Here I am sharing My Presentation of Course No. 14: The African Literature based on Comparison between The Swamp Dwellers and Waiting for Godot in a manners of Absurdity at the center.

1. Name :- Pritiba B. Gohil
Roll No :- 21
Course No. 14 :- The African Literature
Presentation Topic :-
Comparison between The Swamp Dwellers and Waiting for Godot
in a manners of Absurdity at the Center
Enrolment No :- PG 14101016
M.A. English Semester - 4
Batch Year :- 2014 - 2016
Submitted To :-
Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

2. What is Absurd ?
 Theatre of the Absurd, dramatic
works of certain European and
American dramatists of the 1950s
and early ’60s who agreed with
the Existentialist philosopher
Albert Camus’s assessment, in his
essay “The Myth of Sisyphus”
(1942), that the human situation
is essentially absurd, devoid of
purpose.
 Martin Esslin's views in his
classical book, The Theatre of the
Absurd.

3. What is Absurdity
 Absurdity means the quality
or state of being ridiculous or
wildly unreasonable.
 Absurd is a musical word.

4. Some examples of Absurd
plays

5. “The Swamp Dwellers” as a
Absurd Play Compare to Waiting
For Godot.
ByBy
ByBy

6. How They Represents
Absurdity :-
 Soyinka on his part succeeds
through the incorporation of
the African idiom, myth and
ritual from which
perspective he explores the
absurdity of the human
condition against the
background of African belief
systems.
 Beckett employs the
modernist avant-garde
theatrical techniques
and Christian concepts
to project the absurdity
of human existence.

7. Differences and Similarities
between The Swamp Dwellers and
Waiting for Godot
Differences :-
The Differences in terms
of
1.Regions,
2.Cultures
3.And techniques
between Waiting for
Godot and The Swamp
Dwellers.
Similarities
:-
The similarity in terms
of
1.Setting,
2.Characterization,
3.and Themes

8. Setting :-
The Swamp
Dwellers
 Urban and rural life in
Swamp Dwellers.
 The play open and end in
Hut.
 Unity of Time and Action is
also Followed.
Waiting for
Godot
 A country road. A tree.
Evening Time.
 Unity of Time, Place
action is not followed.

9. How this Idea of Absurdity is
Conveyed in both the Plays
 The absurdity of the
villagers' life is enacted
through a surfeit of
technical elements which,
in their totality,
communicate and animate
the feelings of loss,
desolation and
barrenness.
 Example :-
 In form of dialogues.
 As in Becket's Waiting
where the intensity of the
action and the singularity
of effect is conveyed
through a condensation
of action and characters.
 Example :-
 Character like Vladimir
and Estragon.
 And their pointless
actions they are doing.
“Nothingness” is at the center
as a main Theme in both the
plays.

10. Absurdity reflects trough
Dialogues The Swamp Dwellers a
similar atmosphere of
foreboding and expectation
is conveyed through Alu's
question,
"Can you see him?"
To be replied by Makuri's
disappointing answer,
"See who?" (81).
 As in Waiting where a
general atmosphere of
futile waiting for the
unknown, as well as the
unidentified, is
accompanied with a
desolate hope indicated
by Estragon's first
utterance
ESTRAGON:
(giving up again).
“Nothing to be
done.”

11. Theme of Endless Waiting or
Theme of Absurdity
“Waiting is Endless
Process”.
As in Beckett's Waiting where the main subject is
not Godot, which might represent a thing, a
person, god, an event, death…etc, but the action
of waiting itself is the main subject of this play.
In Waiting for Godot both characters are waiting
for Mr.Godot but He never comes on the stage or
no any information about him is given to us.
Characters are doing action of ‘Waiting’. Means
doing nothing.
Which is the most evident experience of time,
and which is enacted through the form of the play
itself.
In The Swamp Dwellers they are waiting for
Awuchike but He never appears on the stage. And
he is Son of Alu and Makuri only this much
information is provided to us.

12. Hopelessness
Hope And Despair
The play revolves around Vladimir and
Estragon and their pitiful wait for hope to
arrive. They are waiting without hope for a
deliverance from a being in whom they do
not really believe. For Acheson, Waiting for
Godot is an invective against Christian hope
since the modern man, like Didi and Gogo
wait endlessly for Godot who does not
come.
In form of Messenger Boy
Acholonu observes that “…. Soyinka’s
themes are echoes of Samuel Beckett. His
characters are gripped by the same
hopelessness in which Beckett’s characters
find themselves”.
In form of Igwezu

13. Absurdity at The End of this both
plays
 In the nature of absurdist ideals, Soyinka tries to create a
drama that portrays the struggle of human imagination
against religious complacency, moral apathy, and social
conformity.
 This play ends in sadness as the lure of the city and the
betrayal of traditional virtues rob the aged Alu and Makuri
of their two sons.
 There is not physical death of any character but there are
several deaths can be known as metaphorical deaths.
 The Swamp Dwellers articulates a sense of the disorder of
human life.
 Waiting For Godot ends with the action of waiting it self.
 We don’t know what will happen after this.
“No Happy Endings”