The Act of Slavery in 20th Century as Reflected in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot

• Published in: Journal of language teaching and research 2022-01, Vol.13 (1), p.66-72
• Main Authors: Fadillah, Nur, Arafah, Burhanuddin, Abbas, Herawaty
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 20th century; Analysis; Beckett, Samuel; Beckett, Samuel (1906-1989); British & Irish literature; Children & youth; Drama; Irish literature; Life; Literary criticism; Slavery; Social classes; Society; Sociology; Writers
• ISSN: 1798-4769; 2053-0684
• DOI: 10.17507/jltr.1301.08

This study aims to analyze the act of slavery that happened in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The characters that are involved are Pozzo as the master and Lucky as his slave. By analyzing how Pozzo oppresses Lucky, it reflects the act of slavery that also happened in reality in the 20th century when the story was written. This study is a qualitative descriptive method using the sociology of literature approach to reveal the connection between the situations in the play with the situations of the world in the 20th century. The data of this research are collected from the utterances and dialogues of the characters in the text play Waiting for Godot. The result showed that the act of slavery acted by Pozzo and Lucky also happened in the 20th century before, during, and after World War II in the 1940s. An upper-class society would enslave and oppress a lower-class society at the time because they had power and money.