Interpretation Of Life In Alice Walker's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Fiction Paper Is it inevitable for humans to not judge those who are different from them? Do people really go through life categorizing those who do not meet their standards? Not one human life is experienced the same, making it inevitable for people’s interpretation of life clash with other’s. Life consists of stages of happiness, fear, or sorrow, but how people handle the uncertainty of life, reveals a lot about their character. Some are faced with a life time of sadness but see the beauty in life, while others are blessed with opportunities but are never fully happy. In “Everyday Use”, and “A Clean, Well- Lighted Place,” we see how the division between young/old, naiveté/experience, and nontraditional/tradition play a crucial part in the story’s plot. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” there is a recognizable contrast between young/old, naiveté/experience, and nontraditional/tradition. Similar to the young waiter belittling the old drunk man, Dee belittles her old mother for her outdated perspective. Dee creates a barrier between the education of a young person and an older person. After not being able to inherit the quilts she desired, Dee expresses her anger, “You ought to make something of …show more content…
Hemingway uses the old and young waiter to demonstrate how priorities and values have changed among younger generations. The old waiter patiently finishing his shift, while the young waiter is irritated that a customer is lingering, “I never get into bed before three o’clock. He should have killed himself last week,” (165). The younger waiter represents the change among young people. Young people tend to be so self-involved in their own lives that they forget what life is like for others. On the contrary, the older waiter has grown to have patience and compassion for others. He may not have youth but he does have a kind