A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Hemingway Introduction In many ways one could argue that all of Hemingway’s works are somewhat autobiographical. While they may not be about him in particular, they are clearly stories that offer the reader an insight into Hemignway’s nature, his likes and dislikes, and his inherent personality. The following paper examines his short story A Clean Well-Lighted Place and discusses how it relates to his life.
A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Hemingway A Clean Well-Lighted Place is a story that essentially involves three people, two are bartenders and one is an old man in the bar who sits, relatively silently, and drinks. It is not a story that tells the reader about a great deal of experiences or adventures, but more a story of personalities, characteristics, and the psychology of people. In this story the older barkeeper is a man who the reader learns is perhaps lonely and also something of an insomniac. He is a man who likes a clean well-lighted place, like the place he works, and it is in such a place, a café, that he spends a bit of time after work before he heads home to a sleepless night. There is also the younger bartender who wants to get off work because he is young and full of “confidence” (Hemingway). Lastly there is the old man who sits quietly and drinks. He becomes the topic of conversation between the bartenders as they speak of how he had tried to commit suicide. The older bartender indi