It would appear that the older a person gets, the more he or she understands that their death draws evermore closer to them. While the younger a person is, the more they think that they are invincible and that nothing on this earth can possibly harm them. In Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” the older waiter can understand and sympathize with the old man who tried to kill himself the previous week, while the young waiter doesn’t understand why this man is alive and sees the man as a hindrance in the young waiter’s life. The older waiter represents wisdom, humbleness and compassion that the young waiter cannot even comprehend. The older waiter knows that not much separates himself from the old man in the café, and that it is his job to provide for this man a place of comfort and security.
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
This story illustrates the different meanings of each person’s time they are given in their lives. It is illustrated between the three different men; the old man feels there is no more meaning to his life, the older waiter is unsure of his meaning of life at his point in time, and the younger waiter feels he has everything to look forward to in his life. The old man is portraying the ending of life, how there is no importance to life after you grow old, how there is no purpose for life after there is nothing to look forward to; just living life only to pass time until we die. In the story this is shown when the two waiters are talking about the old man. "Last week he tried to commit suicide", "why?
There was an old man who tried committing suicide but failed, and he decides to go get drunk which is understandable. If somebody is too much in despair to the point that they attempt suicide, most likely they wouldn’t want to be in a sober state of mind. I found the younger waiter completely insensitive, he told the older waiter “I’m sleepy now. I never get unto bed before three o’clock. He should have killed himself last week.” (Hemingway 143) and then he has the nerve to tell the man himself that he should have killed himself.
Hemingway’s ideas that he depicts in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” might suggest that as a person matures and gets older, a struggle to make meaning of life can lead you to a dark tunnel of despair. Hemingway’s story depicts this idea of “nothing” being the meaning of life and the people in the story clearly struggle with this “nothingness.” Psychologist Erik Erickson’s work and theories on development end with the late adulthood stage which involves integrity versus despair. I believe that the older characters in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” are dealing with their struggle with “nothingness” as they progress through theses stage of life as defined by Erik Erickson. Hemingway’s short story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” takes place in none other than a clean well lit café. Inside the café sits a deaf old man, drinking brandy into the late hours of the night.
Jack is overly obsessed with the thought of becoming old. He talks about himself as if he was an elderly man on his death bed. He sees Yaemon and Chenault as the younger crowd and he is much older than them when in reality he is less than ten years older than them. Jack is Jack is afraid of committing to anything. Jack gets an apartment, and a car but that doesn't last long.
Comparison of Mansfield’s Miss Brill and Hemmingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place “You have youth, confidence and a job… you have everything" A quote from Hemmingway’s “A clean well-lighted place” (ACWLP) relates to the theme of ageing in Mansfield’s “Miss Brill” (MB). Present in both stories are the values of life and death, what is lost and gained, as well as one's focus or key purpose in life. Both authors created stories which are both different yet alike at the same time. A person who is close to death is often incomplete and their sources of meaning diminish. In Mansfield's tale; Miss Brill is only just an artificial piece, an observer, an extra piece in the play of life; meaningless and unimportant.
You could say that the waiter is struggling to make ends meet with money and that feels the old man has no reason to kill himself, that the old man has no problems due to this vast amount of money he has, you could say that the younger waiter is almost kind of jealous of the old man and sees that this old man is just wasting away in the café. This is further backed up when the younger waiter says “He’ll stay all night” and “I’m sleepy now I never get into bed before three o’clock” by this point you
Woodifield looks older than he is and he is perhaps thin also since the story describes him as frail. His friend is the opposite of him. He’s older, working, drinking and smoking on a daily basis. Through the story, you get the impression that he’s really successful l but this is until you get a glimpse of his personal life. When Mr.Woodifield starts talking about the “bosses” dead son and how well kept his grave is you could almost directly feel the change of his feeling and how he’s reacting to Mr.Woodifield words.
He hasn't eaten since breakfast and late at night while he waits for Corley to return with money, he orders a meal of peas and vinegar with a bottle of ginger beer for his dinner. He simply doesn't have the money for a proper meal. And, his future looks dismal: it will only get worse. By showing this detail, readers are not as quick to judge Joyce's character, and while we certainly can't like this leech, we can perhaps understand and view him in a sympathetic light. In "Clay," the older unmarried character Maria lives a life of diligent sacrifice for a pittance.