Babakhani 1

Arman Babakhani
Prof. Underwood
English 1B
18 June 2014
Age as the suppressing value in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (1933), by Earnest Hemingway is a short story in which
the themes, setting, and the characters contribute to a philosophical depiction of the concept of
life and existence. Hemingway, through the use of dialogue and third person narration, conveys
the query of a middle aged waiter, who is on the verge of an existential epiphany. This
realization is taken place after a long day of work, having conversed with a younger waiter and a
deaf old man. Through this conversation, the middle aged (older) waiter provides a contrast
between the symbolic realm associated with the young waiter and that of the old, despaired man.
In this connection, he questions the young waiters fixed notions about oldness and youth, and
thus provides a transition from the symbolic realm of existence to the real by insinuating that
nothingness is his (and everyone elses) destiny.
Initially, one of the difficulties in interpreting Hemingways work is distinguishing the
speakers in the dialogue and the intention of the author by embedding this dialogical obscurity in
the narration of the story. As many critics such as David Kerner, author of Hemingways
Attention to A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (1993), have argued, Hemingway has ignored
dialogue convention. Without this assumption, one has to rely on the arguments made in Hurley
C. Harolds The Attribution of The Waiters Second Speech In Hemingways A Clean, Well-
Lighted Place (1976), in reiteration of John V. Hagopians conjecture that the obscurity of the
order of the dialogue is due to a misprint. Nevertheless, in order to know about the attitudes of
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the two waiters and to generate a specific meaning from their discussion, one has to answer the
question of which character has the knowledge about the suicide attempt of the old man. Though,
analysis on the themes and the relation between the characters can still be done without the exact
knowledge of the dialogue order. According to Ken Ryan, author of Contentious Emendation of
Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (1998), the possibility of the irregularity in dialogue
pattern being actually a deliberate device of the artist rests untainted. It is very plausible that
the ambiguous dialogue convention coupled with the perpetuation of nihilism via biblical
references, i.e. the nada prayer, tends to alter the fixed meaning of nothingness and employ the
symbolic use of the word both linguistically and philosophically. This argument is corroborated
in Joseph F. Gabriels essay Logic of Confusion in Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
(1961). Thus, in consideration of the abstruse nature of the dialogue between the two waiters, it
is vital to illuminate the role of the contrast between the waiters characters in deconstructing the
themes of age and nothingness throughout the story. In spite of the prevailing nihilism in A
Clean, Well-Lighted Place, the protagonist (older waiter) fissures the preconceptions about the
immaculacy of youth and defection of oldness by decrypting the diachronic relationship between
the two. It is not to say, however, that these are mutually exclusive implications; that is nihilism
and nothingness summon from the older waiters recognition of the a priori conceptions about
age and purpose of an individuals life.
It should be noted that, despite the various attempts by critics to extrapolate from the
introductory speeches that it is the older waiter who is the knower of the suicide incident, one
can logically assign the role of the myopic and overly materialistic character to the young waiter.
The purpose of making this logical connection is not to be a hasty reductionist, but to derive
certain implications and extract one of many variations from which the relation between the
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characters could be understood. However, in lieu of a mere justification for the assumption
behind the younger waiter being the knower of the suicide and the nave materialist, one could
draw upon the contrast of the younger waiter and the old, deaf man in order to reveal the role of
the older waiter in connection with the themes of age and nihilism.
This story, although short, projects profound psychological and philosophical
repercussions. The theme of age prevails in the attitude and personalities of the characters, and
orders the character interaction. The younger waiter, is portrayed as a man of confidence, who
is self-interested and indulges himself with being conscious of time, and seemingly has his
wife to care for (Hemingway 145, Bennett 5). He lacks solidarity to sympathize with the old,
deaf man and shows more concern about his sleeping schedule than the disparity of the man,
whom he characterizes as a nasty thing (144). On the contrary, very little is revealed about the
deaf old man, other than that he is in despair and lonely, and has plenty of money (143). He
is a widower, attends the caf every night, and inebriates himself with brandy as a means of
escapism and endurance against his depression (Leonard 5). If these two characters are viewed as
the opposite poles of a personality trail, then firstly, it is mainly age (time) that has caused this
blatant contrast, and secondly, the older waiter can be seen as the middle connection between the
personalities of the two. Therefore, in deconstructing the assumed conceptions prevailing the
theme, it becomes apparent that the younger waiter is the imposer of the preconceptions and
assumptions. The confidence that he possesses can be outmatched by no other character; hence,
one can observe the dominance he inflicts upon the alienated older man. This is a very concrete
example of construing a social construction in which the younger waiter, who is physically
capable and in power, is privileged for his youth. Furthermore, no resistance has been
exemplified by the old man to challenge this fixed notion. Due to his disparity, incapability to
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hear, physical debilitation, and solitude, the old man has his power of rejection taken away by his
oldness, even if he were to oppose the suppression. Additionally, his suicide and drinking are
manifestations of his desire to escape the rootless and unquestioned symbolic coerciveness. It is
only the older waiter who acknowledges the implications of the preconceptions of the younger
waiter. Further, the older waiters sympathy for the old mans conjugal is indicative of his
realization of the diachronic relationship between the younger waiter, himself, and the old man
(Leonard 5). Though, this connection is not just a diachronic relation, but also a psychological
association between oldness and youth.
