Customer Reviews

Clean Well Lighted Place (Creative Short Stories)

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4 star:		(1)
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To me, the story has so many meanings; I just have analyzed the story in my reading class. The whole story at first will give the readers a sight of boring, but after the readers involve in it and analyze it; it turn out that the story has so many meaning. First, just looks at the old waiter; he is not the main character, but you can see the way that old man live right now will be the way that the old waiter will. As you can see, the old man didn't have friend; his wife has died a long times ago, and he is so lonely, but looks at the old waiter; you will see the same situation the the old waiter will go through in the next couples of years; he has the same situation but just becasue he has job now. In the long run, when time goes by, he will be old and can not work and feel so lonely because of lacking friends. You can see the old waiter doesn't want to go home at night; he also want to stay because his life is the same with the old man: he has no friend; he wants a well lighted place to enjoy to cover his darkness, and because his life is lonely too. In the big picture, you can see the conflict in society; when some one gets older, they may feel lonely and boring . It likes the process of the society to eliminate the elders out of society's activity. The more some one getting old, the more he (or she ) is isolated.

Hemingway's cool, sardonic short story "A Clean Well Lighted Place" is one of the best shory stories EVER written. Most of the themes that Hemingway wrote about in his many classics are represented in this 2,000 word story. It only takes a few minutes to read, and each time leaves the reader with a stinging feeling. Also, indicitave of Hemingway's philosphy: nada y nada.

I read this book for my college class and found it extremely interesting with a lot of symbolism throughout. There was a lot of intense imagery used by Hemingway such as the darkness of the night outside. As well, the old man's deafness is also a powerful image used in the story. Deafness shuts the old man out from the rest of the world. In the day, everything must be a reminder to him of his disconnection from the world. The busy streets, the marketplace, the chatter in the cafes along the street, the animals, and the motor vehicles fill the town with noise all day long. There are also imagery about nothing or "nada" which the old man was suffreing. Overall, this story is incredibly deep and was a bit hard to understand.

this is one of my favorite stories of hemingway. I think it is very insightful, and deep. It shows how the society treats people, no matter they are old or young they are treated differently. Like the old man in the story got kicked out of the cafe, and hemingway is trying to tell us that we will follow the old man's steps if we don't change how the world is like. It shows that this world is a lonely place, and a clean, well-lighted place makes us feel good and pleasent. And that is what everyone needs not just old people.

Hemingway's finest short story, and arguably the most sardonic and ironical shory story EVER written. Offers valuable insights into the human condition. Though only a couple thousand words long, has elements of Hemingway writing that appear in all his major works. Read it a couple of times to let it really sink in, and understand that nada y nada is Hemingway code for life is nothing.

"A Clean Well-Lighted Place" is an existential masterpiece. I read it in 1962 whe I was eighteen years old and taking a freshman course in Engllish composition. The instructor was a bright and learned guy and a good man, but he was so thoroughly imbued with a cheerful Christian outlook that he seemed unable to acknowledge suffering and hopelessness. He was dismissive, though not in a dirisive or mocking way, of existentialism, and the theme he found most compelling in Hemingway's story was the old man's dignity -- never disheveled or sloppy, drinking in a clean and well-lighted place where there were no lascivious secrets or sinister exchanges occurring in darkened corners.

My instructor had a point, one that is unfortunately denied by the slumped over, ostentatiously disconsolate figure on the cover os this version of the story. Nevertheless, the most compelling theme for me was not apparent until the very end, when the old man repeats what my instructor characterized as an "appalling parody" of the Lord's prayer: "Our nada which are in nada, nada be thy name ..." Repetition of the Spanish word for nothing in this profoundly Christian context struck me as exactly right. I was surrounded by people who, for the most part, seemed to be enjoying their lives, looking toward the future with confidence and hope, but I was pretty miserable. I couldn't see the point. Now, forty-eight years later, I still can't seen the point.

I'm fortunate, though, I have a loving wife, a treasure the old man had lost, and friends and relatives whom I know care about me. The old man had none of this. Only loneliness, a determined dignity, and alcohol. That's not enough, but at the end, it's more than some of us will have

In her own existential masterpiece, The Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone DeBeauvoir offers not a purpose for life, since for her it has none, but an account of what we inveitably do just by staying alive. We "disclose being in the world," each of us in ways that are unique have experiences which tell us still something else, whether for good or ill, about what it is to be. That's a brilliant insight, or so it seems to me, but it offers no solace to an old man, alone in the world, drinking brandy all evening, and maintaining a modicum of dignity by frequenting a clean, well-lighted place.

There is truth in Hemingway's story, but it's a hard, unforgiving truth that gives the lie to the notion that truth is beauty. There's nothing beautiful about desolation no matter how hard we try to construe it as dignity.

I am going to go out on a limb. I am 42, and in 30+ years of reading, I rate this as the greatest piece of prose ever. Yes better than any novel, short story, or poem I have ever read.

There are some things in this story that could use explaining, but even without it, this is a haunting story that even after 20 years of reading can still cause me to shed a tear.

This is Hemingway at his finest hour. There is simply none better.

This story epitomizes the most thoughtful aspects of Hemingway's thinking on the underdog. Unlike some of his other stories, he is not presumptious nor does he regress to sentimentality; instead, with all his dignity, he illuminates the nature of two men's despair. The writing contains nothing inessential, and the content touches an abstract of all our worst fears. If I taught a course on Hemingway, I'd probably use Clean Well-lighted Place as an entrance.

I can't find the words to describe it, actually... But this short story is one of the few chosen ones currently being analyzed in all Humanities class here in the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Laguna Philippines for its indepth and unsought meaning. Well, this only indicates that it's worth reading and learning from it...

I liked this story by Ernest Hemingway because it showed irony in the old man's need of alcohol and his need to take his life. I enjoyed this book was good because it had a good point and a good theme.