Ernest Hemingway's A Clean Well-Lighted Place
A Clean Well Lighted Place
“A Clean Well Lighted Place” takes place in a café where an old man has had too many drinks. The story deals with man’s coping mechanism to the lack of God that Hemmingway assumes. The characters remark soldiers walking in the streets, showing that the story takes place during wartime, exacerbating the Godless situation the characters live in. The characters in the café each present their reaction to the realization that there is no God, representing all of mankind’s own reaction to the same situation. The first response to the lack of God is to be miserable. When one waiter asks the other of the old man’s attempted suicide, the explanation is that “He was in despair” about “Nothing,” about the lack of God; the deaf old realized that there is “Nothing,” that there is no God (289). He …show more content…
This man is an atheist, he prays to “nada,” or “nothing” in English. This man however, doesn’t fall into depression like the old deaf man does, he keeps living life, finding pleasure in the little things that he appreciates. The old waiter accepts that his life has no meaning, but he gives it purpose by making it is duty to provide others with the titular clean well lighted café. He does this because he finds the place to be pleasant and enjoys being there, and others can find it so too. If not in God’s work, the old waiter can find pleasure in the beauty of the contrast of man’s creation and the nothingness of God. The best example of this is seen in the nothingness of the shadows cast by the electrical, manmade lights of the café. Presented as a likeable character, we know that the old waiter represents what Hemmingway wants us to believe to be a good stance on the matter of a lack of God. The old waiter represents those who face the Godless world by finding their own purpose in it, and living life for the
“A Clean Well Lighted Place” takes place in a café where an old man has had too many drinks. The story deals with man’s coping mechanism to the lack of God that Hemmingway assumes. The characters remark soldiers walking in the streets, showing that the story takes place during wartime, exacerbating the Godless situation the characters live in. The characters in the café each present their reaction to the realization that there is no God, representing all of mankind’s own reaction to the same situation. The first response to the lack of God is to be miserable. When one waiter asks the other of the old man’s attempted suicide, the explanation is that “He was in despair” about “Nothing,” about the lack of God; the deaf old realized that there is “Nothing,” that there is no God (289). He …show more content…
This man is an atheist, he prays to “nada,” or “nothing” in English. This man however, doesn’t fall into depression like the old deaf man does, he keeps living life, finding pleasure in the little things that he appreciates. The old waiter accepts that his life has no meaning, but he gives it purpose by making it is duty to provide others with the titular clean well lighted café. He does this because he finds the place to be pleasant and enjoys being there, and others can find it so too. If not in God’s work, the old waiter can find pleasure in the beauty of the contrast of man’s creation and the nothingness of God. The best example of this is seen in the nothingness of the shadows cast by the electrical, manmade lights of the café. Presented as a likeable character, we know that the old waiter represents what Hemmingway wants us to believe to be a good stance on the matter of a lack of God. The old waiter represents those who face the Godless world by finding their own purpose in it, and living life for the