Living with depression is comparable to living in a state of isolation and despair. In the story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” Ernest Hemingway tells the story about two waiters who banter back and forth about a regular customer who frequents their café to drink. The younger one is judgmental and agitated, while the older one is more understanding and compassionate. Through the use of symbolism, setting, and dialogue, Hemingway presents the theme that living with depression is challenging. Throughout the story symbolism is used to emphasize the feelings the author has about depression. The first instance of this happens in the first sentence when the narrator is describing the setting to the reader: “It was late and everyone had left the
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The emphasis placed on the fact that the old man is sitting in the shadows is symbolic of how the author feels about this character’s situation in life. Since little background information is given about the old man the author uses the ambience surrounding him in the story to portray the internal state of the character. The importance of the setting is reflected again when the older waiter is talking to himself and describes his requirements of a place to escape to: “It is the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant” (154). This illustrates that people with depression require certain types of surroundings in order to feel some escape from the depth of their desolation. Being in the midst of a clean and pleasant place is like having a safe haven from the misery they feel. This escape is further seen when the older waiter is about to go to bed and the narrator emphasizes what it would take for the older waiter to go to sleep: “He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep” (155). The fact that the older waiter has to wait for the light of day in order to sleep is crucial to understanding the character himself. The older waiter feels so alone and in the dark that he literally cannot sleep unless the light of the day is upon him. The story begins with no information about his circumstances and as the setting changes we begin to receive added information and insight into him and how similar he is to the old man, who he has such empathy for. This transition of the older waiter helps the reader understand how someone may appear on the surface is not
The emphasis placed on the fact that the old man is sitting in the shadows is symbolic of how the author feels about this character’s situation in life. Since little background information is given about the old man the author uses the ambience surrounding him in the story to portray the internal state of the character. The importance of the setting is reflected again when the older waiter is talking to himself and describes his requirements of a place to escape to: “It is the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant” (154). This illustrates that people with depression require certain types of surroundings in order to feel some escape from the depth of their desolation. Being in the midst of a clean and pleasant place is like having a safe haven from the misery they feel. This escape is further seen when the older waiter is about to go to bed and the narrator emphasizes what it would take for the older waiter to go to sleep: “He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep” (155). The fact that the older waiter has to wait for the light of day in order to sleep is crucial to understanding the character himself. The older waiter feels so alone and in the dark that he literally cannot sleep unless the light of the day is upon him. The story begins with no information about his circumstances and as the setting changes we begin to receive added information and insight into him and how similar he is to the old man, who he has such empathy for. This transition of the older waiter helps the reader understand how someone may appear on the surface is not