The tape is Krapp's memory, where he records everything that happened that day, such as a diary. The tape's first saying is that today he turned thirty-nine and that he still felt good (Beckett). Upon reading this line, the main two ideas that came to my mind were age and the feeling of the person. Thirty-nine is not an old age but it isn't a young age either, it is more like approaching the middle of a person's life. When Krapp says that he still felt "sound as a bell" (Beckett), he was saying that even though he knew he had turned thirty-nine, he still felt young and good. The life that young people have, compared to the life of what old people have, has been an idea constantly searched when trying to demonstrate the vivid and joyful life of the young compared to the monotonous and solitary life of the old. This idea is similar to the idea presented in Coming Through Slaughter, where Buddy Bolden was a person who had a music and women filled young life, but as time elapsed his reality changed ending up in a asylum and his name forgotten by everyone in town. The fact that the first word of the tape is a number, brings up the idea that the age and the years that a person has in this story will be directly relevant to the feeling of the person about life. If I had to choose if I wanted to be young or old, without a doubt the former option would be chosen. I don't know if this will be the response of an old person with more experience in life, or maybe a young person where his present isn't as happy.
In the description of Krapp's life by Beckett, his young years didn't seem bad at all, doing what he liked in the winehouse and even having a relationship with the beautiful lady. I thought Krapp felt a sense of melancholy when he listened to these tapes, seeing his past and comparing it to the present, but I was surprised when he said: "Just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself for thirty years ago, […]Thank God that's all done with anyway" (Beckett). From this saying of Krapp he must have disliked what he did in the past. Krapp is saying that at the state the person is at the advanced life, he is far more developed and mentally superior, than the foolish young him. Personally I am seventeen and I don't see how one can hate these years but I haven't been able to live and old life, which contrary to what society thinks, it could be more gratifying and better. A doubt that I have after reading this story is about Beckett's personal life. How were his young years? When did all his fame come? How much did he grow spiritually in his old years? The answers of those questions will vary depending on the person, therefore their point of view could be different whether they prefer the young life or old life.
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