Dark vs Light in A Clean Welllighted Place

Dark Against Light in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” The main character in “A Clean, Well- Lighted Place,” written by Ernest Hemingway, is the old man. The old man, who remains nameless throughout the short story, comes to the café for the light it provides him against the dark night. He stays late into the night, and sits “In the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light.” The old man is deaf …

…story, the older waiter blames it all on insomnia. He claims “Many must have it.” Like the old man, the older waiter and many others who have experienced the nothingness of darkness, long for the light and cleanness of a café open late at night. Maybe it is insomnia. Whatever the case, it is like an illness which the victim suffers from the fear of nothingness and of being alone that comes with old age.