Justin Egan Professor Engler EngWr 301 7-9-12 The Black River: A Literary Analysis on the Theme and Supporting Elements of Ernest Hemmingway’s Short Story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” The short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” written in 1933 by Ernest Hemmingway, starts in a well-lighted café late at night with two waiters talking about a recent suicide attempt made by the old man sitting in their café. Through heavy use of dialogue, key characteristics of each character are developed. The older man has a background story of his own. The younger waiter is just that; young, impatient, and arrogant. And the middle age waiter, who is the most detailed of the three, has a darker understanding of both of the other two characters.
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place 1. What besides insomnia makes the older waiter reluctant to go to bed? Comment especially on his meditation with its nada refrain. Why does he so well understand the old man’s need for a café? What does the café represent for the two of them?
But in the end the father says, “if there had only been time to go up to my club” which tells us that the father is very self-centered and that the only thing he thinks of is him self and his life instead of getting to know his son. The son is getting more and more ashamed of his father, because of the way he behaves at the restaurants. In the beginning he was proud and he had high expectations to this meeting but know only an hour and a half later, he know that he will never see his dad again. While standing at a newsstand the father is doing it all over again. He is being rude to the seller and he is shouting at him.
Still unaware of his role as the hero, he begins to gather visual information that further proves to him the need for change in the world. Iris, a prostitute no more than thirteen years old, briefly gets in his cab before being pulled back out to the “dark side” by Sport, her pimp and boyfriend. The audience is uncomfortable with the fact that Travis just sits there,
After being kicked out of his school, Holden lacks direction, feeling lost and unhappy. While sitting in the lobby of his hotel, Holden begins to feel depressed so instead of staying in the hotel and trying to figure out what it is that makes him feel this way, he gets in a “cab and [tells] the driver to take [him] down to Ernie's” (81). By trying to find a happier place whenever his moral is down causes him to be dis-satisfied with most situations. He is unhappy at the hotel and thus leave only to become even more unhappy at Ernie’s. Since Holden can’t seem to find a place that makes him truly content, he seeks guidance from his cab driver, Horwitz, by asking if he knows “where the ducks go during the wintertime” (81).
Act 1 Scene 2 Narrator: “Well, I’ll be damned if it aint the good brother, Where you been ? I’ve been downtown. How’s business” Barrel: “Fine,Fine. I’d rather not talk about business it is bad.” Narrator: “Im sorry to hear. Can I get a beer?” Barrel: “Sho.” (Barrel reaches for a glass) “What you putting out ole man?” Tall Man: “ Look here, Barrel we got a question.
He has become an alcoholic and doesn’t seem to realize how much he has affected his fatherly figure by destroying the portrait he once carried. Manny, Mr. Hernandez’s son recalled “He would walk into the living room, and all the pictures, tiny statues and glass animals mom collected would sparkle from the light rushing in through the door” (54).Now on the contrary he said nothing would sparkle and his father came into the house with no money or food. As a victim of alcohol Mr. Hernandez will not
Holden constantly drinks knowing that he is only seventeen. Holden cannot seem to admit that he has a problem. The only way to get his mind off of Allie is by drinking. Holden “ordered a Scotch and soda, which is [his] favorite, next to frozen Daiquiris” (85). Holden tries to escape reality by drinking his problems away; it is basically to solve the unhappiness in his life.
Victor was looking at his father drinking alcohol and making a fool of himself, not knowing what to say or do. Victor Just lashed out showing all his anger by throwing unopened beer bottles at the house. Victor was showing that he was feed up with everything between his father and mother. He’s father did not see the anger in Victor. He was so messed up and confused with drinking and the problems he had of his own.
I didn’t realize it until I saw the movie version of the play how big of an idiot he is. His character was meant to seem as if anyone could be a night watchman. The title in itself is ironic because Dogberry is just a drunken man who sleeps on his job. Nothing he says makes sense and he doesn’t even do his job correctly. You can tell that nobody takes them seriously, especially when Leonato shows no sign of gratefulness that he has captured two men by simply saying “go drink some wine” (Shakespeare 46) As we look into the theories of comedy for the play, it is clear that an option is Freud’s theory.