The subjective narrative of the waiters, with all their assumptions and suppositions,
reflects on the themes of age and nihilism. As mentioned earlier, the younger waiter is naively
committed to a priori assumptions and crude generalizations about concepts such as oldness,
marriage, wealth, and purpose of life. The rather vacuous and bizarre idea that the old, deaf man
should have nothing to be in despair for, since he has plenty of money, is a mere
composition of the young waiters fixed notion about what one should be despaired for. This is
conceived from a materialistic preconception that wealth prevents disparity. Moreover, one could
perceive the answer that was given by, supposedly, the younger waiter in response to the
question of why the old man is in despair not just as a form of coercive suppression of the
opposition, but also as a verbal irony (Bennett 6). According to Bennett, the reply of
nothing, serves to referring both to the fact that wealth could not provide everything else that
the old man necessitates e.g. love, companionship, purpose, and so on, and the younger waiters
callous attitude that suggests material possession is the source of everything. In addition, when
the preconceptions and fixation are questioned and deconstructed by the older waiter, then the
nothingness that once served to interject a fixed presupposition is inverted into a motif that tends
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to eradicate the fundamentals of the younger waiters conceptions. In doing so, the older waiter
cannot overlook the fact that he will, one day, be the old man, and that nothingness is the
inescapable end.
The relationship between the theme of nihilism and the older waiter becomes more
predominant in the ending paragraphs of the story. The older waiter strives to denigrate fixed
beliefs, and in doing so reaches a nihilistic version of Jacques Derridas deconstruction. He
repetitively states that nothing is necessary but light, cleanness and order (146). He, further,
mentions that it was a nothing he knew too well (146). These rather bold assertions coupled
with the older waiters sympathizing attitude towards the suppressed old man suggests that the
older waiter has engaged himself in demystifying absolute notions that are imposed by the
younger waiter throughout the text. This attempt could be clearly apprehended as a
poststructuralist engagement in repudiating the a priori assumptions that create the means of
younger waiters suppression of the deaf old man. In addition, the older waiter, as though taking
over the third person narrative voice, speaks with himself and inculcates an edited version of a
biblical prayer:
Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in
nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we
nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. (146)
Joseph F. Gabriel sees this biblical reference as an ironic parody of the Lords prayer. He also
refers to the older waiters denial that any system is capable of conferring order upon the chaos
that exists in the universe (541). This, in itself, destructs the foundation of any organized and
fixed system to impose power over privileged preconceptions. Therefore, the nihilism that the
older waiter promulgates through biblical references as a means of questioning the fixed beliefs
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that give people, in this instance the older waiter, the opportunity to take a leap of faith on mere
assumptions, and callously inflict the resulted beliefs and values upon others, reify the beliefs as
truisms, and alienate those who are to oppose those beliefs, without the slightest realization of
engaging in a tyrannical and dogmatic pursuit, has been perceived as an opposition to the
impermissible and heinous a priori power systems.
Contrary to the poststructuralist view, the older waiter might be ascertained to have been
seeking order and light. He deconstructs the entirety of the fixed beliefs that the younger waiter
shares simply by demonstrating that the only distinction between the younger waiter and the old
man is time. However, in doing so, he seemingly projects the necessity of light[,] cleanness
and order (146). One could further argue that the older waiter is taking human dignity as an a
priori necessity, so that the older waiter himself becomes a character who shares assumptions
and tries to privilege certain preconceived values in order to alienate the younger waiter.
However, it should be mentioned that being committed to certain values is not the same thing as
making a priori assumptions and imposing illegitimate truisms to dominate oppositions. The old
mans conviction to human dignity is a behavioral expression to oppose the callous projection of
absolutist notions by the younger waiter to subjugate and disenfranchise the deaf old man.
Hence, one could see the older waiters indulgence of light, order, and dignity as a way to
oppose the a priori notions embraced by the younger waiter that had heinously seized the old
mans purpose to live.
In conclusion to these broad spectrums of the relationships between the theme of age and
the waiters, more specifically the older waiter, it could be suggested once more that the theme of
nihilism is a byproduct of the older waiters sudden realization of the cause of the old mans
alienation. This cause had been possibly present throughout the old mans entire oldness, since
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he was already absolute desperation. Moreover, it is revealed that the theme of age is
representative of the younger waiters unhinged preconceptions about youth and oldness, which
ultimately seeks to marginalize the opposition to the younger waiter, in a binary between the old
man and the younger waiter himself. By doing so, the young waiter has tried to reinforce his
confidence and youth: a heinous imposition of momentary power, which the older waiter has
tried to dismantle in his deconstruction of the a priori assumptions about the values embraced by
the young waiter.
















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Works cited
Gabriel, F. Joseph. The Logic of Confusion in Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.
College English vol. 22, No. 8. May 1961. pp. 539-546. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. X.J. Kennedy, Diana Gioia. Backpack
Literature. 3
rd
Ed. P. 142-146. Longman. United States. 2010. Print.
Hurley, C. Harold. The Attribution of the Waiters' Second Speech in Hemingway's 'A Clean,
Well-Lighted Place'. Studies in Short Fiction 13.1 (1976): 81. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 26 June 2014.
Kerner, David. Hemingway's Attention to "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." Hemingway
Review 13.1 (1993): 48-62. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 June 2014.
Ryan, Ken. The Contentious Emendation of Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted
Place." Hemingway Review 18.1 (1998): 78-91. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26
June 2014.