"A Clean Well-Lighted Place"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses images of light and darkness throughout the short story by Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place". The paper examines the differences and similarities between young and old, irony, and the theme of insomnia.

From the Paper:

"This is not a story of one generation against another as some of the language suggests, especially when the younger waiter remarks to the old man, "You should have killed yourself last week," and, "I wouldn't want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing." Rather, Hemingway wants to show the life of a pathetic old man and his search for significance and meaning in the face of impending death (Flora 2). The older waiter is much more sympathetic and understanding of the old man, and the two share a similar ailment, which is insomnia. As critic Elizabeth S. Wall writes, "Insomnia keeps the two awake through the hours of darkness, just as a tenacious life keeps the old man breathing when he would rather rest in his grave.""

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