Lighte

d
Place
By: Ernest
Hemingway

Barsallo, Ana
Melisa
2015. 4. 2

Ernest
Hemingwa
y
st 1899 in
Born
onWorld
July 21
During
War
II he
Cicero
served Illinois.
as a correspondent
and
was his
present
at as
several
Started
career
a
of
the war's
key moments.
writer
in a newspaper

In
1954,
won the
Nobel
office
in he
Kansas
at the
age
Prize
of 17.of Literature.
Recovering
from old
Served in World
Warinjuries
I and
in
Cuba,
he suffered
after
being
woundedfrom
depression.
started working in

July
2nd 1951,
he committed
journalism
again.
suicide in his Ketchum home.

Acclaimed Work
The Sun Also Rises
(1926)
Men Without Women
(1927)
A Farewell to Arms
(1929)
For Whom The Bell
Tolls (1940)
The Old Man and the
Sea (1952)

Plot Overview (1)

An old man sits alone at night in a caf. He is deaf and
likes when the night grows still. Two waiters watch the
old man carefully because they know he wont pay if
he gets too drunk.
The old man taps his glass against its saucer and asks
the younger waiter for a brandy. As he pours it, he
tells the old man that he should have killed himself,
but the old man just indicates that he wants more
brandy in the glass.
The younger waiter says he wishes the old man would
leave so that he can go home and go to bed with his
wife.

Plot Overview (2)

The old man indicates that he wants
another brandy, but the younger waiter
tells him theyre closing. The old man pays
and walks away.
The older waiter says that he likes to stay
at cafs very late with the others who are
reluctant to go home and who need light
during the nighttime.
The younger waiter says there are bars to
go to, but the older waiter says that the
caf is clean and well lit.

The Older
Waiter
He is lonely. He lives alone and makes
a habit of staying out late rather than
going home to bed.
There is more to the older waiters
insomnia, as he calls it, than just
loneliness. An unnamed, unspecified
malaise seems to grip him. This
malaise is not a fear or dread, as
the older waiter clarifies to himself,
but an overwhelming feeling of
nothingnessan
existential
angst
about his place in the universe and an
uncertainty about the meaning of life.
Whereas other people find meaning
and comfort in religion, the older
waiter dismisses religion as nada
nothing. The older waiter finds solace
only in clean, well-lit cafs. There, life
seems to make sense.

The
Younger
Waiter
Brash and insensitive, the younger
waiter cant see beyond himself.
He readily admits that he isnt lonely
and is eager to return home where
his wife is waiting for him. He doesnt
seem to care that others cant say
the same and doesnt recognize that
the caf is a refuge for those who are
lonely.
He seems unaware that he wont be
young forever or that he may need a
place to find solace later in life too.
The younger waiter, immersed in
happiness, doesnt really understand
that he is lucky, and he therefore has
little compassion or understanding
for those who are lonely and still
searching for meaning in their lives.

Nada
from Latin (res) nata "small,
insignificant thing"

Life as
Nothingn
ess
Life has no meaning
and man is an
insignificant speck in
a great sea of
nothingness.
It was all a nothing
and man was a
nothing too.

Life as Nothingness
Our Father,
art
He indicates
that Who
religion,
in Heaven,
to which
many people
hallowed
be Thyand
turn to
find meaning
name; Thy Kingdom
purpose,
is also just
come, Thy will be
nothingness.

Our nada, who art

in nada, nada be
thy name thy
kingdom nada thy
will be nada in
done on earth as it nada as it is in
is than
in Heaven.
Give
Rather
pray with
the nada. Give us this
us this day our
nada our daily nada
actual words, Our Father
daily bread; and
and nada us our
who art
in heaven,
forgive
us our the
nada as we nada
older trespasses
waiter says,asOur
we
our nadas and nada
nada forgive
who artthose
in nada
who
us not into nada
effectively
wiping
out
trespass
against
but deliver us from
both us;
Godand
andlead
the idea
of nada; pues nada.
us not
into
heaven
intemptation,
one breath
but deliver us from
evil.

The Struggle to Deal

with Despair
The older waiters solution
is the same as the old
mans: he waits out the
nighttime in cafs.
He is particular about the
type of caf he likes: the
caf must be well lit and
clean.
Bars and bodegas, although
many are open all night, do
not lessen despair because
they are not clean, and
patrons often must stand at
the bar rather than sit at a
table.

The Caf
The caf represents the
opposite of nothingness:
its cleanliness and good
lighting suggest order
and clarity, whereas
nothingness is chaotic,
confusing, and dark.
Natural refuge from the
despair felt by those who
are acutely aware of the
nothingness.
It was only that and
light was all it needed
and a certain cleanness
and order.

Whats your clean

lighted place?