eliminated everything extraneous from his life, indicates something of their

importance to each other.

The relationship between Beckett and Suzanne is very important to

understanding ENDGAME. Beckett once stated clearly that Hamm and Clov were

Himself and Suzanne. The theme of "we must separate, we cannot separate" which

is at the core of all of the relationships in ENDGAME seems to have been the

underlying motif for Beckett and Suzanne as well. This sort of relationship seemed

to be the only kind of close relationship that Beckett could tolerate, perhaps because

of the sense of reality which is evident. There is little room for pretension or

sentimentality, where the duality of love and hate, intolerance and need is fully

manifest. It is not that this sort of relationship is healthy, rather that it is

undeniably "real."

The Second World War was a turning point for Beckett. His writing can

easily be divided into pre and post war. Beckett was already obsessed with death and

the darkness of his own consciousness. The war fed Beckett's predilections and gave

him solid experiential ground on which to further his ideas. There was no shortage

of evidence of human nature at it's most ugly in war-torn Europe. The darkness

that was already integral to Beckett's world was everywhere. Aside from solidifying

many of his own convictions and fears, the war perhaps, brought the awareness of

the rest of the world closer to Beckett's world.

Beckett was not a soldier. However, he elected to stay in Paris when France

was overrun. His reluctance to directly support the allies was not motivated by

passivity towards the Nazis. Although Beckett continued to write he was very

active in the French resistance.¹⁰