In a number of other works Beckett has felt the need to split an individual into separate aspects of that character, e.g. "Words and Music", where the writer, his words and his emotions are all represented by separate characters. "In "... but the clouds ...", however, Beckett is concerned not with fragments of the self, but the whole person. The protagonist, M, sees himself whole, (as at the end of "Film") held in the light circle of the imagination ... The action of "... but the clouds ..." consists of M reliving past experience with such intensity that he can see himself performing his daily routine."