Life in America today is like "Waiting for Godot." Waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting. When/where/who will show? Ya know?

I read it many decades ago. Boring? Not for me Walt. To me it represents life. We are all always waiting for something or someone who never shows up. While we've been waiting our lives get lived in spite of it. I think Waiting for Godot is a great read. Different strokes. How about NO EXIT? Did you think that was boring too? Or cpuld it be a simple description of a slice of life with which we are all familiar. Trapped somewhere we would like to leave/escape but can't. Trapped with folks we did not choose but must accept at least temporarily. Ever been trapped somewhere with folks you didn't particularly like? But eventually you did escape. In NO EXIT  they are already there. Or the ICEMAN COMETH? Ever read that? Very sad and tragic potential but the protagonist/antagonist realizes he is destroying the dreams of the people and them as well so reverses his "sales pitch" and gives them back theiir dreams because that's all they will ever have.. Ever been around a dreamkiller? For how long? I'm gonna ask. One man's joy is another man's despair. One man's meat is another man's poison. Which classics have you read that you did not find to be boring? Why? Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday!  :)

I don't recall No Exit or The Iceman Cometh.
I may have read them - but don't recall them.

I honestly recall Waiting for Godot mainly because of the discussions we had in AP English.
Not that I recall the discussions, just that there was a lot of discussions about what the tale was really about.
I don't enjoy stories where the entire point is to make you "wax philosophic" about something.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales has philosophic elements, but it doesn't force it upon you the same way Waiting for Godot does.

Personally, I believe too few in the modern generations have read Aesop's Fables.
I think the world would be better off if everybody studied those.

I'm your opposite then Walt. My favorite class was PHILOSOPHY specifically because there was never a sure thing. Because many things made sense and nothing made sense. Because everything you came up with could be rebutted as well as supported. In other words there was never a "right" or "wrong" answer. All was possible. My cuppa tea. I don't like cut-and-dried rigid anything. I like wiggle room. Flexibility. Possibilities. Potentialities. I love WHAT IF because it can represent anything you can imagine and no one can cut you down or say you're wrong simply because in the realm of WHAT IF anything is valid. Thank you for your reply. No Exit is by Jean Paul Sartre and it represents He** as I recall. The Iceman Cometh is about a salesman who on his regular route stops in at a bar periodically where only losers and dreamers are. He gets tired of them always talking about their dreams so he shoots them down and as a result he sees the damage he is doing to them because he realizes that is all they will ever have. Dreams. So he builds them all back up again. Sometimes forcing reality on folks dooms them to a miserable life of despair. Why would you do that to anyone? At least that is what I recall. It was many decades ago and in fact I believe I also saw the play on TV...maybe Playhouse 90. If I recall incorrectly then my apologies. Studying the writings of others might be interesting. But it is very limiting. I think what's infinitely better is creating your own fantasies. Inventive creative productive. That's where the real joy is for me. Reading the works of others is edifying of course. But I'd far rather create my own work that represents my own thoughts and if folks like it fine. Equally fine if they don't. It makes me feel as if I have intrinsic value and don' t have to rely on others to light my fire. Metaphorically. I'm happiest when I get ideas/ask questions that I've never seen or heard of before and can share them with others. thank you for your reply Walt! :) This post was edited by RosieG at June 11, 2019 6:22 AM MDT