A Clean Well-Lighted Place

Describe the setting?

The setting of the story takes place is a small town in possibly a Hispanic area or Hispanic country; the entire scene of the short story is set in a cafe and a street in a town that could serve as any town in the world. The story is set late at night, and the café is quiet and only the two waiters and a single customer, the old men sit there waiting for the old man to leave.

Why is the idea of a well lighted place so significant to this short story?

The idea of a well lighted place is so significant to this short story because the well lighted place signified somewhere that the old man the old man can go to relieve himself of all the stresses of life and the darkness that he feels surrounds him a constant basis. The well lighted area of the café allows the old man to capture humility that he cannot get at a regular bar in town.

Why are the characters’s nameless?

The characters in the story are nameless because Ernest Hemmingway wanted the story to be minimalistic and simple. Hemmingway believe that minimal is so very dramatic and he was able to write a very exceptional story without the character’s being known. Although the characters did not have names they were very individualistic and had their own qualities.

What is the connection between the old man and the older waiter?

The connection between the old man and the older waiter was that although the older waiter did not try to kill himself, he understood why the old man felt the way he did about the clean well lighted place because he himself goes to bar and have drinks before he goes home to relieve all the stresses he has on him. The old understood the significance of the clean well light place; the clean well lighted place allowed for both the old man and the older waiter to clear their mind. The older waiter knew that there was a very big difference between the café and going to a regular bar.

What is the purpose of the younger waiter in the story?

The purpose of the younger waiter in the story is to be the antagonist. In the story the younger waiter was always in a rush to go home and down talked the old man to his face because he knew that he was deaf and could not hear him. The younger waiter provided the conflict of the story and allowed for there to be a greater understanding a clean well lighted space. In the story the younger waiter did not understand or even took the time to understand why the old man acted the way he did and why he came to the café every night and drink himself away.

What is the plot?

The plot of the story is the fact that the old man is stressed out by life and he feeling that the darkness is surrounding him and he is trying to get away.
The rising action is when the old man was the last person in the café still drinking
The conflict and complications of the story was when the waiter wanted to close up the café and the old man did not want to leave and kept ordering more drinks.
The climax of the story was when the older waiter told the younger one about the old man trying to kill himself and he went to the old man saying he should have killed himself.
The falling action was when the older waiter was saying a prayer and they finally got the old man to leave and they were able to close up.

What is the theme?

The theme of the story is solidarity and the unknowable nothingness. One of the most touching aspects of this short story is the older waiter’s expressed solidarity with the old man. While the young waiter is all “youth” and “confidence,” the old waiter and the old man seem overwhelmingly lonely and tired-out by life. Especially with the older waiter he would he would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep. And as for the unknowable nothingness refers to how much the word nothing and “nada” was used in the story. It is the reason why the old man try’s to kill himself and also it is the word which obsesses the old waiter as well. After work, he leans against a bar and recites two prayers to himself substituting “nada” for most of the prayer’s major verbs and nouns

Short Bio of Ernest Hemmingway

Ernest Hemingway was born inn Oak Park, Illinois. His mother Grace Hall, whom he never forgave for dressing him as a little girl in his youth, had an operatic career before marrying Dr. Clarence Edmonds Hemingway; he taught his son to love out-door life. Hemingway's father took his own life in 1928 after losing his healt to diabetes and his money in the Florida real-estate bubble. Hemingway's drinking had started already when he was a reporter, and could tolerate large amounts of alcohol. For a long time, drinking did not affect the quality of his writing. In the late 1940s he started to hear voices in his head, he was overweight, the blood pressure was high, and he had clear signs of cirrhosis of the liver. His ignorance of the dangers of liquor Hemingway revealed when he taught his 12-year-old son Patrick to drink. The same happened with his brothers. Patrick had later in life problems with alcohol. Gregory, who was a transvestite, used drugs he died at the age of 69 in a women's prison in Florida. These occurance led to the reason why Hemmingway wrote the way he did.

work cited
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hemingwa.htm