Ping by Samuel Beckett (originally from1966)
When you read “Ping”, you get the feeling of reading the same words over and over again, but in different orders. The simple words are mixed up in complex phrases, which makes the short story a very personal experience. The story contains of more than just words…
The title “Ping” could refer to a sound – hence it is onomatopoeia. “Ping” is the sound of a typewriter when it switches line. It could indicate that the reader should make a pause every time the word appears in the text. Such a short title, which seems meaningless, leaves the reader with no expectations but with the feeling that he or she wants to find out what it means. “Ping” could be anything and it is not even a real word – that is why the title alone is a cliff-hanger, which makes anyone read it.
The gem could not be characterized as a short story, more as a poem because it is so special in it’s way of seducing the one who reads aloud into a robot speaking very clinical and cold cataloguing word for word without knowing where to pause. The language has no structure, but besides this the used words are very normal and easy. The language, the context and the compounding of the words could give the associations of death. The short story could be a description of the state right before death – the sewn around the angles could indicate that it is murder. With the white lights and the beautiful picture of the surroundings, it could be argued that it is a drowning death. You often hear that drowning should be the most beautiful death of all. The colour “white” can also be a symbol of surrendering – which could mean to surrender to death.
Particularly the death in this story is like a lifecycle - maybe reincarnation where the birth is about to begin after the state of death has occurred and the heartbeat stops.
Sensations are turned on and the dying