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Clov
An elderly man who lost his legs years ago in a tandem bike-riding accident with his wife, Nell, Nagg lives in a trashcan that remains stationed next to Hamm’s chair. He periodically pops his head out of this trashcan to listen to and converse with Hamm and Clov, depending on them to feed him pap (a kind of mush) or biscuits. It eventually emerges that Nagg is Hamm’s father, a fact that Hamm holds against him, cursing him for giving him life. Unlike Hamm and Clov, though, Nagg is somewhat good-spirited, even if he often complains about hunger. When he converses with Nell, he reminisces about their old life before launching into a joke about a tailor. He is the only person to find this joke funny, but this doesn’t deter him from having a hearty laugh. Throughout the play, Hamm orders Clov to shut Nagg back in his garbage bin, and Nagg eventually says that he hopes he grows old enough to see Hamm regress to his childlike ways, when he used to call out for his father in the night—a sentiment that seems endearing at first but ultimately suggests that Nagg wants to witness his son become helpless and frightened. After Nagg does go back into his trashcan, Nell falls into a sort of delirium and passes away. At the end of the play, Nagg remains shut inside his trashcan, weeping because Nell has died.
Nagg Quotes in Endgame
The Endgame quotes below are all either spoken by Nagg or refer to Nagg. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Endgame Quotes
CLOV: [fixed gaze, tonelessly] Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.
[Pause.]
Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there’s a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.
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Page Number and Citation:
8
Explanation and Analysis:
Clov speaks these words at the very beginning of the play, just after he has looked out both windows, peered inside Nagg and Nell’s trashcans, and taken the sheet off of Hamm, who is still sleeping. It’s interesting that the very first word of a play called Endgame is “finished,” since this invites audiences to consider one of the play’s primary obsessions: namely, finality and the passage of time. Rather than delivering an opening monologue that jumpstarts the events that are assumingly about to take place, Clov speaks as if everything important has already happened and now he is simply waiting for the play to be over. In keeping with this, he turns his attention to the strange way that time passes, likening this to the piling up of grain. Although one grain doesn’t make a notable difference, the eventual amassing of “grain upon grain” creates a “heap” that is “suddenly” perceptible. The word “suddenly” is important here, since it perfectly captures the way the passage (or accumulation) of time feels—it’s not actually sudden, but the realization that time has passed is almost always abrupt, since humans are apparently incapable of sensing small increments of change. This is perhaps what the audience members will feel by the time the play finally ends. They will, it seems, feel that the play’s end is “sudden” even though they’ll have been waiting for it throughout.
NELL: Yes, yes, it’s the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a will, in the beginning. But it’s always the same thing. Yes, it’s like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don’t laugh any more.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
NAGG: […] Yes, I hope I’ll live till then, to hear you calling me like when you were a tiny boy, and were frightened, in the dark, and I was your only hope.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Endgame LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Nagg Character Timeline in Endgame
The timeline below shows where the character Nagg appears in Endgame. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Endgame
...aloud if misery greater than his could possibly exist. Considering this, he thinks about his father, mother, and dog, wanting to know if their suffering is as intense as his own....
(full context)
As Hamm and Clov talk, the lid of one of the trashcans opens and Nagg, a very old man wearing a nightcap, pops his head out of the bin, yawning...
(full context)
Hamm gloats over Nagg, shouting that he’ll never have pap again. However, he tells Clov to fetch Nagg a...
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Nagg pops up once more from his trashcan, this time with the biscuit in his mouth....
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When Clov retreats to the kitchen, Nagg knocks on the lid of the second trashcan, and Nell’s head emerges. She asks if...
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Nell declines the biscuit, so Nagg asks if she’s feeling unwell. Interrupting, Hamm tells them both to speak quietly because they’re...
(full context)
Nell says she’s going to leave Nagg, but she doesn’t move. Before Nell goes, Nagg asks her to scratch his back, but...
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Nagg tells his story, in which a British man takes his pants to a tailor, who...
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Nagg laughs heartily at his own story, though Nell remains quiet. From his chair, Hamm yells...
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...that it’s time for him to tell a story, instructing Clov to wake up his father, Nagg, so that he can listen. When Nagg rises, he demands a sugar plum in...
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Hamm tells Nagg that, despite his outburst, he agreed to employ the man, who asked him to take...
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Nagg demands his sugar plum, but Hamm says there are none. Nagg then launches into a...
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...is dead. Clov obliges and then announces that she has, indeed, died. After checking on Nagg, Clov reports that he’s weeping. This, Hamm points out, means Nagg is alive. There follows...
(full context)
After calling out to Nagg, Hamm tells Clov to check on his father. Clov then reports that Nagg is no...
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...since Clov last gave it to him) onto the floor. He also calls out for Nagg and is pleased when the old man doesn’t respond. “Clov!” he shouts, then says, “No?...
(full context)
