A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Essay

An elder cosmos sits unaccompanied at night in a caf. He is deafen and homogeneouss when the night grows still. Two hosts watch the sometime(a) homosexual c arefully because they know he wont pay if he gets too intoxicated. whiz host tells the other that the gray-haired hu valet de chambre time-tested to kill himself because he was in despair. The other host asks wherefore he felt despair, and the first server says the primer coat out was nonhing because the patch has a mussiness of m unityy.The servers look at the empty tables and the archaic man, who sits in the shadow of a tree. They hold in a twin walk by, a s grey-hairedier with a girl. One of the waiters says the soldier had better be careful closely being out because the guards on the nose went by. The old man taps his glass against its saucer and asks the jr. waiter for a brandy. The junior waiter tells him hell get inebriate, thus goes back and tells the old(a) waiter that the old man will stay all night. The two-year-older waiter says he never goes to bed fore firing than 3 a.m. and that the old man should have killed himself. He back outs the old man his brandy. As he pours it, he tells the old man that he should have killed himself, solely the old man except indicates that he wants more than brandy in the glass.The younger waiter tells the sometime(a) waiter that the old man is rum, then asks again why he move to kill himself. The aged(a) waiter says he doesnt know. The younger waiter asks how he did it. The previous(a) waiter says he tried to hang himself and his niece found him and got him down. The younger waiter asks why she got him down, and the old(a) waiter says they were engrossed close his soul. The waiters speculate on how oft money the old man has and conclude hes probably age eighty.The younger waiter says he wishes the old man would cave in so that he finish go home and go to bed with his wife. The previous(a) waiter says that the old ma n was married at one time. The younger waiter says a wife wouldnt do him any earnest, still the previous(a) waiter disagrees. The younger waiter points out that the old man has his niece, then says he doesnt want to be an old man. The older waiter points out that the old man is undress and beverages neatly. The younger waiter says again that he wishes the old man would leave.The old man indicates that he wants a nonher brandy, but the younger waiter tells him theyre closing. The old man pays and walks a look. The older waiter asks the younger waiter why he didnt let him drink more because its not charge 3 a.m. yet, and the younger waiter says he wants to go home. The older waiter says an hour doesnt situate much difference. The younger waiter says that the old man so-and-so just drink at home, but the older waiter says its different. The younger waiter agrees.The older waiter jokingly asks if the younger waiter is dis mayed to go home early. The younger waiter says he has c onfidence. The older waiter points out that he also has youth and a job, whereas the older waiter has scarcely a job. The older waiter says that he exchangeables to stay at cafs in truth late with the others who are reluctant to go home and who invite exculpated during the nighttime. The younger waiter says he wants to go home, and the older waiter remarks that they are very different. The older waiter says he doesnt like to close the caf in case someone needs it. The younger waiter says on that point are bars to go to, but the older waiter says that the caf is clean and hale lit. They wish each other good night.The older waiter continues thinking to himself about how important it is for a caf to be clean and well lit. He thinks that music is never good to have at a caf and that outdoor stageing at a bar isnt good either. He wonders what hes afraid of, deciding its not fear but just a familiar nothing. He says ii prayers but substitutes nada (Spanish for nothing) for most of the vocalizes. When he arrives at a bar, he orders a drink and tells the b ar cardinalrk annuler that the bar isnt clean. The bartender offers another drink, but the waiter leaves. He doesnt like bars, preferring cafs. He knows that he will now go home and fall asleep when the sun comes up. He thinks he just has insomnia, a common problem.Character Analysis The Old Man A deaf man who likes to drink at the caf late into the night. The old man likes the shadows of the leaves on the well-lit caf terrace. Rumor has it that he tried to hang himself, he was at one time married, he has a lot of money, and his niece takes care of him. He often gets drunk at the caf and leaves without paying.The Older Waiter A compassionate man who understands why the old man may want to stay late at the caf. The older waiter enjoys staying late at cafs as well. He thinks its very important for a caf to be clean and well lit, and he sees the caf as a refuge from despair. Rather than admit that he is lon ely, he tells himself that he has insomnia.Like the old man, the older waiter likes to stay late at cafs, and he understands on a deep level why they are both reluctant to go home at night. He tries to explain it to the younger waiter by saying, He stays up because he likes it, but the younger waiter dismisses this and says that the old man is lonely. Indeed, both the old man and the older waiter are lonely. The old man lives alone with only a niece to look after him, and we