A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Analysis

Hemingway’s short story “A Clean, Well – Lighted Place” focuses on the pain and solitude of an old man that we meet in a small café one late night. 

Hemingway’s contrasts light and dark to show that the human existence is and struggle, between life and death, shows the differences between the old man, the young, and senior waiter working around him, and uses his deafness as an image to separate his thoughts from the rest of the world. The author show us the desperate emptiness of life, despair, and the aggravation of the old man’s restless mind that cannot find peace.  

 

    The plot is arranged by the author in a series of conflicts between each character and is filled with images of despair. The contrasts between light and dark, youth and age are harsh and well defined.  Hemingway shows the feelings in each character that there is no escape from the terrors of old age. In the story the young waiter and the old man do not realize the meaning of their life, we can see that the older waiter is aware, sees himself in the old man, sympathizes, and understands what is happening to the old man and what he is going through. Since the senior waiter lives alone and does not have anybody waiting for him, he also sees reflected himself in the life of the old man, his loneliness and no confidence. He compares himself to the old man, saying he understands the need for a clean, well-lighted place to be at night. After the café closes, the old waiter stays in the bar for a drink before he goes home, dreading his return to an empty room.

As the older waiter says “No I have never had confidence and I am not young” (5). And he continues “I am of those who like to stay late at the café” (5).  His sympathy and 

understanding, and attitude towards the old man are show when he says “With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night” (6).

The older waiter stays in case someone needs a lighted café in the night, in contrast with a bodega or a bar, which may not be lighted or clean and thus will only increase the loneliness. On the contrary, the young waiter seems to not comprehend the idea of a well-lighted and clean place means refuge and place to escape from loneliness for the old man.

As Metacognizant said “the younger waiter does not understand. He repeatedly speaks down to the old man, ‘speaking with that omission of syntax stupid people employ when talking to drunken people or foreigners,’ and eventually denies him further alcohol and sends him home. To him the old man would be just as well off were he to ‘buy a bottle and drink at home.’ After all, home is a welcoming, entirely not lonely place for the younger waiter- his wife is waiting there for him. But to the old man, home is the essence of loneliness. When he is finally forced to leave, the older waiter takes note that he walks ‘unsteadily but with dignity.’ He may or may not go home. There is nothing for him at home”. 

And when is time for the older waiter to leave. He does not go home, at least not immediately. He has a drink, “A little cup,” and while at the establishment that he patronizes, "The light is very bright and pleasant,"  "the bar is unpolished." No bar or bodega possesses the same comfort to have a drink.  It is very late at night. The waiter incorrectly attributes his sleeplessness to insomnia. He correctly feels that "Many must have it."  Metacognizant said “We are left with the final message that, while the immense problem of loneliness is underestimated and misunderstood, it is very, very common.”

Likewise, Elizabeth Wall’s analysis about  the old man's death-wish is further played out through “the metaphor of insomnia, an ailment which he apparently shares with the older waiter, insomnia keeps the two awake through the hours of darkness, just as a tenacious life keeps the old man breathing when he would rather rest in his grave.” Peace is far from this man, and what little relief he may find is incomplete like the artificial light of the cafe. He tries to drown himself in brandy but that also fails to bring him rest. There is only left the hope that, as drunk as he is, he may pass out when he arrives home.

 

    The setting of the story is in a beautiful, quiet, clean café in a small town in Spain . Besides  the serenity of the night, those days were days of pre-civil war because as the author described  moments of curfew, there were soldiers patrolling and controlling the town; as the author says “A girl and soldier went by in the street” (1). Also one of the waiters said “The guard will pick him up” (2), in reference to the old man.  Still, Hemingway’s “Clean Well-lighted Place” is barely described, event thought, the “title” suggests how the café looks to the reader, apart from the fact that it is clean and well-lighted, and empty except for a regular customer, a deaf old man drinking alone at one of the tables. 

