A clean, well ligted place
The story “A Clean, Well-lighted Place,” pivots around difference between a clean and pleasant café and a dark, not so clean, bar (bodegas) through the conversation between the young waiter and older waiter. The two waiters discuss about an old man who is in the café and the idea of an existentialist is illustrated through it. An existentialist, insist that the highest good for an individual is to find his or her own unique belief and to find his or her own way without the aid of universal standards. Ernest Hemingway expresses this idea by presenting the old man and older waiter, as lonely men who need a clean, well-lighted place. Although the younger waiter seems to have happiness, Hemingway may indicate otherwise, through dichotomy between the younger waiter and the old man. The old man is depressed and lonely person who needs a place that is clean and pleasant. It is reasonable to suggest that the café is place where the old man can find comfort. In fact, the old man tried commit suicide, but his niece found him and cut him down because she was fearful of his soul. The Catholic’s believe that if people, who commit suicide, will go to place called purgatory; thus, it seems that she was only concern for eternal well-being and n . . .
However, it is only for the individual who believes there is nothing; thus, terrifying for him or her individually, which, seemingly, gives them the freedom to choose his or her own unique belief. Through the character of the old man and older waiter, Hemingway illustrates that an individual can find solitude in life in a clean well-lighted place even though he or she has nothing. As Ralph Waldo Emerson says, “The only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong what is against it. ” The older waiter is lonely and experiences sleepless nights who needs a place that is void of darkness; a clean well-lighted place. As he says to the younger “You have youth, confidence, and a job. The light is very good…” When there is nothing else to live for, the café, seemingly, can be a sanctuary against the enormous, all-inclusive darkness of life. In conclusion, the story “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” is written as story within a story that reflects the existential metaphor for life, which is meaningless unless the individual finds his or her own unique comfort in life. The young waiter becomes impatient with the old man and wants the old man to quiet drinking and go home, so he can go home himself. For him, it is too awful to think of nothingness all the 3 time, so it is essential to silence those thought through a pleasant, clean, and well-lighted café. Arguably, one could oppose that 2 a person who founds comfort in drinking at a cafe will only contribute to more loneliness and depression. In fact, during the conversation with the older waiter, he doesn’t understand why the old man attempted suicide because he “has plenty of money. It is sensible to suppose that the young waiter cannot comprehend the mental or spiritual value that the old man gets from the clean well-lighted café. The older waiter seems to be grieved when the younger waiter closes the café and sends the old man away.
Common topics in this essay:
Waldo Emerson, Soren Kierkegaard, Ernest Hemingway, Clean Well-Lighted, Clean Well-lighted, clean well-lighted, clean pleasant, individual own, unique belief, own unique, clean pleasant café, clean well-lighted waiter, , clean well-lighted café, commit suicide, waiter hemingway, character waiter, well-lighted café, own unique belief, wife job, character waiter hemingway, |