Are the intended meanings of these works more or less apparent than the intended meaning of Becketts play?

The twentieth-century rejection of prevailing artistic conventions found its expression on stage in the theater of the absurd. Probably the most famous English-language work in this genre is Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot (p. 420), in which two characters await the arrival of a third person, who never shows up. Can the action of this play be said to constitute a plot? Can a play have an artistic meaning without a recognizable plot, or is the absence of a standard plotline a meaning in and of itself? Compare the artistic intent behind Waiting for Godot to the works of contemporary artists such as Gwendolyn Brooks (p. 425), Betye Saar (Fig. 15.7), Barbara Kruger (Fig. 15.10), and Robert Mapplethorpe (Fig. 15.11). Are the intended meanings of these works more or less apparent than the intended meaning of Becketts play? What does the juxtaposition of these works suggest about the uses of art since the end of the World War II?