All That Fall by Samuel Beckett

First produced: 1957, radio play; first published, 1957

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Absurdist

Time of plot: Twentieth century

Locale: County Dublin, Ireland

Principal characters

• Maddy Rooney, a woman in her seventies
• Dan Rooney, Maddy’s husband
• Miss Flite, a lady in her thirties

The Story:

It is a fine summer Saturday in Boghill, a community in rural Ireland. In most respects, it is an ordinary day. Trains are expected to run on time. Things have remained unchanged in the enigmatic home of the widow that Maddy Rooney passed on her way to the railroad station to meet her husband Dan, who is returning at midday from work. This is a time when it is customary to work a five-and-a-half-day week. Everything that Maddy learned about the condition of the spouses and dependents of those she encounters on her walk to the station remains, painfully, unchanged.

Yet, in other respects, it is by no means an ordinary day. One difference is that a race is to be held locally. Although this event is not greeted with a great deal of exuberance by Mrs. Rooney and the majority of the other characters, including Mr. Slocum, the clerk of the course, it does alleviate the boredom of the station-hand, Tommy. Each of the old, familiar acquaintances Mrs. Rooney meets in the course of her walk to the station offers to give her a helping hand. Although well meant, these offers vary only in the degree of their preposterousness. Today, as on every other day, it is enough for Mrs. Rooney to try to keep her feet on the ground. Therefore, in response to the offers of assistance, she insists on her desire to make every effort to maintain her elementary means of locomotion. The offers range from a ride on Christy’s manure cart to a ride in Mr. Slocum’s car. Mrs. Rooney accepts the latter offer, but its results prove as humiliating as if she had taken the former. Her walk to the station, however, is not taken up by questions of transportation alone. On her way, Mrs. Rooney muses in a fashion that is alternately desultory and fretful about various experiences and perceptions. The most prominent of these is the death of her daughter Minnie.

Her journey does not quite end once she arrives at the station. She also needs assistance to climb the stairs to the platform. It is when she asks for help, however, that it turns out not to be readily forthcoming. Eventually, Miss Flite helps her. Although she suspected while she made her way to the station that something is amiss, it is only when she gets there that her suspicions are confirmed. Her husband’s train is delayed. Such a state of affairs is previously unknown. In due course, however, the train arrives, and Dan Rooney alights, accompanied by his guide, Jerry, a necessary presence because of Dan’s blindness. The weather changes for the worse as the Rooneys make their way home, and the miserable conditions overshadow the conversation between husband and wife. Their conversation covers many topics, including Dan’s thoughts on his retirement, particularly relevant as his birthday falls on this very day. Their homeward path takes them past the church at which they regularly worship. Here they note with uncharacteristic amusement the text for Sunday’s sermon: “The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.”

As they walk along, Maddy is also quite interested to discover the cause of the train’s delay, but Dan remains rather uncommunicative about that. Oddly, however, just as the stormiest interludes of their conversational exchanges seem to have passed, they are hailed by Jerry. He was sent after them by the stationmaster in order to return to Mr. Rooney something he dropped. It is a child’s ball. To satisfy her curiosity about the late arrival of the train, Maddy asks Jerry if he can tell her anything. Jerry replies that the delay was caused by a child falling out of a carriage and under the wheels of the train. Nothing further is said, but the impression irresistibly remains that this accident is Mr. Rooney’s doing, and that perhaps there is little difference in either his or his wife’s mind that such an act is to be meaningfully differentiated from the early, and presumably unjustifiable, death of their daughter.

Bibliography

Bair, Deirdre. Samuel Beckett: A Biography. 1978. Reprint. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. Although Beckett was often reluctant to talk about himself, he cooperated with Bair for this biography. It provides a full, helpful version of his life, and to know his life is to understand his art. The criticism of the specific texts is often limited, but Bair is very good at putting the work in conjunction with his very odd life.

Cronin, Anthony. Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist. London: HarperCollins, 1996. A fully documented and detailed biography of Beckett, describing his involvement in the Paris literary scene, his response to winning the Nobel Prize, and his overall literary career.

Fletcher, John. About Beckett: The Playwright and the Work. London: Faber & Faber, 2003. Fletcher’s introductory study explains why Beckett’s plays are both significant and enduring, providing insights based upon his longstanding relationship with the playwright and his interviews with actors and directors.

Fletcher, John, and John Spurling. Beckett the Playwright. Rev. ed. New York: Hill and Wang, 1985. A helpful introductory study of all of Beckett’s dramatic works, with a chapter on All That Fall. Discussion focuses on the work’s motifs of love and loss and on the wit of its complicated verbal play.

Kenner, Hugh. A Reader’s Guide to Samuel Beckett. London: Thames and Hudson, 1973. Kenner comments clearly and simply on the individual texts and is an essential companion for anyone determined to get Beckett to make some kind of sense. Beckett’s work will never be completely clear, but with Kenner, it sometimes makes sense, if only for the moment, which is all Beckett wanted.

Knowlson, James. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Knowlson, Beckett’s chosen biographer, provides a meticulously detailed book, containing much new material, as well as detailed notes and a bibliography.

McDonald, Rónán. The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Chapter 3 of this concise overview of Beckett’s life and work includes a discussion of All That Fall.

McWhinnie, Donald. The Art of Radio. London: Faber & Faber, 1969. McWhinnie produced the first broadcast of All That Fall. In addition to his general thoughts about radio as an artistic medium, he provides detailed information regarding the play’s production; of particular interest are the insights regarding the challenges of Beckett’s script.

Worth, Katharine. Samuel Beckett’s Theatre: Life Journeys. New York: Clarendon Press, 1999. A look at the production history and psychological aspects of Beckett’s plays. Includes information about All That Fall and its adaptation for television.

Zilliacus, Clas. Beckett and Broadcasting. Abo, Finland: Abo Akademi, 1976. The definitive account of Beckett’s artistic and professional involvement with radio and television. Beckett’s thoughts about the various productions of his broadcast works are included. Detailed accounts of the productions are provided, including some illuminating commentary on the use of sound effects in All That Fall.