writing for the stage, has during his long career written for both radio and TV. He has also written one script entitled Film which was filmed for the New York Film Festival in 1956. All That Fall was written in 1956 and it is the longest Radio play of Beckett. Suffering, a fundamental attribute of existence, constitutes the centre of Beckett's plays and the plays demonstrate, in turn, different kind or human responses to suffering. Maddy's deep sorrow and anguish at the loss of her daughter Minnie arouses her desire for an end, what she calls to be" in atoms''. Dan, Like Hamm, overcomes the Absurd by exiling himself to suffering and refusing to be intimidated or beguiled. Unlike Hamm's insistent attempts to exterminate all life, Dan understands the futility of such effort and restrains himself from giving in to that kind of impulse. But the irony is that death is all around him underscoring the fact that death and alienation are no solution to the problems of life.