 

     Hemingway’s point of view in the story is omniscient and describes each character individually about what they said and thought, he specifically makes each of them responsible for what they do, say or think. For example, when the young waiter said to the deaf old man “You should have killed yourself last week” (2). Here, the young waiter shows disrespect, arrogance, no compassion, and no understanding of the old man.

Hemingway’s narration seems designed to lessen the effect of a judging presence. As a third person narrator Hemingway describes objectively what he sees, and all he knows about the characters.

 

    Hemingway’s characters in “A Clean Well-Lighted Place,” are barely described and recreated in his imagination, his main character is the old man who intended to kill himself. The old man feels loneliness and despair about the meaning of life, and still there is no change to overcome that situation, except just to get drunk and ease that anguish, because he already decided to kill himself and in going to drink in this small bar is some kind of refuge as is showed in the story when “The old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at the night it was quiet and he felt the difference” (1). He was drunk as usual. The waiters are chatting about the old man who tried to commit suicide last week. The young waiter has no idea why he wanted to kill himself until the other waiter said “He was in despair” (1).

Hemingway’s “Clean Well-Lighted Place,” characters do not have specifics, besides the fact that there is an old man, a young waiter, and senior waiter. Neither does the reader know how exactly the old man, the waiters look like, we know a little, we can calculate their age, but not their minds and psychology. These three characters do not even have names.

 

    The Style in the story is a simple descriptive story, minimalistic with bare language and a twist of some Spanish words because of the location. The author simply portrays differences of age, thoughts, and opinions of the characters. Hemingway uses simple diction, usually monosyllabic words like: “Nothing,” the used of the monosyllables in the story builds and accomplishes to tell the story.

 

    Symbolism is about what we see and how an image could have other meanings. For example, when the young waiter seems to not comprehend the idea of “A well-lighted and clean place” (1). This suggested an escape from loneliness and a decent place for his final thoughts for the old man because well-lighted is a contrast with darkness of death and bad thoughts Darkness must be avoided because in the darkness everything is “Nothing” (1). The most obvious image used by Hemingway in this story is that of the contrast between light and dark. 

The cafe is a "Clean, Well-Lighted Place". As Elizabeth S. Wall analysis said “It is a refuge from the darkness of the night outside. Darkness is a symbol of fear and loneliness. The light symbolizes comfort and the company of others. There is hopelessness in the dark, while the light calms the nerves.” Unfortunately for the old man, this light is an artificial one, and its peace is both temporary and incomplete.

The deafness in the old man symbolizes a powerful image in the story, as Hemingway said “…the old man like to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference”. Deafness as Elizabeth S. Wall said “Shuts the old man out from the rest of the world.. In the day, everything must be a reminder to him of his disconnection from the world. The busy streets, the market place, the chatter in the cafes along the street, the animals, and the motor vehicles fill the town with noise all day long. The old man knows this and recognizes that he is completely cut off from the sounds that he probably had not thought much of as a young man. In this café so late at night he is not missing much. In fact, he might prefer to miss the conversation about him between the two waiters.”     

Another tool used by Hemingway in this story is the image of Nothing. Nothing is what the old man wants to escape. As E.S. Wall said “‘the older waiter, who sometime acts as the voice of the old man’s soul’ ‘Nothing is a relentless monotony, unbroken by joy or sorrow.’ It is unending emptiness without comfort or companionship of man or God. It is the senseless of each heart-beat that is just like the last and refuses to give in to death. The emptiness of a life without progress if meaning is Nothing, and this Nothing afflicts the old man with a powerful grip. The only escape from this Nothing is blissful unconsciousness, permanent only in death.”

 

    In brief, Hemingway’s story describes human life and is reflected in the role of each character, in what they do, think and how they judge the old man. Each character portrays how life is viewed in a different stage of their lives, and how people perceive other people and understand life especially when we think we have all. Hemingway showed us that a time and place sometimes can give us dignity and ease our thoughts.

By Victor Mc.

aka. Lecochom