A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Anaylsis

609 Words3 Pages
Kyle Brown Mrs. Wilson ENGL 1113NT1 August 7, 2013 Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, is a short story about two waiters waiting for their last customer to leave so they can close the café for the night. The old man had previously attempted to commit suicide. The two waiters continually try to figure out why the old man would try to kill himself. This short story contains two major interchangeable themes. These themes are depression and nothingness. The two themes connect by depression caused by the feeling of nothingness. The story itself is straightforward, lacks emotion, and is seemingly unfinished. The simplicity of the story leads readers to look for deeper insight. The reader can find a lingering sense of loneliness following the old man and even one of the waiters. Both seem to be victimized by an emotional darkness. They are able to find some form of comfort inside the café. The reasoning for this is that the café is clean and well-lighted. This café symbolizes a refuge from the dark nothingness. It is able to give the feeling of control over the despair. This can be seen the line “It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order.” “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” implies that a person can only cope and subdue despair instead of curing it. This is seen with the old man inside the café. He has money and had a wife, but neither was able to stop his despair. He even made a failed attempt of suicide to quell this despair. Now the only way for him to stave off the feeling is to drink for hours in the café. The strong motif of loneliness is also told throughout the story. The old man who had no wife is obviously alone. The young waiter thinks he is the opposite of the old man because he believes he is not lonely. He is oblivious to why the old man is like that and
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