A Clean Well-Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway
Lakerea Burrell
Professor Kobeleva
English 1102
10 September 2014
Is Happiness Real? An Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” As people grow older and the falsehoods of youth are revealed, they begin to realize what a cold, hard place the world truly is. Young people tend to not see the world as it is. The youth are inclined to see the good in things and ignore the bad. But as they age, the glaring truths of life become impossible to ignore. The harshest truth is that happiness is only temporary. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” supports this claim. By describing three men who are on different stages of their lives, Hemingway’s short story shows that happiness is an illusion that fades with time. Hemingway’s description of the young waiter’s views of his home life, time, privilege, loneliness are being juxtaposed with the older waiter and the old man’s views to show the downward spiral of happiness with age. …show more content…
Throughout the beginning of the story, the younger waiter is impatient and wants the old man to go home. The young waiter is doing this for completely selfish reasons. He wants to “go home and into bed” where his “wife [is] waiting in bed for [him]” (Hemingway 144 145). The young waiter has someone he loves to go home to, which is more than what the old man has. The old man has “had a wife once too” but it is assumed that she has died (144). The old man has an empty, desolate house that holds nothing but shadows. Hemingway contrasts a young man happily in love and an old man who has lost the love of his life to foreshadow the young waiter’s life. The old man was probably once as happy as the young waiter. The old man has lost the person who made him the happiest in his life to death. The young waiter will also eventually lose his wife, and in doing so, he will lose his
Professor Kobeleva
English 1102
10 September 2014
Is Happiness Real? An Analysis of Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” As people grow older and the falsehoods of youth are revealed, they begin to realize what a cold, hard place the world truly is. Young people tend to not see the world as it is. The youth are inclined to see the good in things and ignore the bad. But as they age, the glaring truths of life become impossible to ignore. The harshest truth is that happiness is only temporary. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” supports this claim. By describing three men who are on different stages of their lives, Hemingway’s short story shows that happiness is an illusion that fades with time. Hemingway’s description of the young waiter’s views of his home life, time, privilege, loneliness are being juxtaposed with the older waiter and the old man’s views to show the downward spiral of happiness with age. …show more content…
Throughout the beginning of the story, the younger waiter is impatient and wants the old man to go home. The young waiter is doing this for completely selfish reasons. He wants to “go home and into bed” where his “wife [is] waiting in bed for [him]” (Hemingway 144 145). The young waiter has someone he loves to go home to, which is more than what the old man has. The old man has “had a wife once too” but it is assumed that she has died (144). The old man has an empty, desolate house that holds nothing but shadows. Hemingway contrasts a young man happily in love and an old man who has lost the love of his life to foreshadow the young waiter’s life. The old man was probably once as happy as the young waiter. The old man has lost the person who made him the happiest in his life to death. The young waiter will also eventually lose his wife, and in doing so, he will lose his