Hemingway’s work – as well as his personality – causes a lot of controversial opinions. To someone, it is attractive and intriguing, while for other people, it is completely alien. Still, there is no point in arguing that Hemingway is an iconic writer, one of those who shaped the literary art of his time. It can be safely said that to appreciate the scale of Hemingway’s literary talent fully, it is enough to read his short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. In this story, Hemingway brings to the surface an ordinary everyday situation. However, between the lines, he hides something immense and frightening: we are all nothing, and our life is a path to nothing, and everything that we have is illusory and temporary. “Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee” (p. 150), Hemingway (1933) proclaimed. From there, the writer draws the concept of universal destiny: all people are mortal. There are lucky ones who are destined to meet a logical and calm ending with dignity, but many others will simply gradually fade away.
It was not by chance that the writer chose representatives of different age categories as heroes. The junior waiter is hurrying home; he seems to be quite happy with life: he has a wife, his youth, and work. However, he mistakenly believes that all this will remain with him forever. The older waiter, subsequently, is in the middle of the path. He is drawn to philosophy, and he understands the old man’s need to hide in a well-lit and clean place because light and order are all that a person needs. Every night, an elderly waiter does not want to close the cafe because he likes to stay late “with all those who need a light for the night” (Hemingway 1933, p. 150). Finally, the old man is already at the edge: he feels that he is alien to this world. Outside the cafe, an abyss of loneliness awaits him – the approaching end is frightening for him.
It was not possible for him to escape with the help of the noose. Thus, all that remains for him is to hold on to the last straw – to drink cognac in a clean, well-lighted place. These three characters are three stages of human existence – or non-existence, as Hemingway implies. The first represents the delusion of youth, the belief that the world belongs to you when you are young. The second is the bitter realization that you are nothing in this vast world. Lastly, the third refers to a feeling of stripe loneliness and hostility toward the world.
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place remains one of the most striking and wonderful stories written by Hemingway. Everything in it represents a certain symbol, an idea. It is no wonder that, in this story, a prayer – a symbol of faith, of the unity between man and God – is turned into a symbol of loneliness, abandonment and emptiness. In A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, there is no action at all. The story is no longer an episode – it is a frame. The old man drinks whiskey, and in front of him is a stack of saucers. Waiters’ conversation about the old man emphasizes this universality of human suffering in the 20th century. The old man is rich. Therefore, his despair does not grow from poverty, nor does it from social disorder. It comes from the suffocating loneliness he so wishes to escape from. The story’s centerpiece is the anticipation of the final chord – a feeling of endless loneliness in the face of the Universe, as well as a desire to come to the finish line faster.
Work Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. Scribner’s Magazine, 1933.