A Clean Well Lighted Place Symbolism

“A Clean Well- Lighted Place”: Ernest Hemingway’s Symbolic Masterpiece

“A Clean Well- Lighted Place” is truly a symbolic work of genius by Ernest Hemingway. The Author portrays the barbaric cruelty of isolation by symbolizing the old deaf man, a waiter and their desire to somehow pass the night. The story is an essential example of Ernest Hemingway’s Iceberg theory type symbolism.

At the beginning, Ernest Hemingway keeps the readers in dark about the exact place or era of the story. Slowly but surely, the readers can conclude that the story took place sometime in Spain. The writer introduces us to Bodegas in the story, poor man’s bar. Bodegas are typically only found in Spain. Like this example, there are always intelligent uses of symbols

According to many religions, person who kills himself may not go to paradise. However, the old man lives on with his niece, he is deserted and disliked. A niece is not precisely a friend or a companion. Although the old man frequently visits the cafe , he never tries to becomes friends with the waiters. The lonely old man has money, plethora of it, as one waiter comments. With his money, he can offer his neighbors or even a total stranger a drink as a first step to making friends if he wants to. Clearly he is not interested in using money to find friends, for he always drinks alone. He does not seem to be interested in trying. One might think he must prefer loneliness to companionship or friendship. But it is rather absurd for anyone to prefer loneliness! It is not clear how circumstances force loneliness upon him – deafness being one of them-- but they must be bad enough for him to attempt suicide; now, though, he is taking them in stride. He does not show signs of depression or despair, but it is hard to fathom his feelings when he just sits and drinks brandy without trying to communicate with the waiters. It is reasonable to assume that loneliness drives him to attempt suicide last week, but no one knows what other reasons came into play. An outsider would say he should try to escape from loneliness instead of from

Aside from his drinking, the old man does not seem to have any age-related issues. What then should he do during his waking hours to avoid boredom and diminishing faculties? At his age, he is no longer working. Hence his life is totally unstructured unless he imposes some sort of discipline on it out of will power or out of necessity. With no support group and no friends he is completely on his own. If he cannot follow a daily schedule that fills his time with meaningful activities, it is hard to see how he can find meaning or purpose in life. Remember that you are on your own when making a decision; yet your decision is made for everyone else, according the Sartrean existentialist view, because you are involved in the world. At the same time, you are alone in making your decision regardless of help you may have sought from any sources. After that you bear the heavy responsibility of your decision, and you bear it alone. When life has no longer any meaning, it is up to you to decide whether it is worth living. Hence, the old man must find ways to engage in activities that his body and his mind require to stay fit and healthy. He could go to the library to entertain himself with books on all sorts of topics. The library is a clean, well-lighted place even during the day, a quiet place although to a deaf person all places are quiet. He could take long walks in the park or the forest and commune with nature as Jean-Jacques