A Clean Well Lighted Place

“A Clean, Well Lighted Place:” The Story of Nada Ernest Hemingway’s short-story “A Clean, Well Lighted Place” is a story of two very different waiters. The focus is on the older waiter whose nihilistic understanding, or “nada,” keeps him up at night. With this understanding he can empathize with the lonely old man that sits “in the shadow of the leaves” of the café. The younger waiter is more impatient and is ready to …

…to see the uplifting tone in the story. The underlying theme of the story is we need a dignified refuge from the harsh reality of “nada y pues nada.” In other words, we need to cope with the emptiness of reality with a “clean, well lighted place” to occupy us away from “nada.” That “place,” or refuge, can take the shape of many things: a café, the arms of a woman or “youth and confidence.” (725)