Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well – Lighted Place”

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.

The younger waiter believes he has “no regard for those who have to work.” On the contrary the older waiter also doesn’t belong to a family and attempts to explain “he stays up because he likes it” “it’s clean and well lighted” the light acting as a metaphorical parallel to the comfort the café offers in his otherwise dark life. Seeing as the older waiter understands him he does his best to make the customer feel he belongs and build a relationship with him. He realises that not everyone shares the same perspective realising “it’s not only a question of youth” but in this case a question of lack of relationships allowing sympathy and explaining his actions.

The older waiter is the prime example of Hemingway’s idea of a hero as he does not need to deceive himself into thinking that everything is okay because he has already accepted his situation as it is. This acceptance allows him to face the “nada” of his life without any opium, unlike the younger waiter who is unhappy with his situation and always tries to change it by closing up the café before three o’clock and saying that he’s “not lonely [because he has] a wife waiting in bed for [him]” (“Light”, 289). The younger waiter “[has] everything” but is still not pleased with his life, unlike the older waiter (“Light”, 290). In contrast, the older waiter lacks “everything but work”, yet still finds tranquility in his life and helps other people, like the old man in the café (“Light”, 290). He understands and still accepts his situation, unlike the other characters in Hemingway’s stories, which Ernest Hemingway believes to be admirable and heroic. Because he does not need an opium to live with his situation, Hemingway paints the older waiter as a hero and demeans the use of opiums as

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway is a story that paints powerful images of desperation, light and darkness, and nothingness. The author primarily about an old deaf man who is drunk late at night and gets more alcohol, preferably brandy at a nearby well-lighted café. In this cafe a young waiter and an old waiter are running the place. They are having a conversation about the man who is a regular customer at the cafe, and he comes in every night to drink and kill time. The young waiter, who is rude to the old man, is impatient and wants to go home to his wife while the older waiter can relate to the old man's sensitivity because of

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

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.

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 older waiter sees it much different. He has been around and understands that all the old man wants is a clean well-lighted place to drink his brandy. He knows the difference between and nice café and some old bodega. This reminds me of how separated older

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.

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.

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.

In this story yet again a old man is alone; this time at a cafe where two servers are left to attend to their last customer. One server, an older man and the other a young man filled with self-proclaimed confidence. Throughout the story, the reader again discovers a lonely and dark backstory for the lone man. The man is said to have attempted suicide by trying hanging himself with a rope. When one server asks why the older one replys “he was in despair” and it was over “nothing”. As the story continues the two servers begin to distinguish themselves through their personalities. The young one: irritable and entitled. Stating an hour for him is far more important than an hour to the old man. (168) While the other is shown to be compassionate and understanding, defending the against the the young servers onslaught saying “This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. Look at him,” (Kennedy Gioia Hemingway 169) to which the aggravated server replies with “I don’t want to look at him. I wish he would go home.” At this point the young server refuses to serve the old man and sends him on his way home where he walked away “unsteadily but with dignity”. The tone of the story then changes from the two servers combatting, to the older server being left with his thoughts and acceptance. The older server tells the younger one that he has “youth and confidence” and that that is “everything.” (Kennedy Gioia Hemingway 169) As their conversation ends the older server again relates to the lone gentleman saying he is also one “who need a light at night”; with that the two close up the shop as the older server explores his brain by himself showcasing Hemingway’s thoughts of depression as he walks to the

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.

The short story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, begins with an older deaf man that is a regular at this café. He comes in a lot and sits in the corner of the café, to keep to himself. The waiters’ start to talk about the man, due to him trying to commit suicide. They cannot comprehend why he would do such a thing, since he has money, so he shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Following the waiters’ talking about him, it was starting to get late and they were going to close the café shortly. The waiter that was serving him was annoyed that he had been there so late in the evening and intoxicated. He wanted the older man to leave, so he could go home at a decent hour. The second waiter wanted the older man to be left alone,

Ernest Hemingway did not write a happy, inspiring story. His story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” uses a famous code of behavior to dictate what his characters say and how they act. The story is depressing, dreary, and distressing but it gets the philosophical premises across. He demonstrates to not make trouble for other people, to contain one’s despair and self-pity by sheer will power, and to not judge others and view the unenlightened with pity.