Study Guide
One of Ernest Hemingway's most famous short stories is "
A Clean Well-Lighted Place," which depicts a late-night scene. Two waiters discuss an old man's situation. In its short, sparse lines, we are drawn into the bleak loneliness of the old man's situation. Why do people commit suicide? What makes us all lonely? What can offer comfort in the dead of night? Read the light and shadows. Here are a few quotes from the short story.
- "'Last week he tried to commit suicide,' one waiter said."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "He was in despair."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "He has plenty of money."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "He has plenty of money."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "'He'll stay all night,' he said to his colleague. 'I'm sleepy now.I never get into bed before three o'clock. He should have killed himself last week.'"
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "He's lonely. I'm not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "I wouldn't want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "You do not understand. This is a clean and pleasant cafe. It is well lighted. The light is very good and also, now, there are shadows of the leaves."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
- "It was the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant. You do not want music. Certainly you do not want music.... What did he fear? It was not a fear or dread, It was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order."
- Ernest Hemingway, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"
