Nothing

In old American Western movies, black is the color worn by the antagonist while white represents the purity and goodness of the hero. While the scenarios and dialogue of Western films may be archaic, the symbolism of light and dark colors is still prevalent today; the connotations of a dim corner or a black cat contrast sharply against white images of angels or wedding brides. Evolutionally, humans view the sun, the most basic source of food and thus survival, as a crucial source of light, warmth, and protection. With darkness comes coldness and a fear of the unknown. In the dark, man is reminded of how alone and insignificant a life is in the vast universe. Ernest Hemingway often employs darkness in his works to convey the meaningless of existence that looms over man. Not totally void of optimism, his stories also present rays of hope that reach the reader often through literal descriptions of light. Such is the case in Hemingway’s short story, “A Clean, Well-lighted Place,” which focuses on two waiters at a café. The young waiter impatiently hurries along the last customer, an old man drinking alone, while the older waiter sympathizes with the perceptibly forlorn man. What appears to be a tale of despair and loneliness actually offers hope and strength through a quiet hero. Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” focuses on the nothingness of existence and invokes in the reader a grim realization of the inevitable loneliness of life. However, hope accrues through a growing sense of solidarity among humans and the everyday heroism of the older waiter as he battles the nihilism that could easily consume him. The first conversation between the waiters subtly introduces the concept of “nothing” that permeates throughout the story. A plethora of critics state this “nothing” as existentialism, which critic Abby Werlock avers as a world where “each individual must bear the responsibility for making meaning out of an absurd, lonely, anxiety-producing existence. In the process, one most often overcome feelings of anguish and despair” (para. 1). Existentialism is a common theme in the works of Hemingway and the dominant adversary in “A Clean, Well-lighted Place.” The old waiter grasps this concept while the young waiter is too wrapped up in the vanities of life to acknowledge it. It is this overwhelming awareness of a limited and lonely existence that drove the old man in the story to attempt suicide. His unsuccessful suicide is the basis of the primary conversation between the two waiters, beginning with the young waiter asking the older waiter: “‘Why?’ ‘He was in despair.’ ‘What about?’ ‘Nothing.’ ‘How do you know it was nothing?’ ‘He has plenty of money.’”(Hemingway 1). While at a quick reading, readers might mistakenly assume the older waiter dismissed the act and believes the old man attempted to kill himself for no reason; yet once it is obvious later in the story that the older waiter sympathizes with the old man, the word “nothing” takes on a much deeper meaning. For the older waiter, the explanation “nothing” has a philosophical meaning that the younger waiter cannot comprehend. It is written in Bloom’s Major Short Story Writers: To the young waiter, nothing, nada, is unimportant, it is a lack of reason for death. Because the old man has money, he should be content. Yet to the old waiter nothing is clearly Something, and the despair of this Something is a readily understandable cause for suicide. (Bloom para. 3)
This motive, which is paradoxically both nothing and something, is the emptiness the old man feels, a notion which the old waiter is aware of. This awareness prompts an unspoken connection between the old waiter and the old man whilst the young waiter simply views the old man as wasting his own precious time. The ignorance of the young waiter is obvious, especially when he says, “I’m sleepy now. I never get into bed before three o’clock. He should have killed himself last week” (Hemingway 2). The blatant disrespect of the young waiter acts as a foil to the compassionate old waiter who verbally defends the old man several times, such as noting how neat the old man is after the young waiter rudely states, “an old man is a nasty thing” (Hemingway 3). While the reader feels uneasy from the omnipresence of an awaiting bleak isolation, it is the empathy of the old waiter that highlights the comforting solidarity of humans. This commonality is hope against the darkness. The majority of the short story is told through dialogue, allowing readers to make inferences about the characters; the outlooks of the young and old waiter become clear through their different views of various situations. The characters and the locations remain nameless, thus establishing a transcendent story and characters. The setting is mundane and commonplace, emphasizing how universal the experience is. Life is tough and often lonely, but what people draw strength from is the fact that every other person must also face the same battle. The two waiters and the old man serve as symbols of the ignorance of youth and the mature yet grim understanding that comes with age. The age discrepancies of the three key characters represent two ways of life with “the young waiter standing for a materialistic way of life; the older waiter and the old man standing for a nihilistic way of life” (Bache para. 2). The young waiter shows no sympathy toward the old man and selfishly wants to return home to his bed and wife. The young waiter declares to the old waiter: “’I want to go home to bed.’ ‘What is an hour?’ ‘More to me than to him.’ ‘An hour is the same.’” (Hemingway 4). Here the young waiter shows his egocentricity as he believes an hour of his time is more important and worthy than an hour of the old man’s time. The old waiter is mature enough to understand the old man’s need to be in a clean and well-lighted place, which is an escape from the darkness. He realizes that “bodegas and bars, as opposed to the clean, well-lit café, do not provide the comfort and order that are so necessary” (Flora para. 5). The old waiter is reluctant to close the café and turn away those who need its relief, showing a kindly wisdom. Besides the light of the café, it is the gentleness of the old waiter that offers an escape from the night, used to represent the “nothing” Hemingway so famously uses. Hemingway infers in the story that companionship is one way to fight off the darkness, albeit only a temporary solution. As the two waiters sat looking out to the street, they saw a girl and a solider hurry by; the young waiter began, “’The guard will pick him up.’ ‘What does it matter if he gets what he’s after?’” (Hemingway 1). The old waiter understands “that agonizing lack of an individual” (Bennett para. 3) that would drove the solider to risk getting caught. After all, punishment by his company would be minor compared to the anguish of being alone. A comparison can be drawn between the solider and the old man, who both simply want to ward off the pangs of loneliness. While youth is shown to be ignorant in the story, it is revealed that “nothing” can affect a person regardless of age. The soldier attempts to battle the depressing isolation by being with a woman, while the old man chooses to drink away the pain. Neither solution is permanent, expanding the supremacy of the darkness. Concerning the state of the old man, the young waiter avers “I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me”, which to the old waiter replies “He had a wife once too” (Hemingway 3). The old waiter’s response hints that a wife’s company is impermanent. The old man had a wife, just as the young waiter does now, yet still succumbed to the desolation of life and attempted to free himself from the darkness through suicide. While the young and old waiter prove to have dissimilar attitudes about life, they actually represent the different stages of man. The lack of names makes it even easier to see the two characters as a progression of maturity and acceptance. The young waiter who possess youth, confidence, and a job is well put together by society’s expectations but is flawed through his callousness. He is unaware of the darkness that awaits him and thus cannot appreciate or emphasize with those who suffer from it. The young waiter is quick to make harsh comments about others with no regard to the possibility that he too might be lonely in the future. His ignorance shields him from that truth that “at the very moment that he is playing the heartless and uncompromising judge, he is also reality’s dupe and victim. Whatever he has said about the others may soon be said about him” (Bennett para. 9). The uncertain events of life may rob him of his youthful confidence and leave him in the same place where the older waiter and the old man cling despairingly to their clean, well-lighted place. The old waiter recognizes with resolve that his youthful unawareness is shattered and he must accept the isolation he feels. This acceptance further connects the old waiter to the old man, also suggesting that the darkness is inevitable. The old waiter goes himself to a bar after the café closes, where “in the face of the barman’s impatience and incomprehension of his words, the waiter emulates the old man. Politely, with dignity, he walks into the darkness” (Flora para. 10). Disquietude is felt by the reader from the inescapable loneliness that drove the old man to attempt suicide and the old waiter to have insomnia. However, it is the acceptance and dignity of the old waiter that makes him a hero and brings hope to the readers. The old waiter also alerts the reader of the dignity of the old man. Up late and sitting in the shadows, the old man still appreciates a clean, well-lighted place as evident by his presence at the café instead of a dim bar. Carol Dell’Amico points out that while the old man is known to be very drunk, “he is ‘clean,’ neither belligerent nor messy. By not calling attention to himself or his suffering he avoids making of it or himself an event” (para. 3). The old man seeks the solace of a