Jordan Tingle
Dec. 5, 2010
Research paper
“A clean, well lighted place”€
“Everything is possible through love or aggression, but paradoxically nothing is
permanent,”€ Bennett said (4). His story spoke to me about the contrast of young and old
and of seeing someones perspective of life through his or her eyes. Hemingway used the
old waiter, the young waiter and the old man to create these three perspectives on life. He
also used the nice bright cafe and the not so clean bar to contrast how someone might
spend their days and nights. The young waiter could probably not understand the
importance of the clean well-lit cafe that the old man desired. He also did not understand
the reason the old man tried to commit suicide when had plenty of money. After all, when
you are young, money should buy happiness. However, the old man learned that it did not
particularly as you age and you lose the things that money cannot buy. The older waiter
seemed to understand the old man and sympathized with him. He understood loneliness,
aging and hopelessness. The old waiters character provides a major insight into how he
understood the old man and how easy it is to get bogged down into feelings of nothingness
and helps provide the theme, the irony used, and helping the reader understand the word
“nada”€.
The main theme throughout the story is despair, which is illustrated by all three characters.
A lot of the imagery throughout the story represents pain and misery. Bennett tells us that
despair is the lack of feeling and insight into the human condition,”€ (1). Moreover,
despair can be characterized by the loss of hope whereby people grow old and begin to
lose hope in the future and then become pessimistic. When the old man was asked why he
wanted to kill himself, the old waiter answered, “he has plenty of money”€ (Bennett 2),
referring back to the quote, “nothing is permanent”€. Having money can only buy
temporary happiness, so without a true understanding of the future, you have nothing. “The
most fearsome face of nada, and clear proof of mans radical contingency is death,”€
(Hoffman 2). Quotes told by the old waiter throughout this short story convey the authors
meaning through verbal irony.
Verbal irony, by definition, is saying the opposite of the words”€™ intentions. For
example, Benert tell us that there are three barriers described that go against the ultimate
negation of nothingness itself,”€ (2). The old waiter tries to replace the “nothingness”€ he
