Bolonnyy L.

Lyubomyr Bolonnyy

Mrs. Claudia Grilo

ENG3UC-03

14 December 2012

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place – The Meaningless Search for Meaning

Finding the meaning of life is something most humans attempt to do. Many choose to

devote their lives to this question and may turn to their careers, family, religion, drugs and

alcohol, money, or sex amongst many other things as an answer. Others choose to accept the

absence of meaning with courage and dignity and this way they are able to achieve the innacle

of inner freedom. Ernest Hemingway supports the latter viewpoint in his short story A Clean,

Well-Lighted Place. Juxtaposing characterization is used to highlight the contrasting approaches

people have towards life. Dialogue meaning “nothing” is used ironically in religious context by

the central character to subtly communicate the theme of the meaninglessness of life by

cancelling out the idea of a higher power and life after death. The symbol of the café is used to

present the view Hemingway implies we should have, one of dignity and courage and without

belief in any meaning. Ernest Hemingway, in his short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, uses

juxtaposing characterization, irony in religious diction, and the symbol of the café to highlight

the human conditions of looking for meaning in a meaningless life and the freedom achieved

through the acceptance of a life devoid of meaning.

By juxtaposing the philosophical approach to life of his characters, Ernest Hemingway

contrasts the societal interpretation of life and the view of its meaninglessness. The first of

these characters is the young waiter, a brash man who lacks the wisdom of the older waiter and
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the old man but has the desire to make something of himself. Described as “the waiter who was

in a hurry” (Hemingway, 43), he symbolizes the career-driven individuals that society is creating

out of humans. This is also supported by his concern with time, as he mentions that “‘I never

get to bed before three o’clock’” (Hemingway, 42) and notes than an hour is "‘more to me than

to [the old man]’" (Hemingway, 43). This character is a good representation of youth in society,

those who dream of grandeur and purpose, and feel “‘all confidence’” (Hemingway, 43) despite

working a poor job. As a result of his confidence and youthful foolishness the younger waiter is

quite tactless, and visibly shows disdain for those who presently give nothing to society,

exclaiming that “’An old man is a nasty thing’" (Hemingway, 42). He is ignorant to the old man’s

previous contributions to society, especially given the fact that this old man is rich, and only

states that the old man “’has no regard for those who must work’" (Hemingway, 42) and that

“’he should have killed himself last week’" (Hemingway, 41). However, Hemingway carefully

creates parallels between the old man and the young waiter, arguably creating a slight

foreshadowing of the young waiter’s future. The waiter wants to get home to “’a wife waiting in

bed for [the young waiter]’” (Hemingway, 42) while the old man “’had a wife once too’”

(Hemingway, 42). Given the old man’s wealth, it is implied that he too wanted to make

something of himself, much like the young waiter and was even quite successful. However

despite the parallels between them, their current views on life are what truly separate them.

The young waiter is hasty and hurried in life, evidenced by him pouring into the glass “so that

the brandy slopped over” (Hemingway, 41) and this contrasts the old man, who the older waiter

points out “’drinks without spilling.’” (Hemingway, 42) The young waiter simply hasn’t had the

experience the old man has and is therefore a slave to his hopes and dreams and the time
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required to achieve them while the old man, despite all the money and happiness he had

achieved in his younger years, was now simply a lonely individual waiting for death. Although

his niece stopped his suicide because she had "’fear for his soul’" (Hemingway, 42), the old man

rebuffs things such as religion; he has seen that such beliefs are pointless to him and the only

thing he clings on to is his dignity, evidenced by him walking when drunk “unsteadily but with

dignity” (Hemingway, 43). In stark contrast to the hurried young waiter, he does not find inner

peace in any belief of a higher power but in sitting at the café wasting hours away. As such,

Hemingway makes the character of the older waiter be a midpoint between the beliefs of the

other two men. The younger waiter points out that “’ You have everything I have’” (Hemingway,

43), although the only thing shared between these two men is their common job. The older

waiter is not a foolish youth, he is wise enough to realize the meaninglessness of life and draw

parallels between the old man and themselves rather than looking upon him as being a

nuisance. He can see that he and the waiter will also be in the old man’s position one day. He is

therefore aware that the thing he feels when confronted with his life “was a nothing that he

knew too well. It was all a nothing” (Hemingway, 44). Hemingway makes his philosophy into a

concept gained with age, since the two older characters see the meaninglessness in life in

contrast to the passionate and hopeful youth. The juxtaposing characterization creates

dynamics between the characters while heightening the theme of looking for a meaning in life.

