A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway

The story is about two waiters who is talking about a rich old man in their cafe who is drunk. The

young waiter is ranting to the old waiter how he wanted the rich old man to stop drinking because he wants

to go home. The old waiter then explains what the rich old man is going through like when he tried to kill

himself and other things about his life. The rich old man kept wanting to drink but the young waiter made

him leave. Basically the ending is that it shows the difference of the young waiter to the old rich man and

old waiter. The young waiter is happy and outgoing while the two old man were not happy with their lives.

The old waiter then explains that a clean well-lighted place somehow makes people like them feel a little

bit less alone because although they feel empty in a clean well-lighted place at least it has a nice ambiance

unlike bars and bodegas.

This is the first time I have read about this story or any other story that Ernest Hemingway has

written and this story kind of struck me especially knowing about Ernest’s life story. Finding out that he

committed suicide made the story more interesting because the story itself made me feel his despair. As a

psychology major, this story is very timely because it deals with depression. I have come to realize more

that everyone experiences a lot of struggles in life and that you can’t really tell who has depression because

people who laughs and smiles does not necessarily make them happy sometimes those who smiles the

biggest are the loneliest one. As a person taking up this field, I believe that we should pay a little more

attention on the people around us especially our love ones because we don’t really know what they are

going through everyday so be more sensitive with what we say to other people because this may affect them

greatly.

I believe the story is not all negative. For me there are also a positive effect that this story could

bring to people. First is awareness. This could be an eye opener to people for them to be aware of how
depression is and how it affects the person mentally and emotionally. This could make people understand

that depression is not a joke and that a lot of people in our society experiences this without us even knowing

and second, this could help people be more sensitive with what they say because sometimes words trigger

the worst in people. Lastly, it also shows that not everyone experiences “nothingness” that there are also

people who loves and appreciates life like the young waiter. Therefore, this story is not all about despair

because somehow Ernest was able to show the joys of the young.

Somehow I am able to relate to the feeling of nothingness because experiencing a lot of struggles

in life made me lose hope at some point in my life. Problems and struggles could greatly impact the way

people increase or decrease their hopes in life. I personally lost hope one time because my problems got a

little heavier than I could carry so I kind of drown in despair especially when I wasn’t able to solve any of

it immediately. But as time went by I was able to see the brighter side of life and surpassed everything.

What I learned through that experience is that I should not rush things and force things to happen because

everything has a right moment and that things will eventually fall into place and if things didn’t work out

the way that I wanted too then I should take it as another opportunity to make the right decision and make

things right.

What I have learned in this story by Ernest Hemingway is that in this world nothing is perfect.

Despite having money and people around you, there are still struggles that would come to your way, always.

I have also realized that material things can make people happy to an extent but not fully, not the genuine

kind of happiness. Like the rich old man or even Ernest himself have a lot of material possessions and

despite that they still lack happiness and hope in life.

 I think we should focus more on building relationships with people rather than collecting material

things. In addition, I have learned that people should be more sensitive to the situations of other people and

be careful with our words because like i said, we don’t know what the person is going through and our

words could affect them deeply. Lastly, I have learned that the world is fair because it is unfair to everyone.

That no matter who you are and what you have in life, we all experience struggles and problems in life. It

is up to us on whether with take it nicely or badly.