Two players rise to perform some basic living rituals before retiring temporarily from the repetitive daily round into the dark oblivion of their sacks.

The first player moves slowly and awkwardly, somewhat reluctant to begin his daily round (twice the goad has to prod to rouse him), praying before dressing, eating, undressing before praying, frequently pausing to brood upon his next action. The second character's (comparatively busier though similarly mundane) behaviour contrasts by being enthusiastically and confidently 'brisk, rapid, precise', every act of his daily existence mechanically and drearily obsessed with time.

Deprived of language, there is no means of trying to enhance existence with words. Though there is no communication between the two, each is conscious of the other's existence. Before moving on, each must shoulder the baggage that is the other. Moreover, they appear as one, literally, inhabiting the same clothes. Mirrored even by the 'names' given them in the text - A and B - this complementary, composite picture of man is another expression of Beckett's interest in the theme of man's basic dualism. While B exhibits the condition of man's outer self, A expresses the introspective self. Taken together, they are one.