Tone Of A Clean Well Lighted Place

Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” describes the story of two waiters in a café waiting for their last customer to leave before they can close for the night. A regular customer, an old deaf man who attempted suicide the week earlier, is drinking himself slowly into a state of inebriation. According to the short story “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”, as an individual grows older, they must grasp the fact that their life is entirely devoid of meaning. In the passage where the younger waiter serves the old man another brandy he tells the old man that “[he] should have killed [him]self last week” (154) it demonstrates the young waiter’s unsympathetic and selfish nature. He is young and has a wife waiting at home and is therefore anxious and concerned at the very notion of his time being wasted. This young waiter’s attitude is that of direct contrast to the older waiter’s understanding and kindness towards the old man, as he finds himself deeply relating to

None of the characters have a name, there is no climax, and the language is kept quite basic. Although at first glance, this may make the story seem plain or overly simple; its tone allows for its clear message to shine through all the more. The young waiter is a symbol of youth and hedonism; not understanding and not even attempting to understand the perils that come with getting older. He even goes so far as to express disgust towards the man solely based on his age, saying that “an old man is a nasty thing” (154). The young waiter’s naivety is also well demonstrated in a separate passage of the story when the young waiter exclaims that the old man attempted suicide because he was “in despair…[over] nothing… He has plenty of money”. The young waiter can’t comprehend what would drive someone to take their own life besides a lack of financial