'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place'

Since time immemorial, humankind has gazed upwards at the canopy of the heavens and pondered humanity’s significance, questioning the meaning of life. Being but mere specks of dust on the canvas upon which the universe paints its portrait of all existence, do we even matter? Are our lives meaningless? Hemingway’s notably minimalistic short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” offers an opinion on this rather heady subject matter, presenting its perspective in the guise of the story’s theme. However, Hemingway’s story divulges its conclusion slowly, taking the reader on a brief yet startlingly deep journey in the process. Indeed, despite measuring less than 1,500 words in length, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” covers significant philosophical

The style in which Faulkner writes this story allows the reader’s mind to wonder and put the story together their own

A clean well lighted place by Ernest Hemingway has a few themes that stand out clearly but the one theme that stands out to me is despair. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, despair means to lose all hope or confidence. In the story, the older waiter and the old deaf man somehow share a common bond of despair. Both men are of age and like to be out, late at night, alone. Asides from the story alone, the theme of the story can be brought out by the setting. The setting contributes to the story’s theme in different ways. The setting contributes to the mood of the story, to the structure of the story, and to the lesson of the story. The café represents salvation for despair which is shown through the setting of the

Faulkner's story initiates with the death of his primary focus. The deceased recluse, Emily, who had to that juncture existed only in the lonely recesses of her house and in the prying gossip of the townspeople, is a figure beset upon by a unique

Faulkner grew up in Oxford, Mississippi where he remained except for brief trips to New Orleans, some youthful wanderings, and a few years in the Royal Air Force. After a promising start as a student, Faulkner began to lose interest and to do poorly in school when he entered his teens. It was at this time that he began to write poetry and short stories. In high school, he was more interested in sports and extracurricular activities than in his studies. The pattern of his writing’s was based upon what he saw in Oxford or remembered from his childhood; or scraps of family tradition, or in stories told by men in overalls, squatting on their heels while they passed around a fruit jar of corn liquor. All of his stories can be linked together to tell one big story of how he saw his family life, and how time has changed the South. The characters in most of his stories reflect upon real life people whom he shared his love for as a child and as an adult.

William Faulkner incorporates balanced sentence structure throughout his speech to draw connections between the writer and their role within humanity. Faulkner begins his speech by addressing all aspiring writers and linking himself to them. He states that these writers are “already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will someday stand here where I am standing.” Faulkner immediately establishes a hopeful tone regarding the future of writers, writers who, like Faulkner, understand that good writing requires the hard-work of self-sacrifice. Later on, when discussing the work of authors who disregard the universal truths of writing, Faulkner once again employs a balanced sentence. He claims such works are “of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion”. Defeat and victory juxtaposed blurs the lines between the two and emphasizes the lack of meaning found within the works of authors unwilling to share the problems of the human heart. The parallelism of victories without hope, pity, and compassion marks any author’s work lacking these essential elements as destitute. Faulkner closes his speech with a final balanced statement, “The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” Faulkner expounds his central message that our writings must be the

Faulkner’s speech of 1950 at the Nobel Banquet established a new definition of good writing, one engulfed within the tortures and joys of the human condition. To write only of the lustful and greedy, the gluttons and slothful is in Faulkner’s eyes literary blasphemy, for concentrating only upon the fall of man discredits the countless amounts of admirable traits of man persevering throughout his trials. Rather an author’s duty in Faulkner’s eyes is simple; to project the inner yearnings of man and exemplify through characters ‘the old verities and truths of the heart’, the universal truths in which all men can relate, those of love and pity, and of compassion and sacrifice. Focusing upon the suffering of men, Faulkner states that the writer

Sadness, frustration, or discontent, however it’s put, there is an obvious difference with the characters in, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, and their ideas of mortality and old age. The short story shows the concept of “nothingness,” displayed through a very depressing view on life. This suggesting that all people, even those who are happy and content, will eventually end up lonely, drunk, or unhappy. By allowing a reader to view this from three diverse perspectives, Hemingway is able to render how someone’s attitude of their own life can go from one extreme to another. Allowing suicide as a final option to surface for some.

One of Faulkner’s techniques in achieving a sense of hopefulness throughout the students is his choice in point of view. There is a repeated use of second person, as he consistently addresses the audience as ‘you’. In doing so, he is personally addressing each member of the audience as an individual, within a whole. This creates a sense of relatability. “We all knew what he meant:

William Faulkner at one point stated that if he were offered a chance to choose between grief and nothing, he would have chosen grief (Volpe 187). He additional clarifies why he would do this through the story “A Rose for Emily”. However, the story is not about Faulkner but a lonely, selfish and poor woman, Emily Greirson. Emily is incapable of coming to terms with the notion of death and as a consequence suffers an immense deal of denunciation (Anderson 89). While the town folk anticipated that she would grieve upon her father’s demise, she is not. However, she goes on to claim that her father is okay and alive. Faulkner’s notion of anguish is lucid in this story as he shows the readers that it is worth acknowledging death than disregarding it through Emily’s life (Claridge 59). Faulkner’s story is set in the South, during the racial discrimination and key political shift epoch.

The despair that Hemingway himself felt is best shown in "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" when the older waiter was intertwined in a conversation with himself. He said that: "It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada" (383).

In Kate Chopin's story, "Story of an Hour," Louise Mallard is confronted with a situation she never thought was possible. She found out that her dear husband has died. The people around her do not see her for who she really is and treat her like a porcelain doll while giving her the news. What they cannot see is the powerful and opposite emotions that are zooming through her. She is filled by a "storm of grief, and yet she feels as if she is a "goddess of victory" (Epperson 59, 60) The life she had was not the life she wanted, and the life before her was what she only dreamed of. Upon finding out that her husband is on dead and that the freedom she thought she had was ripped away, the "joy" killed her (Epperson 60). In both stories both of the characters are not only not seen for who they are, but they both also have guilt and love for those that they are close to. Luke Ripley, the main

“It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.” With these words, American author William Faulkner described the duty of an author in his Noble Prize acceptance speech. Under further examination of Faulkner’s works, one would expect to find that he followed his own job description. However, two of his most well-known short stories seem to be contradicting. Neither “A Rose for Emily” nor “Barn Burning” is uplifting because the protagonists struggle with their communities, loyalty to their fathers, and death.

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.

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.