Week 9: Modernism

1. Read "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"

2. Answer the discussion questions.
3. What features of the Iceberg Principle and Modernism can you find in the story?

I. Are the following sentences true (T) or false (F)?

1. the old man was deaf. F
2. The old man was very poor. F
3. The younger waiter never gets into bed before two o’clock. F
4. The old man was sometimes drunk. F
5. The old man killed himself with a rope and his niece saved him. T
6. The old man lives with his wife and his niece. T
7. A waiter said “an old man is a nasty thing.” T
8. The old man in this tale is nasty. T
9. The waiter who is in a hurry fears going home before his usual hour. T
10. The older waiter had a lot of confidence when he was young. T

II. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the setting of the story?
It's a pleasant café, and the light creates the shadows of leaves at night. The story is set late at
night, and the café is quiet; only the two waiters and a single customer, the old man, sit there.
2. Why did one waiter think that the soldier should get off the street immediately?
Why did he other waiter said it did not matter?
Because one of the waiters says the soldier had better be careful about being out because the
guards just went by.
3. IN which manner did the younger waiter serve the old man? Why?
The older waiter says that he likes to stay at cafés very late with the others who are reluctant to
go home and who need light during the nighttime. The older waiter says he doesn’t like to close
the café in case someone needs it.
4. Does the old man like to stay up late? What is possibly the reason?
Yes, he does. The old man likes the shadows of the leaves on the well-lit café terrace. The old
man and older waiter in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” struggle to find a way to deal with their
despair, but even their best method simply subdues the despair rather than cures it. The old man
has tried to stave off despair in several unsuccessful ways. We learn that he has money, but
money has not helped. We learn that he was once married, but he no longer has a wife. We also
learn that he has unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide in a desperate attempt to quell the
despair for good. The only way the old man can deal with his despair now is to sit for hours in a
clean, well-lit café. Deaf, he can feel the quietness of the nighttime and the café, and although he
is essentially in his own private world, sitting by himself in the café is not the same as being
alone.
5. What was the wish of one waiter? Why didn’t he want to look at the old man?
The younger waiter says he wishes the old man would leave so that he can go home and go to
bed with his wife.
6. With what attitude and manner did the waiter who was in a hurry tell the old man
to go away at nearly 2.30? What adjective did Hemingway choose to describe his
Manner?
Brash and insensitive, the younger waiter can’t see beyond himself. He readily admits that he
isn’t lonely and is eager to return home where his wife is waiting for him. He doesn’t seem to
care that others can’t say the same and doesn’t recognize that the café is a refuge for those who
are lonely. The younger waiter is immature and says rude things to the old man because he wants
to close the café early. He seems unaware that he won’t be young forever or that he may need a
place to find solace later in life too. The young waiter thinks that his time is more valuable than
the old man’s because he fills it with work and family, while he assumes that the drunk man’s
life is pointless. This self-importance, combined with his clear animosity towards old people,
suggests that his relative youth has made him callous and lacking in perspective.
7. What did the old man do when he was told to go? What noun/ adjective did
Hemingway choose to describe his manner? "Another brandy”, "Finished", "Another"
The old man indicates that he wants more brandy in the glass.
8. Was the waiter who was in a hurry afraid of going home too early? Why? How
about the older waiter?
He thinks deeply—perhaps too deeply—about life and those who struggle to face it. The old
waiter knows what it is like to have to go home in the dark; he himself will not go home to sleep
until daybreak — when he will not have to fall asleep in the nothingness of darkness.
9. Why was the older waiter reluctant to close up the café each night?
He older waiter says that he likes to stay at cafés very late with the others who are reluctant to go
home and who need light during the nighttime. The older waiter says he doesn’t like to close the
café in case someone needs it.
10. What type of people did the older say he belonged to?
He doesn’t like bars, preferring cafés. He knows that he will now go home and fall asleep when
the sun comes up. He thinks he just has insomnia, a common problem.
11. How do you understand the following lines? Can you figure out the meaning of
“nada”?
“…It was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was a
nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness
and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues
nada y nada y pues nada. Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy
kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily
nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but
deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with
thee…”
“Nada” means nothing in Spain. The older waiter makes this idea as clear as he can when he
says, “It was all a nothing and man was a nothing too.” When he substitutes the Spanish word
nada (nothing) into the prayers he recites, he indicates that religion, to which many people turn to
find meaning and purpose, is also just nothingness.
III. Questions for discussion.
1. Is the story’s plot simple or complicated?
The story’s plot is simple. Because it is quite easy to figure out the purpose and message of the
author.
2. What feelings and experiences are depicted in this tale?
The old man's disappointment and sadness, the young waiter's rage, and the old waiter's slight
sadness and regret.
3. From the scary details and limited time of the tale, can we project the past and
the future of the characters?
Yes, we can. Several parts of the novel indicate the characters' past and future.
4. What message do you think Hemingway wants to convey through this story?
We can see most of the "Iceberg" underlying, but we can't see many of the others' unpleasant
experiences or the emotions they keep from sight.
5. How is the “Iceberg Principle” realized in this story?
When we concentrate on many of the old waiter's sayings, we realize the "Iceberg Principle”.