well-lighted place, but does not demand pity or attention. The fact that he quietly endures his pain and is out seeking comfort after an attempted suicide serves as a testament to his bearing. Hemingway writes, “the waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity” (4). The old man cannot completely repress the darkness, but he refuses to relinquish his pride. By accepting the isolating effect of “nothing,” the old waiter is able to combat it. In this case, admitting surrender is the key to winning: “The discipline is never quite capable of subduing the world, but fidelity to it is part of the gallantry of defeat” (Warren para. 4). By fidelity to it, the old waiter manages to keep one small place clean and well-lighted and thus manages to retain his dignity. Readers are filled with respect for the old waiter who becomes an unlikely hero since “although courage can be won in the face of great excitement- on the battlefield, in the face of a charging lion, or on a towering mountaintop- it can also be won in the daily, personal struggle against existential despair” (Blache para. 1). Hemingway has employed a simple scene with limited action to show readers the private battles going on every moment that result in a quiet heroism. The old waiter acts in various ways against the nothingness, most notably in his solidarity with the old man and his willingness to keep the café open as long as anyone needs it. This showcases a selfless demeanor and a literal combat against the darkness as he is instrumental in keeping the lights on. At the end of the night though, the old waiter must face his awareness of the nothingness which results in insomnia. Nevertheless, the old waiter never turns to self-destruction. Turning off the light in the café and going home to bed is “a daily act of courage done silently, without complaint. His sensitivity to places which make dignity possible gives us the verbal clue that his life is one of survival with dignity” (Benert para. 20). The old waiter courageously faces the darkness each night and still returns to open the café in hopes of relieving others from the nothingness for a short while. On his way into the bar, the old waiter contemplates the nothingness that haunts every man. With humor, the old waiter replaces the words of prayers with “nada” and “nothing,” such as “Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee” (Hemingway 5). The Godless aspect of existentialism is highlighted as the old waiter “strips away the comfort of faith and reduces it to meaningless symbols” (Bloom para. 6). This produces an uneasiness in the readers as religion is often the foundation of a person’s beliefs; to suggest humans live without a divine helper is to fortify the anguish of being alone. All is not lost as hope is renewed as Hemingway suggests that salvation is possible, but it is “not found in outward show or words but in the small moments of grace and humanity in which one human being cares for another enough to provide light and cleanliness” (Werlock para. 10). The quiet hero, the old waiter, evidently has a loss of faith but still manages to fend off the darkness, inferring that a genuine connection to others, rather than religion, is the answer. The clean, well-lighted café could itself be a symbol for religion as it provides relief from the darkness, but only temporarily. It is a superficial solution that delays a person’s acceptance of the nothingness, which is the key to survival. Paradoxically, admitting that a man cannot defeat “nada” liberates the man to survive. Since the person is no longer focused on entirely overcoming the existential despair, he or she is free to focus on small conquests and human solidarity to keep from being swallowed up by the darkness. At first glance, a reader might dismiss this story as one of overwhelming despair and loneliness. While it is true that readers are made aware of the desolation innate to existence, there is an underlying account of strength and courage. The ignorance of youth, present in the young waiter, gives way to the acceptance of the old waiter to fight the solitude that so obviously plagues the old man. Despair has an unique ability to bring people together and those that suffer often form a camaraderie as they are able to comprehend the angst that can only be understood through experience. The old waiter struggles daily against the despair through compassion towards others, humor, and acceptance. Bloom sums up “A Clean, Well-lighted Place” with the observation that “ in this subdued, quiet tale Hemingway creates a mood of profound grimness and futility, balanced by surprising tenderness and humanity” (para. 1). Readers find disquietude in that tangible comforts are only temporary, but pleasure can be found through the kindness and quiet strength and dignity that unites humans.
Hemingway takes a realist approach by making readers aware of the nothingness that plagues humanity, but generates the consoling notion that there is a solidarity amongst individuals as the plight is universal.