A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Essay -- Literary Analysis, Ernest Hemingw

Human Life Torture of the MindErnest Hemingway captures the essence and origins of nihilistic thought in A Clean, Well-Lighted postal service, written in a time of religious and moral confusion shortly after The Great warfare. The ideas expressed in this short story represent the post World War 1 thinking of Hemingway, and the notoriously nihilistic Lost Generation in Paris, which was greatly influenced by the many traumas of war. Learning from his unnerving experiences in battle, Hemingway enforces the idea that whole humans testament inevitably fade into eternal cipherness and everything valued by humans is worthless. He develops this idea by creating a brilliant sendup of two coveted religious documents, revealing authority figures as typical, despicable, human beings, and he reduces deportment into the most raw, simplistic, and frightening reality imaginable. Hemingway states that all humans will naturally die alone and literally be in despair about nothing (494), and that people will either seek a placid and pleasant caf (496), or a self-inflicted death simply to escape despair. Undoubtedly, Hemingway eliminates any consideration of a higher meaning because he believes that life is all a nothing, and a man is nothing too (496). By viewing the actions of three different generations, Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place elaborates on the idea that human life is not continual enlightenment and growth, but gradual despair, and an inevitable death into nada (497). The youthful and confident waiter, representing the youngest of the three male generations, is the only apparent specification of existentialist thought in the story. However, this young man is simply an unconcerned existentialist due to his age he is not in despair bec... ...ed Place, represent the opinions and views of one typical person, in one ordinary life. The theme of a world of nothingness is overwhelming to the human brain, and almost inconceivable, and everything we do in this life is simply designed to help us take our mind off of death suicide is the ultimate escape from despair over nothing (494). Hemingways brilliant transitions in time explain how life eventually grows worse with age, and humans will succumb to suicide, drunkenness, or something comforting and safe, much uniform a clean, well-lighted caf. Further, Hemingway has shown the world that man has created many bogus ways to cope with the insurmountable fear of nothingness, namely religion. Bluntly, people can try to pip-squeak their selves into feeling soulful, genuine, or meaningful, but there is no need to fear for the human soul, as it is non-existent.