Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

    Ernest Hemingway’s, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is a short story that describes a usual afternoon in a Spanish Café. In this short story there are three main characters, the older waiter and his co-protagonist the old man and the antagonist which is the younger waiter. The conflict begins when both waiters start talking about the old man and the younger one acts in a selfish way and tries to make the old man leave the café. The older waiter feels empathy for the old man and tries to make the younger waiter understand the man’s situation.

     The angle from which this story is told is from a third person limited omniscient. The conflict seems to be social, a man versus society struggle. The older waiter and man have to struggle against the ideas of society, embodied in the younger waiter, of loneliness, life and advanced age. As the younger waiter says “I wouldn’t want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing” (Pg 200). The mood in this story seems melancholic, lonely, and calm with an anxious edge. 

    I believe that the title, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, makes reference to a person’s mental state. If you can’t find comfort even with yourself, where else are you going to feel calm? I guess it tries to make us think about older persons and how lonely and sad their lives turn when they lose everything.  If they can find comfort or sympathy in another person or place that will help them ease their mind. I also think that this short story is about “walking in other person’s shoes”. We really don’t know what others have been through until we experience the same situations; we shouldn’t judge people so lightly.

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