Clean, Well-Lighted Place Essay

Desmine Roberts

Mrs. S Aiken

English 1102-45

September 9, 2009

Setting’s Comfort

The street lights of the cold, harsh city flicker on and off continuously as Roger walks quickly, head down, collar pulled over his neck. He silently curses to himself for not bringing any type of protection to ward off thieves. He stops only to light a cigarette and then continues to journey on, everlasting darkness trailing and biting at his heels. With disgust, he trudges on, trying to distance himself from the unsafe life that lay behind him.

Settings fashion the tone and mood felt when reading any poem, story, or novel. A dark, clammy room might render some to feel something of fear or depression and a grassy meadow full of daisies and butterflies can cause one to experience euphoric and joyful sensations all at the same time. Be it the room or the meadow, the aura accompanies the character placed in it well, and crafts a sense of connection. In Ernest’s Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well- Lighted Place,” the locations that the characters preside in serve as an endless connection between their personalities and why they are there.

In the beginning, the old man is placed outside the café. It is a clean, quaint nicely lit up building and serves as a safe haven and escape from the old man’s terrible and lonely life at hand. The young waiter who servers the old man describes the man’s life as a pitiful one, “He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” (Hemingway 96) The young waiter suggests that the old man’s attempted suicide should not have failed for he would be better off dead, “You should have killed yourself last week.” (Hemingway 96) A regular customer, the old man comes often and stays for a plentiful amount of time, drinking more than his fill but always leaving with an air of dignity and decorum. “The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.” (Hemingway 97) The old man has no wife and is taken care of by his niece, a wretched, bitter life to endure. The elder waiter stating he “lacks everything but work,” does not find his life as wretched perhaps but understands the need for the café. For the old man, the café serves as lighting to the darkness in his life. The younger waiter having youth, confidence and a wife only see’s the café as a job, a place to earn money. The elder waiter compares himself with those like the old man who go to the café to seek pleasant peace. As described by the older waiter, the café is for “all those who do not want to go to bed” and for “all those who need a light for the night.” This relationship between life and light contributes greatly to the well being of both the old man and waiter. As the older waiters himself travels to a bar he realizes with satisfaction the significance the café serves. “He disliked bars and bodegas. A clean well lighted café was a very different thing.” (Hemingway 99)

Settings have great impacts upon those who dwell in it, they can lead to dangerous emotions or emotions associated with safeness and warmth as the old man and older waiter felt in Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.”