A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Essay

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway - Essay Example Also witnessed in other works by the author, are the themes of social exclusion, death, loneliness, and modernity which demonstrate the relevance of the narrative in dealing with social issues. In A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, Ernest Hemingway focuses on several social issues that affect society, old people especially. Social Issue and Its Impact on the Narrative Old age is associated with a stage in life when individuals settle down and have a peaceful life away from complicated activities since their energy is dwindled. Spending time with the family, particularly the extended family and resting constitute the main depiction of individuals in their later stage of life. Pensioners enjoy the savings they made during their young ages as opposed to active participation in work. However, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place generates a different picture of a suffering old man lost in desperation, loneliness, and isolation. Despite having enough money and resources to sustain his life, the main cha racter old man struggles to fit in a society that cannot deliver the social life he deserves. Social exclusion of the old people is a social vice that destroys the dream of a peaceful rest for the old generation. The events in world political history left a huge scar to the human society since war and aggression create animosity resulting in death and desolation. A cold society depicted by the setting of the story after a time of war shows the coincidence it has with social insensitivity. To illustrate this, the author uses the presence of a soldier and a guard in the story for the obvious reasons of some force needed to quell certain disorderliness. In addition, the waiter’s treatment to the deaf old man shows insensitivity as speaking to the old man aware of his disability is quite an insult. Causation In terms of fictitious application of the plot, the author selects the events of causation that resonate well with the social issue of neglect, isolation, and desolation of t he old in the society. In illustrating the nature of the main characters, particularly the old man, it is clear of how the desolation and isolation manifest in the story development (Lombardi para. 2). It is perhaps due to the depiction of the difference in the condition of the commotion in daytime and late night silence that the author generates the gentle character of the old man, who chooses the late night for his drink. In contrast, the author paints the young waiter as a violent and insensitive character by opting to retire when the commotion in noisy and dusty street subside. â€Å"‘You should have killed yourself last week,’ he said to the deaf man,† (Hemingway line 19). The older waiter’s character seems to be in the middle of the two extremes in that his lenience for the old man’s choice of drinking time does not convince him to take over. He understands the social impact of old age and the risks of desolation and he is aware of the realiti es that await him in his later days not too far, unlike his younger colleague. The interaction of the three characters in the narrative shows the disconnect that affects the young and the old within the theme of responsibilities of a socially cohesive society. The young cannot understand the challenges of the old such as why they could opt to pick the late hours for drinking crowned with sheer lack of sensitivity. We also learn about the family setting for the old man, with only one niece making up the family that takes care of him. Lack of other family members raises questions on how practical his resting days are, shedding more light on why he is in virtual inexistence in terms of social life