And when the young waiter says that old men are nasty, the old waiter does not deny the general truth of this statement, but he does come to the defense of the old man by pointing out that this particular old man is clean and that he likes to drink brandy in a clean, well-lighted place.
And the old man does leave with dignity. This is not much — this aged scrap of human dignity — in the face of the human condition of nothingness, but, Hemingway is saying, sometimes it is all that we have. The young waiter wants the old man to go to one of the all-night cafes, but the old waiter objects because he believes in the importance of cleanliness and light. Here, in this well-lighted cafe, the light is a manmade symbol of man's attempt to hold off the darkness — not permanently, but as late as possible.
The old man's essential loneliness is less intolerable in light, where there is dignity. The danger of being alone, in darkness, in nothingness, is suicide. At this point, we can clearly see differences between the old waiter and the young waiter — especially in their antithetical attitudes toward the old man. Initially, however, the comments of both waiters concerning a passing soldier and a young girl seem very much alike; they both seem to be cynical.
Yet when the young waiter says of the old man, "I wouldn't want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing," then we see a clear difference between the two waiters because the old waiter defends the old man: "This old man is clean.
He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. The young waiter refuses to serve the old man another drink because he wants to get home to his wife, and, in contrast, the old waiter is resentful of the young waiter's behavior. 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.
Thus, in a sense, the old waiter is partially Hemingway's spokesperson because he points out that the old man leaves the cafe walking with dignity; he affirms the cleanliness of the old man. Unlike the young waiter, who is impetuous and has a wife to go home to, the old waiter is unhurried because he has no one waiting for him; he has no place to go except to his empty room. The old waiter is wiser, more tolerant, and more sensitive than the young waiter.
What Hemingway is saying is this: In order to hold nothingness, darkness, nada at bay, we must have light, cleanliness, order or discipline , and dignity. Their lack of confidence does not let them defeat the overwhelming darkness in their lives. Eventual isolation from life is another image the author uses to convey "nada. The repetition of key words, such as "the old man sitting in the shadow," implies the depths of the loneliness the old man suffers and the intensity of his separation from the rest of the world The same idea is portrayed by the old man's deafness.
He "liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference" He is not just literally deaf, but deaf to the world. The older waiter understands this. He knows what it is to feel emptiness, to live on a deserted island. In contrast with the younger waiter who has "youth, confidence, and a job" as well as a wife , the older waiter lacks "everything but work" The story is shot through with nihilism: a belief that nothing has any real meaning.
Nihilism is a philosophical position based on negation , on rejecting other claims, including the claim that there is a god or gods controlling and watching over everything. However, nihilism goes further than, say, atheism — which simply signals a lack of belief in the claim that there is a god or gods — because nihilists believe that nothing has any purpose or meaning, whereas atheists may well find meaning in the here-and-now, in the material world around them.
But this obviously reveals a lack of understanding about what might lead someone to consider such drastic and final action and was true of Hemingway himself, when he took his own life in In this little exchange, then, we learn more about the waiter and his attitude to depression viewing it through the narrow prism of material concerns than we do about the actual topic of their conversation the old man. Everything you need for every book you read.
The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place , which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. That the old man is drunk and prone to leaving without paying suggests that he might be troubled.
Active Themes. Related Quotes with Explanations. The old waiter tells the young waiter that the old drunk tried to kill himself last week. When the young waiter asks why, the old waiter says that it cannot be for a lack of money or loneliness; the old man is well-off and lives with his niece.
Meaning and Meaninglessness. The old drunk waves the young waiter over and asks for another glass of brandy. The young waiter is reluctant to serve the old drunk, knowing that the old drunk will take it as an invitation to stay even longer.
Youth and Age.
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