What Is The Setting Of A Clean Well-Lighted Place

In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” the narrator describes the importance of the cafe compared to all the other places that are open to convey the idea of loneliness and despair. Through the use of imagery, symbolism, point of view and, allegory Ernest Hemingway establishes a connection between the older waiter and the deaf guy, as he illustrates the significance the well-lit cafe brings to their lonely night. As the waiters discuss their thoughts on being open so late, the older waiter claims to be one of those who enjoy the aura of the cafe being open so late compared to other places. “With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night.“ The role the cafe plays to diminish loneliness and despair does not go unrecognized by the older waiter and deaf guy who find their escape in that clean well-lit cafe. Loneliness screams louder at night for those who walk through it by themselves. They look to find comfort in a well-lit place with a calm and pleasant aura. The feeling displayed between the old deaf man and older waiter does not register with the younger waiter who does not understand the search of finding peace found in the cafe. The younger waiter has a wife to go home to as the older deaf man and older waiter have nothing and that is their escape from their dark loneliness, the cafe. Since it is clear that Ernest Hemingway has established that the old deaf man

There is an apparent unity seen between the old man and the older waiter. Opposite from the young waiter, the older waiter and old man seem devastatingly lonely and worn out by life. While the young waiter is rude and insistently talks down to the old man, the older waiter defends him. He too understands and appreciates a clean, well-lighted café opposed to a bar or bodega. The older men understand each other without there being any communication between them. In the final line the reader is able to truly understand the older waiters view of his own morality, “He disliked bars and bodegas. A clean, well-lighted café was a very different thing. Now, without thinking further, he went home to his room. He would lie in the bed and finally,

We get the picture of the old man drinking and the two waiters observing him and understanding he was drunk. Unlike A Rose for Emily we find out a little more about the character when we find out that the old man is deaf and is a regular client at this café. We also get a better depiction of the scene, “…In the daytime the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust…” Ernest Hemingway also sets up a time frame for us. He lets us know that it is late at night.

In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” experience characterizes the older waiter because he empathizes with those around him, thereby proving that enduring hardships encourages greater acceptance of others. By explaining how he is different from the young waiter, the older waiter clarifies why he disagrees with the young waiter’s decision to force the deaf customer to leave: “I have never had confidence and I’m not young. … I am of those who like to stay late at the cafe. … With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night” (Hemingway 9). Without the overconfidence of the young waiter, the older waiter has humility, a trait that allows him to develop empathy through his life experience. Also, the waiter is older, so he persevered through more difficult situations than the young waiter. Since he undergoes the same sleeplessness that the deaf man faces, the older waiter willingly sacrifices his time because he notices the importance of his job at the cafe to other people. Furthermore, the older waiter acknowledges the importance of the cafe to those like him when he describes that “[e]ach night [he is] reluctant to close up because there may be some one who needs the cafe. … This is a clean and pleasant cafe. It is well lighted. The light is very good and also, now, there are shadows of the leaves” (Hemingway 9). Unlike

Hemingway does not tell his readers much about his characters. Instead he lets the dialogue from the two waiters give an insight to what all of their lives might be like. In

Finally, Hemingway uses the isolation of the narrator to contribute to the mood of despair. He first enforces the grim mood through his depiction of the narrator as a foreigner to Italy. The narrator is an American while the other soldiers attending the hospital are Italian (455). Having the narrator live in a foreign country and converse with Italian soldiers using a foreign language adds to the sorrowful mood. Hemingway also uses the narrator’s medals to create the mood. When the narrator’s fellow soldiers learn that he receives his war medals because of his nationality instead of his performance, they treat him differently and he is “never really one of them” again (455). The change in the soldiers’ attitudes towards the narrator adds to

Ernest Hemingway's short story, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," first published in 1933, is written in his characteristic terse style. It is the story of two waiters having a conversation in a café, just before closing up and going home for the night. They cannot leave because they still have a customer. One is anxious to get home to his wife, while the other sympathizes with the old man sitting at the table. Without realizing it, they are discussing the meaning of life.

