2。 Nothingness as one part of the theme

2。1 Plot of the story

In 1933, Hemingway published a collection of fourteen short stories ---Winner Take Nothing, where A Clean, Well-lighted Place was included。 This story takes place in a Spanish café。 The plot focuses on the interaction between three leading characters --- the old man, the middle-aged waiter and the young waiter。

The old deaf man is the center of concentration in the short story。 He is wealthy of many as well as loneness。 He tries to commit suicide but is rescued。 Late at night, everyone returns home while the old man, who is a little drunk, still sits in the café。 The two waiters keep watching on him for the duration in their waiting for closing, in case that he might leave without paying if he becomes deeply drunk。 In the process of waiting, they begin their conversation about the old man。 The inexperienced younger does not understand why the elderly will be reluctant to leave while the older waiter feels pity for his suffering。 At the end of the story, the old man is finally out of the restaurant, the young waiter cannot wait to get home and the older waiter walks into a dirty, noisy bar。

At the near end of the story, Hemingway portrays such cries in heart of the older waiter: “It was not a fear or dread。 It was a nothing that he knew too well。 It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too…Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee。”

2。2 Life in nothingness

In the work, “Nada” appears at a completely exceptional probability, more than 30 times。 Nearly all the characters live in nothingness。 The old man’s character is quite complicated。 He is weak, hopeless and extremely unlucky。 He earns a lot of money but loses faith in life。 He refuses to believe in anything that used to be significant in the past。 For him, nothingness means aimlessness, hopelessness and meaninglessness of life, which might have been the exact reason for his suicide。 He tries to get rid of the earthly affairs by killing himself, but is saved by his niece。 Then he chooses to indulge in alcohol and sit late in the café—a clean and well-lighted place to buy drunk。 But in the end, he has to leave the coffee shop and step back into the dark night。

The young waiter seems to be full of pursuit to a bright life, but his pursuit is foreshadowed by too much lust and vulnerability。 He does not understand why the privileged old man lets off steam getting hammered in café every night。 And he cannot afford the older waiter's joke that his wife might be derailed。 So the young waiter seems to live in Nada as well, even if he does not realize it。 

Then what about the middle-aged waiter? As he is more experienced than the young waiter, he knows about what the old man suffers。 He is aware of the importance of a clean and well-lighted place to those who are struggling on the edge of despair。 However, he has to leave the cafe at the end of the novel。 He senses that he is living in nothingness, and he knows that "It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too," but he is incapable of breaking away from the nothingness。 All he can do is forcing himself to sleep in the night。文献综述

In Hemingway’s writing, the world is unknowledgeable, indifferent and absurd。 One cannot explain what is happening and expect what will happen。 The characters suffer from pain for various causes: having no aim in life; being unable to bear the lonely, hopeless and meaningless life; realizing that failure is inevitable and life is in vain。 They feel painful because of nothingness, and fall deeper into the sense of nothingness because of the pain。

As a result, we can summarize three forms of nothingness in the story: The loneliness of the old man is nothing, the pursuit of the young waiter is nothing, and insight of the older waiter is nothing as well。 Hemingway is fairly good at describing “nothingness”。 Even if there is no bloody description about the old man’s suicide, war, violence and so on, the nothingness can still be felt and touched。 Readers can easily get the consciousness of self-exile, indulgence and spiritual alienation, the awareness of bitterness and absurdity。 But that is not all about nada, just like that is not all about Hemingway’s theme。 If we want to understand the theme better, a study of the origin of Nada is indispensable。