A Clean, Well-lighted Place

Author's Note: These are questions from a reading response to A Clean Well-lighted Place.  I just found out that we were only supposed to do one, but I did all the questions as homework.

1. Pick out at least three phrases/quotes which you think are especially important to the story (what you might mark on a printed text.) Briefly describe why you chose each.

“Who cut him down?”

“His niece.”

-          I feel that this quote was important to the story because, it was the first mentioning of the poor old man’s depression as well as the first, out of two, reveals that the man didn’t have a wife, or has a late wife, as later explained in the story.

"I want to go home to bed."

"What is an hour?"

"More to me than to him." 

-          I feel that this quote was important to the story because, it was showing the start of an unruly work companionship.

I am not young.”

-          I feel that this quote was important to the story because, these words summoned up the author’s feelings and made it clear that his writing was directed towards younger people.

2.  What is one event, character, or plot element that is similar to a modern text/film? Explain.

I believe that the younger waitress is similar to a character in a modern film, “Safe Haven.”  I think this because the main character, Katie, in “Safe Haven,” has the same mood towards the people that stayed late in the restaurant she worked at because she felt that there was a greater chance that that was when her husband would show up.  Now the character in this short story isn’t a girl and isn’t scared of his wife showing up, in fact, he wants to go home to see her, but they both have an anger towards the customers that stay later then closing times.  Only for different reasons.

3.  Write a brief analysis of the two waiters.  What do they represent about life? What does the café symbolize?

The older waiter I feel is who the author I feels tries to share his wise message through, while the younger waiter is how the author displaces symbolism.  Maybe the author was wise and knew that that was how the world would one day turn out and was trying to steer people away from acting like that, or maybe he used the café to symbolize the olden day vibe that he loved that he never wanted to change.

4. How does Hemingway use light and dark as symbols? How do the shadows fit in?

Hemingway uses light and dark to symbol what I feel are feelings, the old man is depressed, which meant that he was to sit in the shadow of tree leaves, while he explained the rest of the café to be upbeat and fun with its great lighting.

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Author's Note: Today we watched a short film of, A Clean Well-lighted Place, off of Youtube in Language Arts and I was supposed to analyze the the films adaptation.  I also had to evaluate the choices made by the director, including actors, setting, lighting, and music.

Overall I thought that there was only one major change I would've made to the film, if I were the director.  I think that a very important part of the short story was when Hemmingway described the deaf man to be sat outside of the cafe. So I would've positioned the character outside of the cafe instead of inside, but the rest of the film I wouldn't change especially because the dialog was spot on.  As far as actors go I feel that the waiters acted quite well.  Although I loved the actor's acting as the deaf man because he was loud, just as I imagined the character while reading the short story.  He also did an exceptional job on walking away from the cafe, he was unsteady, but yet not clutzy, just as I visioned.

Similar to how I felt towards the choosing of characters in the film, I also thought the setting was quite precise.  The cafe was lighted and sterile both in the short story and on film.  Aside from the lighting in the cafe I would argue that there should've been street lights, so that we could better see the man stumbling his way down the street.  Another alternative to solve that problem would've been to change the color of his jacket, so that in the darkness you could still see him.  All together my favorite part of the film had to be the music.  I physically couldn't think of more perfect music for the setting in the beginning and end.  The music just added to the mood of the movie, like in the beginning, when the music was on a lower key and slow, it prepared the viewers for a sadder film.  In the end when the music was still on a low key yet a little faster, it added to the drama of the film's ending.