Week 6: Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

When it comes to studying literature, it is very important to have a good grasp of the literary movements that surround different pieces of literature, poetry, and prose. After all, the concept of being a product of your upbringing doesn’t just apply to the authors. One such representation of the Modernist movement of literature is found in Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.”
            To begin with, Modernism was the predominant literary and artistic movement from around 1870 to 1930. Artists, poets, and writers were influenced by the political and economic upheaval and the growing industrialization of modernity. As a result, much of modernist literature and poems deal with the resulting disillusionment of uncertain times and a growing dissatisfaction with the mass production of art. This results in the movement being marked by more experimental styles of writing and a call for a turn to some semblance of tradition within society.
            In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” Hemingway emphasizes the disillusionment with life in the Modernist movement through his depiction of two waiters at a cafe reacting to a depressed, suicidal customer. While the young waiter is judgemental of the customer’s mindset, the older waiter is able to sympathize with him due to their similar position in life and life experiences with modernity. However, the story closes with the customer getting kicked out of the cafe, and both he and the older waiter are forced to find another “clean, well-lighted place” (3). Hemingway distills the meaning of the story by emphasizing the importance of a “clean, well-lighted place” in a cruel, unfeeling world. Where the world has little comfort or sympathy for those struggling with disillusionment, nihilism, atheism, and existential crises, the cafe presents itself as an escape and refuge for their struggles. As such, Hemingway appeals to the Modernist tastes of his readers and represents such emotional and mental struggles that were prevalent in this period.