A Clean Well-Lighted Place Waiter

The young waiter has a harsh view of him as well because on occasion the old man has been so drunk he walks out on his bill. The younger waiter has a different respect for time, it’s precious to him and he values it. “I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?” “He stays up because he likes it.” “He’s lonely, I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” “He had a wife once too” (153). The older you get, the more time wears down on you, and you begin to now, greater than ever, feel your mortality. This theme is used to help the reader understand the older mans pain and that no matter how young and confident someone is, they will eventually grow old and die.

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 cafe is a "Clean, Well-Lighted Place." According to the short story, the old waiter said, "Each night I am reluctant to close up because there may be someone who needs the cafe." The old man spends every evening at the same cafe until it closes. Because of this, the waiter realizes that his cafe is more than just a place to eat and drink. It is a refuge from the darkness of the night outside. It's has given the old man the opportunity to temporarily steer away from the dark side and into the light side. Darkness is a symbol of fear and loneliness whereas the light symbolizes comfort and the company of others. There is hopelessness in the dark while the light renders a sense of comfort. The setting gives the reader an understanding of why he was always lonely and the comfort that he received from the café. Unfortunately for the old man, this light is an artificial one, and its peace is both brief and

Hemingway’s writing style is very unique to himself, with very brief descriptions with contrastingly long dialogue; this is shown when his characters, the young waiter and the old waiter, speak to each other. Hemingway uses blocks of dialogue without description between lines: “He’s drunk now” he said “He’s drunk every

The young waiter doesn’t seem as blind, he must be older than Maico if he can work at such a nice cafe, and he definitely knows that not everyone is so clean or innocent. The young waiter seems to just want to get on with his life, and get away from the people who take up his time. The young waiter is too tied up with his current situation and doesn’t understand why the old deaf man tried to kill himself. The young waiter believes a hour of his time is more than a hour of anyone else's but,they are both worth nothing. He doesn’t look far enough ahead to see the brick wall just a couple of steps in front of

The old man who is the main character in Hemingway's story displays many different attributes and gives off a mysterious appearance when he is first described in the story. It is said by the younger waiter to the old waiter that this old man in particular tried to commit suicide in his home last week due to despair and loneliness in his life. The old man goes to this restaurant in particular because he considers it a second home where he can go and feel welcome. But the younger waiter doesn't have much patience or understanding of life as people approach the older age bracket. “The old man sitting in the shadow rapped on his saucer with his glass. The younger waiter went to him. “What do you want?” The old man looked at him. “Another Brandy,” he said. “You’ll be drunk,” the waiter said. ” (Hemingway 157). The reason why the waiter toward

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is my favorite Hemingway story, so I wrote a parody mocking Hemingway’s masterful dialogue in the piece and other Hemingway characteristics. I took a careful look at the story and remembered a quote by Hemingway describing his writing process at a café in France. The quote reads “It was a pleasant cafe, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old water-proof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a cafe au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write”. This quote inspired the old man in my parody to be Hemingway at his favorite café engaged in his writing process. The story of my parody is essentially a story of an elderly Hemingway seated late in his favorite cafe writing while the two waiters gather the courage to ask him to leave.

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

You can see things like this in real life. When you are younger, say teens to early twenties, people tend to try to act superior or invincible. The world evolves around them. Just like the young waiter, in the story, young people are impatient. Especially just waiting for some "old man". The young waiter doesn't want to wait; he has more important things to do. He's tired, his wife's in bed, getting this old man to leave. His entire motivations have to do with himself. He doesn't see the old man as anything as an obstacle. He doesn't see him as a person. He wished him dead.

The older waiter is much more understanding of the old man’s situation. He knows what it feels like to be lonely. He knows the desire to stay in the light that staves off the darkness, a darkness that brings thoughts of how lonely you really are. There is an emptiness in him can only be filled with the cleanliness and light of the café. He feels that this is the same for the old man.

      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

He shows this inability to understand the pain of the old man by forcing him out of the café, and even feeling that he “wouldn’t want to be that old” (495). Additionally, the young waiter selfishly feels that the old drunk “should have killed [himself] last week” (494) simply because he doesn’t want to waste his time dealing with him. Like most young people, the young waiter is a short-term thinker, and he has not even thought of the possibility of death; Hemingway implies that the drunken old man and the older waiter were once youthful existentialists, but naturally grew nihilist over time. More importantly, the reader can see that life is only thoroughly enjoyed for a moment in time, and then everyone will disintegrate into complete and utter nothingness.

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.

He then started to compare himself to the older man describing why the older man should leave the cafe so that he, too can leave, as stated by the author, “ He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” Not only is the young waiter impatient, but he shows how bold and strong-willed he is by persistently trying to leave. A bold action of the young waiter was when he said something very rude and darkening to the old, deaf man as he wanted more brandy.

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