A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway summary and analysis

 

“The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him.
Last week he tried to commit suicide," one waiter said.
Why?"
He was in despair."
What about?"
Nothing."
How do you know it was nothing."
He has plenty of money.”

 

 Summary

It is late at night, and the only customer remains at the cafe is a deaf old man. He likes to stay late because it becomes calm and quiet. The two waiters inside keep a close eye on him, as if he drinks too much, he may forget to pay. The older waiter informs the other that last week the old man tried to commit suicide because he was in despair. When the younger waiter asks about the cause of the old man's despair, the older waiter says it was over nothing, because the old man has plenty of money.

 The old man taps his glass and asks for more drink. The younger waiter warns the old man that he will be over drunk. He tells the older waiter the old man should have killed himself last week, a sentiment he repeats to the deaf old man when he pours his brandy, since the old man cannot hear him.

 

Back inside, the waiters resume their discussion of the old man's suicide attempt, with the younger waiter continuing to question why the old man would want to kill himself. The older waiter informs him that the old man's niece found him hung by a rope and cut him down. When the younger waiter asks why she cut him down, the older waiter replies, "fear for his soul."

The younger waiter wants to go home as he has a wife waiting in bed for him, he is not lonely, so he shouldn't have to stay up this late. They consider the fact that the old man had a wife once, too, and the younger waiter says he would not want to be that old because "an old man is a nasty thing." The older waiter disagrees, pointing out the old man is clean and drinks without spilling. 

 

The old man asks for another brandy, and the younger waiter, who is in a hurry to go home, tells him they are closed. The old man pays for his drinks and leaves. The older unhurried waiter asks why the younger waiter does not let him stay and drink, since they are not actually closed yet. The younger hurried waiter says it is because he wants to go home to bed. The older waiter argues that the younger waiter has "youth, confidence, and a job," in essence, he has "everything." The younger waiter asks the older waiter what are you lacking, and he responds, "Everything but work,". He says he likes to stay late at the café. He believes he and the younger waiter are "of two different kinds." It is not necessarily about youth or confidence but about the fact that every night he is "reluctant to close up because there may be someone who needs the café." The younger waiter points out "there are bodegas (wine shop in spanish) open all night long," but the older waiter argues that their café is clean, pleasant, and well-lighted. 

 

The two waiters bid each other good night, and the older waiter continues the conversation with himself about the café as  it is clean, calm, pleasant, well-lit place with no music. He says the Lord's Prayer in his head but replaces the nouns with the word nada, which means "nothing" in Spanish. 

 

The older waiter goes to a bar and orders a drink. He tells the barman "the light is very bright and pleasant but the bar is unpolished." The barman does not respond but offers another drink, which the waiter declines because he dislikes bars and bodegas. He prefers a clean, well-lighted café. He decides to go home and imagines falling asleep with the daylight, pondering whether his anxiety is only insomnia, a thing many people must have.

 

“Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.”

 

Critical analysis

Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” follows a simple plotline. An old man, aged about eighty years, tries to spend his night by drinking in a Spanish cafe, but the young waiter becomes annoyed and irritated, as he wants to go home and enjoy times with his wife. Hemingway remarkably reveals the perspectives of life from young and old. Old age may wither all human enthusiasms, but also makes time a burden. In the story, the old is shown as a hindrance to the desires of the youth, and the young is depicted as impatient and intolerant to the old.

 

The old man has nothing left out in his life except death, he is also half in love with easeful death and his attempt to commit suicide was once prevented by his niece. According to Sigmund Freud the old man is guided by thanathotic (death instinct) impulse. Whereas the young and impatient waiter, on the other hand, is eager to rush through life thus he is guided be eros. The perspectives of life has contrastively put here as the young married waiter is largely fond of life but the lonely despair life of the unmarried old man made him lethargic.

 

The story also touches upon meaning and meaninglessness of life, as seen by men of different ages. The old man does not argue or protest when he is asked to go. Instead he gives tips to the young man and silently leaves the place. He knows the limitation in existential choices. On the other hand, the old waiter tries to argue and convince the young waiter, though he also knows it is futile. The old waiter says, “It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too… deliver us from nada; pues nada” (Hemingway). A sense of nothingness pervades the story.

 

 

A sense of existentialism permeates in the story. It clearly expresses the philosophy that underlies the Hemingway canon, dwelling on themes of death, futility, meaninglessness, and depression. Through the thoughts and words of a middle-aged Spanish waiter, Hemingway expresses the main idea of his existential philosophy. Life is inherently meaningless and leads inevitably to death.

 

The base of Hemingway’s philosophy in this story is existentialism, a philosophical system originated in the 19th century by Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche and given fully artistic expression in the post WWI years by Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Existentialism derives from the belief that existence is inherently meaningless and that individuals are solely responsible for giving meaning to their own lives. They must impose their own systems of values and beliefs on themselves and overcome feelings of despair and angst to live by their own values. Nihilism is yet another approach to life which  posits that life is meaningless, futile, and  void without morality.

 

Hemingway’s particular brand of philosophy in this story, as expressed by the middle-aged waiter, can be described as existential nihilism, a combination of these two belief systems. Life is meaningless and futile, he argues, and though one may try to impose meaning and order on one’s own existence, this effort eventually proves futile as death overtakes us all. Hemingway, like many of his generation, felt a sense of disillusionment and dislocation following his traumatic experiences during World War I, and his embrace of existential nihilism in this story can be seen as a reaction to this feeling.

 

Hemingway is famous for his "iceberg principle"(minimalism /fragmentation) of writing, in which he aims to reveal the least amount of detail possible. He believes that only 1/8 of the story should show, and what lies underneath is open to the reader's interpretation. In "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," the reader must look for clues to meaning in the dialogue and the narrator's description of the setting. Even Hemingway's choice of words by the narrator and characters is simple, with short, concise sentences that don't rely on figurative language. There is no dramatic climax to the story, but rather Hemingway presents a pared-down description of nameless characters and the setting they inhabit.

Hemingway makes much use of repetition throughout the story, repeating images such as "the shadows on the leaves" and the words clean, pleasant, and well-lit. The older waiter most frequently utters these descriptions, and they seem to be an antidote for the darkness of the night, which he equates with a kind of despair and anxiety over an existential nihilistic nothingness. 

 

The words "nothing" and "nada" are also repeated throughout the story, which leaves readers with nothing but absence to help them make connections regarding the theme of the story. With this repetition, Hemingway instills the same uneasy sense of nothingness in the reader that the characters of the old man and the older waiter feel.

 

Hemingway also deploys the technique of stream-of-consciousness to convey the older waiter's internal thoughts, which stands in contrast to the minimal style of the rest of the story. After the two waiters say good night to each other, the narrator shifts from the dialogue between the two men to the thoughts of the older waiter. The narrator makes this shift by stating, "Turning off the electric light he continued the conversation with himself. It was the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant." The shift is abrupt and marks a distinct transition that shows the older waiter turning inward toward himself after engaging in debate with the younger waiter. This shift sets the older waiter apart from the other characters as a focus. The narration shows how his thoughts leap from one thing to another as he traces a path through the "nothing" he feels and is trying to distract himself from.