There, life seems to make sense. Look at him." A short summary of Ernest Hemingway's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Ernest Hemingway It was very late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light. Famed author Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” was published in 1933 in both Scribner’s Magazine and the short story collection Winner Take Nothing. Only five pages long, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” takes place late at night in a small Spanish restaurant. In the short story, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, Hemingway exposes the attributes of his characters through narration and dialogue. He stands up for the old man against the younger waiter’s criticisms, pointing out that the old man might benefit from a wife and is clean and neat when he drinks. This is why the old man is "drunk every night" (175). ... A clean, well lighted place. The old man looked from his glass across the square, then over at the waiters. A summary of Themes in Ernest Hemingway's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. At a first sight, Hemingway's "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" seems to be a very simple, unemotional, and almost unfinished short story. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of A Clean, Well-Lighted Place and what it means. This Compare and Contrast Essay on A Clean and Well-Lighted Place was written and submitted by user PhantomReporter to help you with your own studies. Print. Rumor has it that he tried to hang himself, he was once married, he has a lot of money, and his niece takes care of him. However, when readers look for deeper insight, they can find how meaningful this story is. The truth is buried underneath the storythe emotional darkness, … A deaf old man, who frequents the café regularly, sits at a table under a tree, slowly drinking himself to a stupor as usual. Preparing to close, two waiters speak to themselves about the elderly gentleman, one telling the other that the man attempted suicide the week before. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The most important characters in the short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway are the two waiters and the drunken old man. We mostly learn about the old man from the conversation of the two waiters; we're not sure what their relationship is to him, but the older of the two waiters seems to know quite a lot. In "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," the older waiter in "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" a. is an insomniac b. hates the old man in the cafe c. dislikes bars d. relies on his faith in … The only customer, an old man, has attempted suicide a week earlier. Other characters such as the couple passing by, the niec (…) "I don't want to look at him. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. We have tons of study questions for you here, all completely free. He muses on youth and observes that he is now one "of those who like to stay late in the cafe," likening himself to the old man.