“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”

One of the typical themes in modernist literature includes the loss of meaning and hope in the modern world and how these losses are faced. Ernest Hemingway contributes a tough realism into American modern literature that explores a meaningless and hopeless world. His symbolism of the dark night and bars contributes to this sort of world also.

In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” an elderly man seems to dread the life he lives, for he spends his nights drinking at a cafe. Although wealthy, he is also unfortunately deaf.

“In the day time the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late [at the cafe] because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference.”

The loss of meaning and hope for this old man is evident, for he tries to commit suicide. One waiter announces, “‘Last week he tried to commit suicide… He was in despair.’” The waiter also assumes that the old man is in despair for no reason because he is wealthy. However, this does not seem to be the case, for wealth alone does not fully satisfy people. Evidently, the old man tries to face this loss of meaning and hope in his life by committing suicide.

Another character in the story also seems to lose hope and meaning in his life also. As a young waiter complains about the length of time the old man uses to drown himself in alcohol, an older waiter defends the old man.

“‘Why didn’t you let him stay and drink?’ the unhurried waiter asked.

‘I want to go home to bed.’

‘What is an hour?’

‘More to me than to him.’

‘An hour is the same.’”

The defense that the older waiter withholds makes it clear that the older, unhurried waiter is also in a situation where he would like to stay out late at night. Does this older waiter also suffer from a loss of meaning and hope? Clearly, he loses his hope in life, for he tells the younger waiter that he has nothing.

“‘You have youth, confidence, and a job,’ the older waiter said. ‘You have everything.’

‘And what do you lack?’

‘Everything but work.’

‘You have everything I have.’

‘No. I have never had confidence and I am not young.’”

The older waiter faces these losses by sleeping in the daytime and staying up during the night, for each night, he is “reluctant to close up because there may be some one who needs the cafe.”

“He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep. After all, he said to himself, it is probably only insomnia. Many must have it.”

This waiter tries to understand the circumstances under which other people suffer during the nighttime. For example, he believes that the old, deaf man should be able to sit in the cafe to drink because it is a clean, well-lighted place, while bars, on the other hand, are loud and dark. The waiter also understands that fear nor dread is the reason in which the old man or he, himself, could not “stand before a bar with dignity.” Instead,

“It was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it was all nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada.”

The use of the word, “nothing” emphasizes loss and emptiness in the world. Elizabeth Wall seems to think that “The only escape from this Nothing is blissful unconsciousness, permanent only in death.” However, this waiter could not seem to be at peace and to overcome the losses of meaning and hope in his life. Therefore, he essentially tried to help others in achieving reasons for them to live.

Ernest Hemingway does an excellent job with the contrasts between the dark and light. “Darkness is a symbol of fear and loneliness (Well),” which is why the deaf, old man likes to stay in the clean, well-lighted cafe. In order to escape the loneliness of the dark, the old man seeks refuge in the cafe that represents unity and safety (Elizabeth Well). Ultimately, the loss of meaning and hope is evident in the darkness of Hemingway’s bars and lonely nights.

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” outlines the circumstances of a morbid story. Evidently, the two elderly men seem to lose hope and meaning in their lives, for one tries to commit suicide, and the other sleeps by day, but stays up by night to drink in a well-lighted cafe to escape the loneliness and helplessness of the dark. The exploration of these realistic situations, in which the hope and meaning of life could be lost, is ultimately a typical theme of modernist literature.