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Young Waiter
The old drunk is a dignified, elderly deaf man who spends his late nights in the quiet, pleasant café at which the two waiters work. He likes to sit underneath the shadow of the tree in the electric light because the atmosphere is pleasant for drinking and relaxing. The week prior, the old drunk attempted suicide because, as the older waiter notes, he is in despair about life’s meaninglessness. When the old drunk speaks, it is only to ask for more brandy from the young waiter. Otherwise, he drinks with the purpose of getting drunk. More importantly, as the old waiter also notes, the old man chooses not to get drunk in a wild or undignified manner. In fact, though he gets drunk enough to walk “unsteadily,” he never loses his composure, which reflects that—in spite of his despair over the meaninglessness of life—he is committed to an existence of pleasure and dignity.
Old Drunk Quotes in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
The A Clean, Well-Lighted Place quotes below are all either spoken by Old Drunk or refer to Old Drunk. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Quotes
Everyone had left the café except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light.
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At the beginning of the story, Hemingway focuses on the ambiance of the café to highlight the importance of finding an appropriate place from which to grapple with the meaninglessness of life. In fact, this description of the shadow of the leaves appears three times in this very short, short story, which further emphasizes the importance of location: the old man doesn’t just sit anywhere in the café, he sits in the spot with the best lighting. It’s only under the condition of the best lighting in the café that the old man can feel comfortable enough to (as readers Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea su
“Last week he tried to commit suicide,” one waiter said.
“Why?”
“Because he was in despair.”
“About what?”
“Nothing.”
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This is the first conversation between the young waiter and the old waiter, and it hints at the topic the two will discuss throughout the remainder of the story: the cause of the old drunk’s despair. By asking what it was that caused the old drunk to attempt suicide, the young waiter shows that he believes that despair must have a specific cause—for him, despair is not the natural condition of living, but rather an aberration brought about by external factors. The older waiter’s response (that the old drunk was in despair about “nothing”) seems, at first, like a way Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. P
“I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?”
“He stays up because he likes it.”
“He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.”
“He had a wife once too.”
“A wife would be no good to him now.”
“You can’t tell. He might be better with a wife.”
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After serving the old drunk another brandy, the young waiter complains that he’s ready to go home to his wife and insinuates that the old man wouldn’t be there if he were married. This shows that the younger waiter believes family is more important than drinking in a clean, well-lighted café (and, implicitly, that his own life is better than the old man’s). In the young waiter’s view, the old man only comes to the café to waste what little time remains to him—and by virtue of that, waste the time of the young waiter, too (which implies that the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas d
“I wouldn’t want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing.”
“Not always. This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. Look at him."
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In conversation with the older waiter, the young waiter expresses his frustration with and disdain for the old drunk by disparaging his age. Since the young waiter cannot fathom despair being the natural condition of life, and the older waiter has already discounted poverty or loneliness as sources of the old drunk’s despair, the younger waiter can only imagine that the old drunk is suicidal because of his age. The young waiter’s obsession with finding an external cause for the old drunk’s despair shows the young waiter’s discomfort with the notion that despair might be an honest reaction to living—perhaps, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui au
The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.
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After being rushed out of the café by the young waiter, the old drunk leaves to go home. While he is unsteady on his feet (perhaps due to both brandy and age), the old waiter admires that the old drunk walks away in an honorable and respectable manner. It’s one thing to leave drunk and out of control; it’s another to leave drunk while intentionally maintaining decency. That the old waiter admires this dignity so much shows that he values (perhaps above all else) facing life’s meaningless in a respectable way. While life is meaningless and despair is the appropriate Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores s
“What is an hour?”
“More to me than to him.”
“An hour is the same.”
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After refusing the old drunk further service, the young waiter defends himself against the older waiter’s admonitions that he could have worked another hour and allowed the old drunk to stay at the café. The young waiter justifies his actions by noting that his time is more valuable than the old drunk’s—to him, getting home to his wife is more important than an old, bored drunk getting to have another drink. He fails to see that the old drunk’s perspective of time (or, indeed, his existence) matters. The older waiter’s retort is ambiguous. On the one hand, it can be Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatib
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Old Drunk Character Timeline in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
The timeline below shows where the character Old Drunk appears in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Late in the night, everyone has left the café except for an old drunk man sitting in the shadows cast by an electric light shining on tree leaves. The old...
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The old waiter tells the young waiter that the old drunk tried to kill himself last week. When the young waiter asks why, the old waiter...
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The old drunk waves the young waiter over and asks for another glass of brandy. The young waiter...
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When the young waiter returns to his colleague, he asks again why the old drunk tried to kill himself. The old waiter says, “how should I know.” Then, in response...
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...man must be eighty years-old, and then he complains again about the late hour. The old drunk “stays up because he likes it,” the old waiter responds, and the young waiter calls...
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The old drunk looks up from his glass in the direction of the young waiter and asks for...
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...old waiter continues the conversation with himself, wondering why he feels fear when contemplating the old drunk ’s behavior. After realizing it wasn’t dread, he concludes that what made him afraid was...
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