A Clean Well-Lighted Place

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Recommended: Themes in hemingway's writing

“A Clean Well-Lighted Place” “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway is enlightened by the existential motif. Existentialism is a philosophy that concerned individual's struggle to attach meanings to their world. Individuals are the responsible in shaping their meaningless life and create a value for it. Furthermore, the individual must decide how he will live. Despair, lack of communication and pessimism are represented in this story by Existentialism philosophy where individuals reach a point in which they get to find the pointless of their life. This essay will be examining the three levels represented by Hemingway through which human beings go in regard to this philosophy. At the beginning man, with his life appearing to be meaningful with having job, youth, family and wife, suffers in his attempt to preserve what he has. Then loosing the value of what he has gradually leads to him starting to suffer from loneliness and emptiness …show more content…

According to Hemingway, existentialism as a philosophy disciplines the individuals and guides their thoughts and believes. The old men represent this discipline by his polite behaviors and reactions toward people especially with the young waiter who exhibits rude attitudes toward his client. Additionally, the old man is not in hurry, sits silently bothering his own business, watches passing people from time to time, clean and presentable even in his worst possible conditions -drunk. Moreover, the old waiter who seems to understand the old man’s situation describes him as “a very old man walking unsteadily, but with dignity”. in other words, he is a man of morals; he respects law and never condescends people. Indeed, he disappoints the two waiters, who keep an eye on him in the thought of him not paying for his drink, by departing politely after being indirectly asked -kind of dismissing him- to leave the café and paying for his drink with

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