Ernest Hemingway's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Generally speaking, there are two types of people. There are those who are content with their lives, and there are those who are not. Ernest Hemingway delves into a common reason behind many people’s discontent in his short story, “A Clean, Well – Lighted Place.” The story follows an older waiter as he and his younger counterpart serve an old man in the middle of the night. The younger waiter wishes to go home early, but the elder does not mind the time. Time spent at work is nothing to those who have no purpose other than that, or a person to spend time with elsewhere. Hemingway presents the fight the dissatisfied wage against the emptiness of life by his use of characters, dialogue, and setting.
There are three main characters in “A Clean, …show more content…
Near the end of the story the older waiter is walking away from the café and begins saying the Lord’s Prayer. He substitutes the majority of the important words with “nada,” which means nothing in Spanish: “Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name…” (76). He continues on with another prayer, as well. This shows that religion, to him, is nothing more than words, than myths, than nothing at all. Religion is not a comfort to him in his discontentment of life. Other dialogue snippets reveal that what the waiter believes will fill, or at least distract from, the emptiness of the night is a partner to spend it with. As the couple walk past the café, the younger waiter claims the guard will take the man away. The older waiter responds with “What does it matter if he gets what he’s after,” (11) which alludes that whatever reprimand may happen, if the soldier can gain what he wishes from the time he spent with the women, the night would be worth it. Loneliness is alluded to in another section of the dialogue, where the younger waiter mentions the old man is inconsiderate because he is keeping the man away from his wife. The elder waiter reminds the other that the man had a wife once, also. Now, however, the man is content to spend his late nights in the …show more content…
The older waiter believes that the café is so important to the weary warriors who might call it a haven on the long nights because it is clean, has light, and lacks imposing music. In it the ability to sit alone and just drink is of utmost importance. The café is unique in these respects, since “… [bars are] all that is provided for these hours” (76). The café is a light to the dark, loneliness outside; it is a place to be alone while maintaining