A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Analysis
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (story of Ernest Hemingway [a famous 20th century American writer]) has many analytical elements such as three main themes, absence of plot and characterization, and some symbols etcetera.
I would like to discuss the themes of this tale first of all. The themes of this short story are:
Human struggle against despair:
In the story, Hemingway tells us that human beings keep on struggling against despair during their lives, and especially during oldage. As we know the old man was rich, but he was depressed with his life. That is why he tried to commit suicide as well. Hemingway is a writer of human psychology. He portrays the exact human psyche in a remarkable way. The writer did that in A Clean and Well-Lighted Place as well. A reader could know through Hemingway’s story how powerful a man might feel in his youth but how powerless he can feel in his oldage. Despite the old man’s wealth which he might have earned during his youth, he was feeling hopeless and wanted to end his life.
Hemingway shows a similar struggle of an old man against hopelessness in his novel, The Old Man and The Sea. In the novel, the old man tried his full efforts to catch a fish for many days but remained unsuccessful. And, he kept on struggling to catch his target on the sea to remain hopeful. In the end, he caught the fish, but that fish was eaten by some sharks in the way. Anyway, he was able to bring the skeleton of that big fish to the shore. That skeleton of the fish or the symbol of his success is enough to show the reader how mighty a man is even in his oldage.
Nothingness of life:
In the story, the writer tells us that life means nothing to old people. Life has no meaning for old people. Life has lost its value for senior people. As a reader, we could easily assess that when we hear pessimistic Spanish prayers of the elder waiter while he was outside the cafe. Even the old man is not finding his peace in religion and lost his religious values. We could see that when we are told in the story that the old man is used to regular drinking in the cafe during late nights.
Hemingway also shows us the absence of religion in the lives of his characters in his another novel, The Sun Also Rises. In this novel, men and women show moral corruption in different forms such as sex before marriage, drinking alcohol, and dance activities, etc. These characters are called the lost generation whose lives are affected by the period of world war 1. According to the novel, wartime negatively impacted the psyche of these people. That’s why they started behaving immorally or lost their spiritual values.
Materialism:
In the story, the young waiter represents young people. He thinks that money could solve all the problems of this world. Therefore, the waiter believes that the desperation of the old man which lead him towards the suicidal attempt was nonsensical because he was very rich.
Hemingway also discusses materialism in a short story, After the Storm. In this story, a greedy fisherman has been shown. That man finds a sunken ship, and he tries to steal its goods. The whole story centres around the greed of that man that keeps him dissatisfied.
Other Literary Elements:
Well, as far as the plot is concerned, nothing happens. No conflict. No solution. So, no plot. And, there is no characterization as well. You might notice this as well. We don’t even know the names of all characters. These are only generic persons that come in and leave some cafe in the story, A Clean Well-Lighted Place.
Now, let’s discuss the importance of symbols in the story, A Clean Well-Lighted Place. The old man and aged waiter symbolize the loss of religion and peace in the society. And, the young waiter symbolizes the unfair trend for material pursuits in the society. Then, the cafe itself is a symbol. That place is a symbol of some kind of escape from the current reality.
The style of narration in, A Clean Well-Lighted Place, is somewhat narrative and somewhat conversational. And, the tone of the story is descriptive. Then, an ironic situation also appears in the story. According to the young waiter, the old man tried to commit suicide for some illogical reason because he was already very rich. Whereas the reality is money is not the solution of every problem. And, that young waiter might have understood this if he were not young. Lastly, the genre of this story is tragedy coz the story deals with human suffering, desperation.
Conclusion:
Well, that’s all regarding the analysis of A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. It is hoped that you liked the content. If you have any questions or concerns, let the author know via the contact form or email address on the website.