As I read the original story I often lost track of who was speaking due to the lack of tags, so I purposely not only left out the dialogue tags but also tried to make it confusing to follow and had the characters themselves become confused as to whose turn it is to speak. Also, I initially thought Hemingway had purposely chosen the title as “lighted” rather that than “lit”, and decided to include the often confusion of the words in the story as the waiters discuss which it should be. In addition, to poke fun at Hemingway’s deliberateness in his titles I inserted a dispute over a comma between the waiters as a reference to “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”. Also, I inserted several lines and references from The Old Man and the Sea. I even included a sort of cameo of the main characters, Santiago and Manolin as they pass by the café. The frequent references to The Old Man and the Sea felt appropriate because he is another “old man” Hemingway writes about in his

Though not possessed of the same potency as the story’s narration, another significant tool Hemingway employs in constructing the theme of “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is symbolism. Symbolism, which commonly consists of concrete objects alluding to abstract notions (Kennedy and Gioia 202), manifests itself in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” in the form of “clean and pleasant” cafés and the night-time hours during which they are frequented (Hemingway 161). In Hemingway’s story, the titular “clean, well-lighted

In "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," Ernest Hemingway uses light and dark imagery along with a young vs. old motif to demonstrate that life has no meaning. The story is about a deaf old man who sits in a cafe every night and gets drunk and the waiters that must serve him. One waiter is young and arrogant while the other is a little older and is more humble and understanding of others. Throughout the story the waiters converse back and forth about what should be done about this drunk old man as it gets later and later in the night. The cafe is used as a place for those seeking quiet and the light instead of the loud dark bars.

In the story “A Clean, Well- Lighted Place” by Earnest Hemingway begins with the main character and his co-worker in a café. The two are analyzing, and discussing a deaf, drunk Oldman, who is their last customer of the day. As the deaf old man insists on having more whiskey, the main character informs the young waiter as to why and how the old man tried to commit suicide. They began to converse about the Oldman’s depressed life. The younger waiter is in a rush to go home to his wife, while the older waiter is patient and he stands up for the Oldman, being able to relate to him. Hemingway’s sentence structure and writing style represents the comparison and contrast between setting, people, and objects, along with emphasizing how it is to have and be nothing.

      Hemingway's second portrayal of symbolism that a reader may distinguish is the café itself.  The café represents a sanctuary of the evilness of the world.  The namesake of the short story is a clue for the reader to see that the café would represent some form of an asylum not only from the elements of nature, but also safety from evil.  An example of the usefulness of this sanctuary is how the deaf old man uses the café as a safe-haven to be to himself after the incident where he almost succeeded in committing suicide and enjoys the comfort the café gives.  The old waiter represents in the café the kindness and caring that the café should provide; whereas the younger waiter is more of a materialistic character.  He clearly displays shallowness and selfishness.  Arthur Waldhorn writes that the older waiter helps keep the light on a little longer at the café for those, who like himself, 'do not want to go to bed.' (P 28)  The younger waiter is a protagonist in attitude of the older waiter.  The philosophy of Nihilism is brought into this theme when the older man recites the Lord's Prayer but substitutes the word "nada" for every noun in it.  Nihilism is brought onto a larger scale because it is very evident that there is nothing to believe in, even as a

This story was written by Hemingway in 1933. It details an evening's interaction between two waiters, and their differing perspectives of life. Hemingway uses an old man as a patron to demonstrate the waiter's philosophies. Hemingway is also visible in the story as the old man, someone who society says should be content, but has a significant empty feeling inside. What follows is a line-by-line analysis, putting emphasis on the philosophies of the waiters.

Furthermore, the setting contributes to the structure of the story, like cartilages in a human body. The café can be viewed as a workplace and also as a place of peaceful socialization. Each person deals with despair differently. Having the setting at a café where it was mentioned that it was quiet help structure the story that it is neither a depressing story nor, a happy story. The two waiters who were gossiping about the old man mentioned that he had committed suicide but, he was saved. Being in a café is different than rather being in a bar or anywhere else. The café signifies a place for space or time, depending on the person. The old man is not trying to cure his despair but rather subdue it. The setting could have taken place anywhere but it also could have affected the structure of the story differently. For example, when the older waiter was out trying to kill time due to insomnia, he went to a bar but, it was not soothing; therefore, he went home. This proves how the setting was able to support its main structure of having a café rather than a different place.

Hemingway’s short story is set for the majority of the narration in a café in a Mediterranean landscape at a late evening hour. Depicted is a scene between two waiters, one younger and one older, waiting for an old, deaf man to leave the café, so they can close down and go to their homes. The main part of the story commences with dialogue between the two waiters, discussing the old man and rumours they heard about his life. For the durance of the bigger part of the dialogue, the reader is kept in uncertainty about the which waiter is speaking when, and who introduces the suggestion that the old, deaf man tried to commit suicide. About half way through the narration, one has had the