Emotional Analysis Of Ernest Hemingway's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, Hemingway uses themes of depression and life as nothingness by using symbols, and imagery. Two waiters in a Spanish café are waiting late one night for their last customer to leave. As they wait, they talk about the old, deaf man sitting at the bar. It is revealed that he has recently attempted suicide. The younger waiter in the café is very agitated and wants the old man to go home. He says, “I wish the suicide attempt had been successful. The younger waiter says that he has a wife waiting for him at home, and is very unsympathetic. The older waiter sympathizes and tells the young waiter that the old man had once had a wife as well. The old man eventually leaves when the young waiter denied him any further drinks. The old man explains that drinking in the café is completely different than drinking at home. He describes the old man as, “One of those who like to stay late at the café… with all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night.” He is reluctant to close because there could be a lot of people that may need the café. The older waiter points out that the bright atmosphere of the café is different than that of a pub. After the younger waiter leaves, the older one asks himself why he needs a clean, well-lighted place. The answer is that he needs a contrast of order because of “a nothing that

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

The story of “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway indicates the distinction of young and old person. Hemingway has contrasted the two main characters to demonstrate his voice in the text. Throughout “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” I will summarize the story, analyze the narrator and author’s point view, discover the voices of the characters, and find reader’s perspective.

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.

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

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.

On stressful evenings people often find themselves walking in circles hunting for an escape; as seen in Ernest Hemingway’s, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, which exemplifies the life of an old man and two waiters. The old man is doing exactly what most people do when they have reached rock bottom. He is hunting for peace in his life and has decided to find such solace drinking in a local café. The little café in the short story symbolizes a safe zone for people who feel unwanted, alone, and in despair. Hemingway uses the younger waiter as a foil for the older waiter to emphasize the opposing personalities and beliefs of the waiters. The ambiguity in the dialog between the two waiters evolved into a scandal relating to reproductions of the short story.

Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” like all of his other stories, is based around a famous code of behavior. The philosophical premises that are demonstrated in Hemingway’s code of behavior tell people to accept that there are no guidelines or rules in life, face reality and see things exactly as they are, no matter how difficult, contain their despair and self-pity by sheer willpower, don’t make trouble for others, and instead of judging others, people should view the unenlightened with irony and pity. By analyzing “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” the reader can find different examples of this code of behavior within Hemingway’s writing.

In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Clean Well-Lighted Place,” The setting begins at a cafe well into the late hours of night. The perceived protagonist, in my opinion, is an older aged gentlemen waiter that works at the late night cafe whilst the antagonist is the younger gentleman waiter. During the introduction of this story, the younger waiter is serving a deaf elderly man scotch. Without a doubt, it's made obvious that the elderly gentlemen has spent countless nights within the four walls of the cafe. Furthermore, it’s evident that the younger waiter is less than fond of the elderly man. In one section of dialogue the younger waiter was speaking to the older waiter on the issue of the elderly man; "He'll stay all night,"..."I'm sleepy now. I never get into bed before three o'clock. He should have killed himself last week” (Hemingway). Clearly, this young man

How does Ernest Hemingway’s life reflect into his writing of “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”? Of the stories the two that stood out to me were “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”. These two stories demonstrate how Hemingway writes about very dark times for people and himself. Hemingway’s experiences were involved in the writing of all three of these stories. Hemingway's life because towards the end he had troubles with himself, hallucinations, and thought people were after him. In “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”, Hemingway demonstrates hope because he uses light as imagery for people to escape insomnia and death.

Ernest Hemingway has this uncanny, yet, clear and distinctive writing style, that has made him a successful author and a means of many criticisms. One critic in particular, David M. Wyatt, says that Hemingway has a way of making the beginning of his stories “raise the very specter of the end against which they are so concerned to defend.” (Wyatt). In his two short stories, “Hills Like White Elephants” and “A Clean-Well Lighted Place, Hemingway draws out this uncanny effect in anticipating the sense of an ending. He paints this very minimalistic style, “only centering on surface elements without giving explicit content of the underlying themes”(Wyatt) he creates. He wants readers to depict what’s below the surface, letting the crux emit through.

The story of life, struggle, spirit, luck and death is all perfectly summed in the tale of Santiago, the protagonist of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Human life is a constant struggle, and on a bigger scale the entire ecosystem could be considered a struggle. The Old Man and the Sea presents an interesting notion on conflicting human interests and emotions. Nothing could be considered just a simple matter of luck and survival, there is a strong connection between humans and nature, and that connection defines the struggle of physical and emotional survival of humans. Pride and honour are as important for the emotional survival as much as breathing

Ernest Hemingway is well-known for uniquely integrating his own experiences into his works. With each plot, he subtly weaves the elements into multiple layers of significance. His skillful use of allegory adds meaning to each story, as it allows the reader to take a step back in time and get a glimpse some of the controversies of the past. If the story were to lose its believability, the connection to the reader would be severed. Many of Hemingway’s stories allow the reader to easily grasp the superficial concepts that Hemingway is trying to convey, while also leaving the reader to expand upon it in detail through her own experiences, imagination, and research. The descriptive setting, plausible characters, and deep allegory of moral

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.

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.