A Clean, Well-Lighted log on "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

The theme of "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is emptiness and darkness. The young waiter displays a lack of understanding about the old customer's needs, as well as the older waiter's, when he says "there are bodegas open all night" (159). The young waiter, it seems, is one of those who "lived in it and never felt it" (159), meaning the nothingness and emptiness of life. The old waiter understands why the old customer wishes to stay, because this cafe is "clean and pleasant" and "well lighted". It is, in another words, a hedge against the night and the darkness. The old waiter says, "I am one of those who like to stay late at the cafe ... with all those who need a light for the night" (159). It doesn't seem, however, that the old waiter is particularly afraid of the emptiness and the darkness (represented in this story by night), as he knows "it was no fear or dread", but "a nothing that he knew too well" (159).

This story, in my opinion, is all about emptiness and darkness pitted against light. Though the waiter believes "a man is nothing" (159), he still puts stock in a clean, well-lighted place, which is of course a man-made institution. He does not believe in religion, saying "[o]ur nada who art in nada, nada be thy name ..." (159). He is left, in the end, with only the cafe as a defense against the darkness, and the company of others like himself. Hemingway touches upon a kind of existential insomnia in this story, which prevents a person from falling asleep before dawn.

But I see the story as being ultimately positive. Our old waiter works at the cafe, trying to be kind to others who need the place. And after all, dawn is nearly there when our old waiter goes to bed. As Hemingway knew quite well, the sun also rises.

(Please note: my page numbers are probably different because I'm using the tenth edition of the book. Is that OK? I hope so ... this book was expensive. :()