Crawling & Laying

        
    In Samuel Beckett’s novella “Company,” he is constantly switching between the states of locomotion and motionless which is represented by crawling and laying down respectively. This is a dualism which can be seen in a few of Beckett's work, but it is in "Company" that it is used most successfully.The direct link between the two is seen when Beckett uses repetition stating “crawling and falling, crawling again and falling again.” My immediate reaction to this polarity between crawling and laying is its context within the human cycle of movement.

 Crawling is the first motion an infant can accomplish on their own whereas the descriptions of laying down in the context of this novella is being laid down to rest as well as the process of sleeping. Beckett does an amazing job in his description of crawling by making the locomotion appear to be far more complex than elementary. He explains movement from a mathematical viewpoint with the use of angles and length. This sense of death that hangers above "Company" comes not from the literal lost of existence, but instead looks at the ruined social setting. 
Alone. 

The Lost of Silence.  Surely this dualism is seen in this sense as a start to finish in the progression of human movement; however, there is an even larger picture that Beckett is creating here that deals with the author's creative process. Motionless is so closely linked to the motion of crawling thus making the action of being on all fours a way for the artist to search the contents of his/her mind. It seems the character in this novella explores his/her social exile as a way to venture the vast regions of his/her mind.

 I might revisit this dualism or possibly either crawling/motionless in a later blog depending on if I see it relevant in a later Beckett work, but currently the conclusions I’ve drawn from this particular novella is how this polarity not only shows the human development in physical locomotion but also the mental processing of the mind.