"A Clean, Well Lighted Place"

"A Clean, Well Lighted Place"
Ernest Hemingway, 1933

"'Good night,' the other said. 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. You do not want music. Certainly you do not want music. Nor can you stand before a bar with dignity although that is all that is provided for these hours. What did he fear? It was not a fear or dread. It was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all nothing and a man was a 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 all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada." - page 4

What I love about short stories, especially Hemingway, is the purpose hidden within what is seemingly just simplicity.  These happenings could have all taken place within the span of only 10-15 minutes, and there is no aggressive or harsh conflict.  In fact, were this to happen in real life it is a piece of history easily ignored or forgotten.  However, in short story format, it becomes so much more.  The implications carried through the simple, flat dialogue in this piece go beyond the actual actions portrayed.  Something as trivial as the setting, a well-lit cafe, becomes the very core the story depends on to carry across its purpose and feeling.  Characteristic of Hemingway's writing is the emphasis on dialogue.  It is difficult sometimes impossible to tell who is talking.  Most of the time, the dialogue never goes past one line, but instead occurs in short, simple bursts.

This specific quote is more relative to the story.  As it progresses, we see a much more pronounced dichotomy between the older and younger waiter.  Although not entirely uncritical of the old man, we see similarities between the older waiter and their patron.  The man is old, deaf, and obviously depressed.  However, he seems to have a sense of honor, and the word "dignity" is used multiple times throughout the piece.  The man does not seek solace in parties, loud music or late-night bars, but this "clean, well-lit" cafe.  Every evening, this man sits alone in this cafe, and drinks.  As stated, the elderly man does not possess fear or dread, but is plagued by nothingness.  The man is deaf, condemned permanently to silence.  Why would he further dull his senses by placing himself in darkness, or clutter?  The solace he finds within the clean, well-lit, and dignified environment is something the older waiter empathizes with.  As earlier stated, he enjoys staying late at the cafe, lest someone need it at the later hours of the night.  This proud old man, who has lost both his wife and hearing, failed suicide, is all too familiar with nothing.

This quote, and the following passage almost foreshadows the future of the older waiter.  As proven in his understanding of the old man, they are alike.   At the very end, the old waiter thinks to himself about his own sleeping patterns.  Like the old man, he disliked bars and bodegas, but would not fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.  The story finishes with: "After all, he said to himself, it's probably only insomnia. Many must have it" (Hemingway 4).  This final sentence holds a passive irony.  The old waiter brushes off his insomnia as irrelevant, and insignificant.  The ironic implication is that the older waiter may be glimpsing his own future in the old man.  The insomnia he brushes off is the first symptom of a sad, yet somehow wise and learned future.  They say more intelligent, or creative people sleep less and are less happy.  In their simplistically jaded view of the world, the elderly man and older waiter see the beauty of a clean, well-lit place, and the crushing weight of nothingness.

Although unrelated, my second favorite segment of this piece would easily be "'Finished,' he said, speaking with that omission of syntax stupid people employ when talking to drunken people or foreigners. 'No more tonight. Close now'" (Hemingway 3).  Besides a hilariously accurate critique of the stupidity in this act of belittlement, is shows the nature of the young waiter.  Unlike the less rushed, passive older waiter, he is impatient and unexperienced.  His condescending words remove him as a candidate for protagonist, communicating to the reader sympathy for the old man.  

"A Clean, Well Lighted Place" is a beautiful example of how a story in which nothing seems to happen can be so incredible.  In its simplistic, uneventful four pages, are a plethora of implications about existence, nothingness, and happiness.  It reminds me of Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", and I look forward to reading more of his work.