Youth vs. Experience

“A Clean, Well-lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway is an interesting story that we can all learn a thing or two from.  The story is all about contrast; light and dark, youth and experience, and quiet and noisy. One question to ask yourself during this reading is ‘Why does the younger waiter and the older waiter view the drunk old man differently?’

From the younger waiter point of view, he sees the old man inconsiderate of other people’s lives. The younger waiter sees the whole situation affecting his life. This is where youth plays in. From the older waiter point of view, he in a way relates to the older drunk man. He can understand why the old man would rather be in a café then at a bar or a bodega. And this is where experience plays in. These two waiters had two completely different views on the same situation. Another question that may come to you is “Why is the older waiter so passionate about the café than to a bar or a bodega?”

A bar or a bodega is usually darker, dirtier and noisier compare to a café. When you go into a bar there are people there wanting to engage in conversation. At a café it is lighter, cleaner and quieter. Going into a bar alone is different than going into a café alone. At a bar the loneliness intensify because you are surrounding by people wanting to engage in conversation. Being alone in a café is more comforting and less lonely because it is like you are in a community with people who wants to be left alone. At the end of the passage the older waiter recites the Lord’s Prayer using the word “Nada” and “Pues” which means nothing and then nothing, respectively. Why would Ernest Hemmingway use the Lord’s Prayer in that context?

Ernest Hemmingway may have used the Lord’s Prayer in that context to show that going to religion when you are going through a rough time in your life is a foolish way to go. Going to religion does nada (nothing).