'A Clean Well Lighted Place'

As the untold darkness washes over me I feel myself falling deeper and deeper into an eternal place. The days pass like years and I am trapped in a dark abyss of terror and confusion. Although I'm holding everything tightly inside of me, I'm still slowly dying as I try to hold onto my sanity. In the short story, A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernst Hemingway you will get a good understanding that the littlest of things can bring the light out in anyone.

To begin with, in this story light is referred to as not only something that makes things visible but as something that enlightens or informs. The older waiter embodies light for the café because he simply cares. 'Each night I am reluctant to close up because there may be someone who needs the café,' quotes the older waiter in the sense that the café is 'A Clean Well Lighted Place' that acts as a sanctuary to people like the old man.

While the café itself is bathed in clear emitting light sometimes lonely souls can get caught in the unspeakable darkness. "You should have killed yourself last week," quotes the younger waiter basically meaning that the way the old man is living his life now is no life to be living at all. As the old man sits on a bar stool and drinks his Brandie he's lost in a place of confusion and terror and the only thing that's pulling him through is the engaging ora of the older waiter and optimistic beaming light of the café.

Although you may not think so, one little act of kindness can go such a far way, it’s the little things that matter to people. For example the older waiter cares just enough to keep the café open as long as he feels there’s someone who needs it. He is reluctant to close up each night because he knows that the café is ‘A Clean Well Lighted Place’ that is meant for people like the old man to go and get rid of their problems and fears, a place out of the horrifying darkness.