How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Donald M. Allen's translation.
Quote #4
Old Man: "It's six o'clock in the evening...it is dark already. It wasn't like this before. Surely you remember, there was still daylight at nine o'clock in the evening, at ten o'clock, at midnight." (11)
The Old Man laments the fact that the days have gotten shorter. Is the earth rotating faster and faster? Is time speeding up? Or is the sun itself slowly dying? (Or is it just Daylight Saving Time?)
Quote #5
Old Man: "It's because the earth keeps turning around, around, around, around, around..." (15)
This image of the earth revolving seems to strengthen the theme of the cyclical nature of time in the play. We're all trapped on this planet that keeps turning around and around. At the end of each twenty-four-hour period we end up in just about the same place we were before.
Quote #6
Old Woman: "Come on now, imitate the month of February." . . .
Old Man: "All right, here's the month of February."
Stage Directions: He scratches his head like Stan Laurel. (28-31)
This bit may suggest that humanity's idea of time is arbitrary. Somewhere along the line, the western world decided to divide up the year into twelve months. Why twelve? There are other calendars from other cultures that divide the year up into different months with different lengths. The fact that the Old Man's impression of February is an imitation of Stan Laurel, a famous comedian, perhaps shows the ultimate absurdity of our very notion of time.