Every work in literature is open to interpretation, and every person is entitled to their opinion. In a story shorter than 1,500 words, less than that of this paper, Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place has garnered serious debate and criticism. Written and published in 1933, Hemingway’s story containing a theme about nothing in several contexts has definitely given many critics something to talk about, but not about the usual theme, irony, or symbolism. For the past 55 years, the critics continue to debate the conflicting dialogue between the two main characters, and whether the inconsistency was intended by Hemingway or a mistake by the original typesetter. Within a story that is mostly dialogue, it would be logical to understand which characters are speaking so the reader can understand the interactions of the characters. There are no names given to the two waiters in the café, and there is very little reference to which one is speaking. This makes the reader infer which character knows what key information is being presented. One of the first critics to start the dialogue debate in 1959 is Dr. William E. Colburn who authored Confusion in ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’. Colburn declared, “The dialogue does not fit a logical pattern; there definitely is an inconsistency in the story” (241). At the same time in 1959, a college teacher named F. P. Kroeger wrote, “There has been what appears to be an insoluble problem in the dialogue” (240). These two initial statements have resulted in years of contention and controversy by many other critics. The inconsistency Colburn and Kroeger wrote about was followed up an article by Professor Otto Reinert at the University of Washington who observed: The difficulty arises from He... ... middle of paper ... ...mplete story. Works Cited Bennett, Warren. “The Manuscript and the Dialogue of ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’.” American Literature. 50.4 (1979): 613-624. JSTOR. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. Colburn, William E. “Confusion in ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’.” College English. 20.5 (1959): 241-242. JSTOR. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. Kerner, David. “The Manuscripts Establishing Hemingway's Anti-Metronomic Dialogue.” American Literature. 54.3 (1982): 385-396. JSTOR. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. Kroeger, F. P. “The Dialogue in ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’.” College English. 20.5 (1959): 240-241. JSTOR. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. Reinert, Otto. “Hemingway's Waiters Once More.” College English , 20.8 (1959): 417-418. JSTOR. Web. 8 Feb. 2014. Ryan, Ken. "THE CONTENTIOUS EMENDATION OF HEMINGWAY'S 'A CLEAN, WELL-LIGHTED PLACE'." The Hemingway Review 18.1 (1998): 78. Academic OneFile. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
The main focus of A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is on the pain of old age suffered by a man that we meet in a cafe late one night. Hemingway contrasts light and dark to show the difference between this man and the young people around him, and uses his deafness as an image of his separation from the rest of the world.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton anthology of English literature. 9th ed., A, New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Pp
Jokinen, Anniina. "Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. N.p., 1996. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. http://www.luminarium.org/
Ernest Hemingway is today known as one of the most influential American authors of the 20th century. This man, with immense repute in the worlds of not only literature, but also in sportsmanship, has cast a shadow of control and impact over the works and lifestyles of enumerable modern authors and journalists. To deny his clear mastery over the English language would be a malign comparable to that of discrediting Orwell or Faulkner. The influence of the enigma that is Ernest Hemingway will continue to be shown in works emulating his punctual, blunt writing style for years to come.
Ernest Hemingway portrays many of his views through the characters in his stories. Hemingway has found a way to deliver many different themes in his writing. He includes personal experiences, thoughts and opinions to convey his way of thinking to the reader. Hemingway's writing can be interpreted in many ways, but as countless readers have observed, Ernest Hemingway is a sexist. Hemingway is viewed as a sexist because of the way he writes about women. His writing makes the reader believe that Hemingway has a strong dislike for women. Both "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway and "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" represent Hemingway's view on male's dominance over women and that women are the cause of men's misery.
" The Hemingway Review. 15.1 (Fall 1995): p. 27. Literature Resource Center -.
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In Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and Sandra Cisneros’s “The House on Mango Street”, the authors describe their feelings towards the settings in a similar way. In Hemingway’s short story, two waiters at a café describe the differences in their lives and how they see life before them. In Cisneros’s short story, the narrator explains her past, present, and future places of residency and the impact it has in her life. Both settings in each story are different, but also very much alike, because of the people in the stories and the feeling of want and betterment that you get from both the waiters in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and the narrator in “The House on Mango Street”.
Based on the reviews that were found, it can be concluded that Ernest Hemingway’s novel, A Farewell to Arms, depicts a hauntingly realistic love story between Catherine and Fredric, one that was intense and more real than what was traditional presented in previous romances. More importantly, due to the publication of this work, it could be said that Hemingway changed the accepted style of writing, pushing his mastered technique into the forefront or even into the arena to be taken seriously. The reviews also point out that, the majority of individuals seemed to sense a huge growth in Hemingway’s writing in this book and felt that due to this, Hemingway had moved into a recognizable writer who had made a significant contribution to the world of literature.
Unger, Leonard, ed. “Ernest Hemingway.” American Writers. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribners’s Sons, 1974. 247-269.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2013. Print.