As the younger waiter and old man leave the plot of the story, Hemingway turns his

focus from juxtaposing characterization of the three lead characters to the thoughts of the older

waiter. Through his ironic use of diction relating to “nothing” in a religious context, the idea of a

higher power is cancelled out and the theme of the meaninglessness of life is heightened. When
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left alone, the older waiter converses with himself, thinking “that man was a nothing”

(Hemingway, 44). Here Hemingway bluntly throws his view of all mankind, as humanity

ultimately amounts to nothing, even as a whole race. People live, people die, and anything they

leave behind has no meaning to them once they are gone; the older waiter knows this too well.

He also notes that many “lived in it and never felt it but [the older waiter] knew it all was nada y

pues nada y nada y pues nada” (Hemingway, 44). The older waiter observes those around him

living in a meaningless life without acknowledging or seeing this obvious meaninglessness; he

however knows well that all life is nothing for nothing. Hemingway then has the older waiter say

in his mind the prayer “Our Father” and the first line of “Hail Mary.”, ironically substituting the

majority of the words for the words “nada” and “nothing”. In the lines “Our nada who art in

nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada “(Hemingway,

44), the waiter effectively cancels out the ideas of both a higher power and an afterlife; he is

“praying” to nothing in a place that is also nothing. The lines that follow reinforce this view as

well, continuously using irony to humorously rebuke the higher power and making the older

waiter smile. In the one paragraph where Hemingway has the older waiter think to himself,

“nada” is used twenty-one times and “nothing” is used six times. By deliberately repeating

these words and by putting them in a religious context, Hemingway clearly highlights his theme

of life being “nothing” and having no higher purpose or meaning.

After the older waiter’s ironic inner dialogue reveals his belief in the meaningless of

life, the symbol of the café becomes an important symbol for the realization of life’s

meaninglessness. Hemingway also highlights the freedom achieved through the acceptance of

such a philosophy with dignity and courage. The older waiter from the start does not want to
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close the café at which he works; he wants the old man, and all others who need it, to be there

because he understands that the café to them is like a shining beacon of light. The meaning of

this is that once one accepts the meaninglessness of life, people might not know where to go

next and life may become dark for them; as such, people need to see the light and the older

waiter wants to give it to “’all those who need a light for the night’" (Hemingway, 43). The old

waiter continuously highlights that he “disliked bars and bodegas” (Hemingway, 44). Those

places are used for drinking and intoxicating oneself and therefore they do not offer the light

and freedom of the truth but instead a distraction from the truth. The older waiter supports

this continuously by noting that a “clean, well-lighted cafe was a very different thing”

(Hemingway, 44), that the “’light is very good’” (Hemingway, 44). The waiter finds peace and

freedom in a clean, bright place, more so than in his bed at home, which presses the statement

even farther. As such the café represents the state of being achieved when the search for

meaning ceases and that is why the waiter wants to share the café with those who truly need it.

By seeing the serenity that can be achieved despite life being meaningless, people would come

out of the darkness of their minds and would be at ease.

In his short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, Ernest Hemingway brings the readers’

attention to the human condition of looking for meaning in a meaningless life and the freedom

achieved through the acceptance of a life without meaning through the juxtaposition of

characterization, ironic use of “nothing” diction in religious context, and the use of the café as a

symbol. The personal philosophy that Hemingway allows us to see in this story could have a

very profound effect on society if carefully studied. The greatest challenge life presents to us is

finding its purpose and many people spend their whole lives trying to do so. Many turn their
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lives to religion or beliefs in a higher power as an answer; however they are only filling the void

with beliefs of a meaning. Others do not find reprieve in this, dragging themselves aimlessly

through each day and burdening themselves psychologically because certainty in their search

for meaning is never possible. If we accept Hemingway’s philosophy of life being “nada” and

release ourselves from further psychological tension, we will learn to courageously face this

revelation and in a world without the idea of higher meaning or judicial afterlife, we may

become as close to being absolutely free as is humanly possible.

Works Cited
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Hemingway, Ernest. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” The Best Short Stories of the Modern

Age. Ed. Douglas Angus. New York. The Random House, 1974. 40-44.