Ernest Hemingway's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” takes place in a small cafe during the 1930s. There are three main characters who each represent an aspect of one’s life and the disillusionment that comes with each stage. The first stage, represented by the younger, impatient waiter, is youth. He is filled with purpose and determination, but has a lack of empathy and narrow views. When asked why he thought the old man tried to commit suicide, he simply answers, “Nothing…He has plenty of money” (Page 1). He tries his hardest to “go home to bed” and insists that time is worth, “more to me than to him” (Page 2). He is convinced that the old man should be content with all his acquired wealth and prosperous life, and that he should instead make it easier for the youth to live. The
The next stage of life is represented by the older waiter, as he symbolizes middle age. The older waiter understands the trouble of his older customer. He tries to explain his and the old man’s sadness to his young counterpart saying, “I am of those who like to stay late at the café....With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night” (Page 3). With this, he eludes that the cafe brings back a certain purpose in his life. One that helps others like him deal with their own eternal grief. He convinces himself that, “Nada y pues nada,” signifying the sentiment of emptiness without purpose and the belief that life is meaningless (Page 3). When the confused youth questions that, “You have everything that I have,” the old waiter uses the excuse, “I never had confidence and I am not young” (Page 3). He is negatively disillusioned in the sense that he believes there is nothing he can do to better his situation, however it probes the reader to believe that it is not true. The final and last stage is the elderly, represented by the deaf, old