never learn what happened to his wife. He drinks alone late into the night, getting drunk in cafs. The older waiter, too, is lonely. He lives alone and makes a habit of staying out late rather than going home to bed.But at that place is more to the older waiters insomnia, as he calls it, than just loneliness. An unnamed, unspecified malaise seems to grip him. This malaise is not a fear or dread, as the older waiter clarifies to himself, but an overpowering feeling of tipan existential angst about his place in the universe and an uncertainty about the significance of behavior. Whereas other people find meaning and comfort in religion, the older waiter dismisses religion as nadanothing. The older waiter finds solace only in clean, well-lit cafs. There, emotional state seems to make sense.The older waiter recognizes himself in the old man and sees his own future. He stands up for the old man against the younger waiters criticisms, pointing out that the old man might benefit from a wife and is clean and neat when he drinks. The older waiter has no real reason to take the old mans side. In fact, the old man sometimes leaves the caf without paying. But the possible reason for his support becomes clear when the younger waiter tells the older waiter that he talks like an old man too. The older waiter is aware that he is not young or confident, and he knows that he may one day be just like the old manunwanted, alone, and in despair. Ultimately, the older waiter is reluctant to close the caf as much for the old mans sake as for his own because someday hell need someone to keep a caf exonerated late for him.The young Waiter An impatient young man who cares only about getting home to his wife. The younger waiter is usually irritated with the old man because he must stay late and serve him drinks. He does not seem to care why the old man stays so long. His only concern is leaving as quickly as possible.Brash and insensitive, the younger waiter cant see beyond himself. He readily admits that he isnt lonely and is eager to return home where his wife is waiting for him. He doesnt seem to care that others cant say the same and doesnt recognize that the caf is a refuge for those who are lonely. The younger waiter is immature and says rude things to the old man because he wants to close the caf early. He seems unaware that he wont be young ever or that he may need a place to find solace later in life too.Unlike the older waiter, who thinks deeplyperhaps too deeplyabout life and those who seek to face it, the younger waiter demonstrates a dismissive attitude toward human life in general. For example, he says the old man should have just gone ahead and killed himself and says that he wouldnt want to be that old. He himself has reason to live, and his whole life is ahead of him. You have everything, the older waiter tells him. The younger waiter, immersed in happiness, doesnt really understand that he is lucky, and he therefore has little compassion or understand for those who are lonely and still searching for meaning in their lives.Themes Life as Nothingness In A middling, lighted Place, Hemingway suggests that life has no meaning and that man is an insignificant speck in a great sea of nothingness. The older waiter makes this idea as clear as he can when he says, It was all a nothing and man was a nothing too. When he substitutes the Spanish word nada (nothing) into the prayers he recites, he indicates that religion, to which many people turn to fi nd meaning and purpose, is also just nothingness. Rather than pray with the actual words, Our Father who art in heaven, the older waiter says, Our nada who art in nadaeffectively wiping out both God and the idea of heaven in one breath. Not everyone is aware of the nothingness, however. For example, the younger waiter hurtles through his life hastily and happily, unaware of any reason why he should lament. For the old man, the older waiter, and the other people who need late-night cafs, however, the idea of nothingness is overwhelming and leads to despair.The Struggle to Deal with Despair The old man and older waiter in A Clean, illuminated Place make out to find a way to deal with their despair, but even their best rule simply subdues the despair rather than cures it. The old man has tried to stave off despair in several unsuccessful ways. We learn that he has money, but money has not helped. We learn that he was once married, but he no longer has a wife. We also learn that he h as unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide in a desperate attempt to quell the despair for good. The only way the old man can deal with his despair now is to sit for hours in a clean, well-lit caf. Deaf, he can feel the quietness of the nighttime and the caf, and although he is essentially in his own private world, school term by himself in the caf is not the same as being alone.The older waiter, in his mocking prayers change with the word nada, shows that religion is not a viable method of dealing with despair, and his solution is the same as the old mans he waits out the nighttime in cafs. He is particular about the type of caf he likes the caf must be well lit and clean. Bars and bodegas, although many are open all night, do not lessen despair because they are not clean, and patrons often must stand at the bar rather than sit at a table. The old man and the older waiter also glean solace from routine. The ritualistic caf-sitting and drinking