How do Beckett's metaphors in Endgame reflect his era?

What is key to realise about the work of Beckett is that it is linked to a  literary movement entitled the Theatre of the Absurd. This was a literary movement that questioned the value of life itself and proposed that life is actually much more bleak and depressing than we would believe. In particular, works that are attributed to this literary movment try to make the audience see that life is joyless through challenging our normal expectations of what we have come to associate with a play. This is why Beckett's works involve little plot and deliberately in places show how language can become meaningless and insignificant. 

However, it would be worth considering how the metaphors that Beckett employs become very relevant to his purpose of showing life as nothing more than an absurdist fantasy. Beckett presents us with action that occurs in a single room and with characters who face a monotonous existence that is only characterised by hatred and misery. This is the central metaphor that runs throughout the play as our life is compared to the life of these characters. As such, we can analyse Beckett's metaphors based on the way that they act as a vehicle for presenting his Absurdist philosophy. 

What makes Beckett's metaphors unique in Endgame?

What makes the use of metaphor in Beckett's works and specifically this one so unique is the way that he uses metaphor to connect his work to his very pessimistic view on life that presents his harsh and unyielding beliefs about humanity and what life is all about. 

The whole play could be viewed as one extended metaphor about life and the way that we live it full of depression and misery. Life, more in this work than in Beckett's other plays, seems to be nothing more than one endless journey of sadness and pain. The use of metaphor by Beckett is therefore something that allows Beckett to profoundly challenge his audience with their assumptions about life and to express his Absurdist viewpoint through comparing life to being about nothing more than ashcans and rubbish or being dictated to by somebody else and being dependent on others even when you hate them.