A clean well lighted place

There has been a longstanding dispute among critics that argues the reasons behind such obvious ambiguity in Ernest Hemingway's 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place,' attempting to figure out whether or not the author did so purposely. It has been shown that Hemingway actually intended to include a lot of ambiguity into the story as a means by which to throw off his audience. The part of the story that has come under fire is the …

…significance our attention to the ambiguity has found in the younger waiter. The range of the parallel is immense--it takes us immeasurably back and forward. For the older waiter's "What are we now?" is not new--it goes back to the emergence of the-human race, when there was no question of "the death of God" or the "meaninglessness" of life.Works citedBennett, Warren. "Character, Irony, and Resolution in 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.'" American Literature 42 (1970): 70-79.