A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway
The setting takes place mostly in an old, nice cafe late at night. Their only customer is an old deaf man who comes all the time to drink. The young waiter becomes unpatience and they began to gossip about the old man. He comes in to drink his sorrows away because he feels that he doesn't have a reason to live. The waiters heard that he had committed suicide but his neice comes in and saves him. The older waiter feels sorry for him because he feels like he can relate. He is no longer young and works at a cafe and thats all he has going for him. He is depressed to the point that he can't sleep so he would rather have customers in the cafe so that he wouldn't have to go home. He likes a nice well-lighted place to sit and drink at. The young waiter is ignorant and even goes up to the old deaf man and tells him that he has to leave even though it isn't time to close up yet. He says that he has a wife waiting for him at home therefore he can't understand why the old man wants to go to the cafe instead of just getting a bottle of liquier and drink it at his home or go to a "bodegas". The old man tries to walk away with some dignity even though he is stumbling. He feels that it is more classy for him to get drunk at a cafe in a nice place then to go to a bar or a winery. It is a good place to reflect and think and watch people. He likes it to be quiet because he doesn't feel left out because he can't hear their conversations about their lives. He enjoys the quiet because there is nothing going on so he isn't different. The old waiter even says that the young waiter "has everything...he has youth, confidence, and a job." The older waiter and the deaf man both feel like life has nothing left to offer them so they resort to being out late because they can't sleep anyway so they might as well drink at a clean, well-lighted place.
