Hemmingway

Hemmingway Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” takes place after 2 a.m. in a Spanish café that employs two waiters, one old and one young. The only customer that is still in the café is an old deaf man that is a frequent customer and is quite drunk. In the night (or early morning) in which this story takes place, the young waiter is in a hurry to get home to his wife. Although the café is not closing, the young waiter lies to the old man saying that the café is closed, and forces the deaf man to leave early. Following this incident, the older waiter protest the younger waiter’s actions by explaining why the old man spends so many evenings alone in the café. After the old waiter’s explanation, he relates himself to the old man and he too lives his life in much the same way because he too is lonely. The character of the older waiter and his response to the younger waiter’s treatment of the old deaf man as well as his account of his loneliness are major contributors to this story’s theme: ‘with age comes loneliness’. Although the characters of the deaf man and the young old, waiter, man, story, older, café, person, nothing, deaf, one, young, loneliness, life, himself, waiter’s, people, because, place, men, insomnia, explanation, character, warning, two, think, theme, something, point, must, man’s, lack, increase, home, become, alone, younger