A Clean Well-lighted place is a short story written a prominent American author Ernest Hemingway

2. 1. The story starts with an old man sitting alone in a café.
2. His plan to stay longer in the café was interrupted by the
impatient young waiter.
3. The old man pays and leaves the café. 4. The café closes.
5. The old waiter goes to a bar and drinks coffee.
5. The older waiter goes home.
“Last week he tried to commit suicide.”
“He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.”
“Each night I am reluctant to close up because
there may be some one who needs the café.”
“It was not a fear or dread. It was a nothing that
he know too well.”
“Hail nothing, full of nothing, nothing is with thee.”
“After all, he said to himself. It’s probably only insomnia. Many must have it.”

3. Mankind tend to grow old and
fall to the depths of despair,
loneliness and the feeling of
nothingness.

4. Old man Old Waiter Younger Waiter
Rich but a
deaf, lonely
old man.
Understan-
ding and
Compassio-
nate.
Insensitive
and
immature.

5. Author’s Purpose
1. To let people realize and accept that we
will reach the point where we will feel
empty and losing purpose in life as we
aged.
2. Earthly things meant nothing including
Religion, because prayers only cannot
save one person from despair.
Setting
Late night at a café in Spain.
Point of View
Third Person

6. CAFE
PEACE OF MIND
“can ease the feeling of loneliness even just in a short
period of time, because of its relaxing ambiance especially
when the café is well-lighted, clean and in order”

7. Every person KNOWS the feeling of
being in despair, BUT sometimes one
must struggle ALONE.

8. minimalist and sparse
few adverbs and adjectives
uses pronoun without clarifying the subject
Iceberg Principle
“small information is provided”