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Youth and Age
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hemingway thinks that he has an answer, or at least a partial answer, to despair. The older characters in the story neither ignore their lives’ meaninglessness nor succumb to pure indifference. Instead, they come to terms with the fact of despair by deliberately countering its effects—namely, by finding comfortable places in which they can enjoy themselves and by prioritizing finding dignity. While this offers none of the comforting measures of, say, the Catholic faith of the person who confidently recites the Lord’s prayer, it serves a similar function: providing a means of living with purpose and peace. By highlighting the old men’s approaches to life in the midst of meaninglessness, Hemingway gives a roadmap for how to assuage despair.
It's important to note that Hemingway does not connect the cause of despair with loneliness or poverty. The old drunk is neither entirely alone, because he lives with his niece, nor is he destitute, as the old waiter clarifies. Instead, the old drunk’s suicide attempt and the old waiter’s fear stem from their mutual recognition that life is without meaning. Both require a drink to “swallow” this truth, of course, but they likewise confront that reality by acting in a dignified manner.
In other words, the old men practice the very habits Hemingway offers as a counterweight to despair. Both the old drunk and the old waiter seek out a quiet place over a loud place, a clean place over a dirty place, and a well-lighted place over a dark place. This provides the ambiance needed not only to enjoy one’s time, but also to function in a dignified manner. While despair might lead some to abandon any concern for how they appear while drunk in public, Hemingway shows the reader an old drunk who is dignified even after a long night of drinking, and even in the face of meaninglessness. This dignity is, in a way, an act of defiance against his despair.
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Despair ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Despair appears in each chapter of A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Despair Quotes in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Below you will find the important quotes in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place related to the theme of Despair.
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Quotes
“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
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
“You have youth, confidence, and a job,” the old waiter said. “You have everything.”
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Realizing that the young waiter fails to understand his own lack of life experience, the older waiter subtly hints that, although the privileges of his youth make him happy, they are not guaranteed over the course of a lifetime. The young man’s job keeps him busy, and his family provides him with a reason to work hard. But none of this can prepare him to cope with life where all that external purpose is gone. The young waiter takes his life’s apparent purpose for granted, which makes him desperately naïve to lives that are not like his own, especially 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 debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perf