help them deal with despair because it makes life predictable. morsel is something they can control and manage, unlike the vast nothingness that surrounds them.Motif Loneliness Loneliness pervades A Clean, Well-Lighted Place and suggests that even though there are many people struggling with despair, everyone must struggle alone. The deaf old man, with no wife and only a niece to care for him, is visibly lonely. The younger waiter, thwart that the old man wont go home, defines himself and the old man in opposites Hes lonely. Im not lonely. Loneliness, for the younger waiter, is a key difference between them, but he gives no thought to why the old man might be lonely and doesnt exact the possibility that he may one day be lonely too. The older waiter, although he doesnt say explicitly that he is lonely, is so similar to the old man in his habit of sitting in cafs late at night that we can assume that he too suffers from loneliness. The older waiter goes home to his room and lies in bed alone telling himself that he merely suffers from sleeplessness. counterbalance in this claim, however, he instinctively reaches out for company, adding, Many must have it. The thought that he is not alone in having insomnia or being lonely comforts him.Symbols The Caf The caf represents the opposite of nothingness its cleanliness and good igniter suggest order and clarity, whereas nothingness is chaotic, confusing, and dark. Because the caf is so different from the nothingness the older waiter describes, it serves as a natural refuge from the despair felt by those who are acutely aware of the nothingness. In a clean, brightly lit caf, despair can be controlled and even temporarily forgotten. When the older waiter describes the nothingness that is life, he says, It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. The light it in the reprove is never defined, but we can speculate about the waiters meaning although life and man are nothing, light, cleanliness, and order can serve as substance. They can help stave off the despair that comes from feeling completely unanchored to anyone or anything. As long as a clean, well-lighted caf exists, despair can be kept in check.A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Essay1. A Clean Well-Lighted Place2. In the short story A Clean Well-Lighted Place write by Ernest Hemingway in 1933, there are iii characters that are defined by light. First there is the decrepit gentleman who is a customer in the bar. He regularly comes to the bar to get drunk while he sits in the shadows of the leaves of a tree. This man has lived a long life and has known much inconvenience oneself. In fact he has known enough pain that he has tried to commit suicide.The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him.Last week he tried to commit suicide, one waiter said. (Hemingway)He drinks to dull his pain of loss and pain. The shadows are symbolic of all of his bead memories clumped together and the leaves that through tiny shadows to hide him are specific memories. Even though he wraps himself in the darkness, he must be close to the light in order to survive. The light, or goodness, gives him hope to carry on in a life that he cannot even successfully leave.The next character is the young waiter who must have the light. He has not lived long, has a wife, and children. Because his life seems to be exactly where it should be things are good and that is represented by the clean light of the bar. Because of his youth, there has not been time for messes or losses. He fears the shadows that shroud the elderly man because he sees them as foreshadows of his own life that he does not want to face.Hell stay all night, he said to his colleague. Im sleepy now. I never get into bed before three oclock. He should have killed himself last week. (Hemingway)The last is the older wait er. This man has experienced enough life that he, like the elderly gentleman, prefers the dark. He sees the light as only something to illuminate the defects in life. The light is very bright and pleasant but the bar is unpolished, the waiter. said. (Hemingway) This way feels that understands that he has more in common with the elderly man in the shadows, but he longs to be back in the light.I am of those who like to stay late at the cafe, the older waiter said.With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night. (Hemingway)3. Hemingway uses A Clean Well-Lighted Place to ponder the meaning of life. Life is lived and through the journey, individuals know the joy which leave them with a lack of understanding of others like the young waiter and the elderly man. You should have killed yourself last week, he said to the deaf man. The old man motioned with his finger. (Hemingway) whole those who are satisfied with life should be around him. Money is not what makes people happy.The elderly man has money, but still he tries unsuccessfully to committee suicide. Hemingway was well into his career at this time and had push-down list of money yet he was not happy. He adds the quick glimpse of the girl and the soldier who run the fear of getting caught for the sake of love or the physical part of love to show that there are things that are meaningful in life that are worth the risk. Yet in the end people are left with their shadows of memories that are so painful that they either desire for nothing but to turn back to the light part of their lives or to desire to leave life.