Light in the Darkness; Blog no. 2

In the story "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" we find that the story is set in a cafe which has an outside terrace near to the street in a more than likely Spanish area or country. We can assume that the area has some latin influence by the mentioning of "bodegas" and at other times in the text where the author has the characters correspond in Spanish. An example of this is the "No hombre, only to make a joke" and the several repititions of the word "nada" when the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary are being recited.

In my estimation the idea of a clean well-lighted place is significant because it represents to the characters in the story, particularly the deaf drunk, a light in an otherwise dark and disorderly world. Since he has tried to commit suicide, he is drawn like a moth to the 'light' of the bar where he finds solace, order and has some control although he is fueling his alcoholism. The same can be said of the older waiter who is trying to find some 'light' in his day in the absence of a wife and family of his own. We can assume this lack of family where he says at the end "he would go home to his room", when the younger waiter was impatient to go home to his wife.

Additionally, the author leaves the characters of the story nameless, only referring to them by descriptions: 'the older waiter', 'the old man', 'the young waiter'. After reading the story, I am inclined to say that the characters were not named so as not to place a limit on them. The limit being the one that comes with a name hence, making the reader attribute the words and the characteristics of the characters only to those mentioned in the story and not to themselves. So in leaving them nameless, Hemingway draws the reader into his story and allows them to effectively put themselves into the shoes of the charater and assume the role themselves.

As previously mentioned, the older waiter connects with the old man in that he is seeking a 'light' in his otherwise dark and dismal life. The older waiter connects with the old man in that he seems, in analyzing the strifes of the old man, he does not judge him and his tone at certain points in the story, conveys a feeling of empathy and understanding for his plight. This is particularly evident where he mentions that the old man "had a wife once too", something that we find the older waiter also lacked, when he said he woud go home only to his room.

The plot of the story is centered around the conflict within the young waiter who is torn between the decision of asking the old man to leave the cafe after hearing of his recent suicide attempt and trying to get this deaf man -the last customer at the cafe- to leave, so that he could get home to his wife. We also see complications arise with the young waiter, as he becomes more entangled with the life of the old drunk, when enquiring for details about the man's life and the reasons and means of how he tried to commit suicide. The rising action sees the point where the young waiter decides to ignore to some extent the plight of the old man saying "I don't want to look at him. I wish he would go home. He has no regard for those who must work." and in that instant, decides in the climax of the story to cut him off saying he is "Finished" and gets the drunk to finally leave the cafe. After the departure of the old man and the young waiter, the story winds down with the short internal monologue by the old waiter and a short interaction between him and the barman.

From all this, I gather that the theme of this story is we all have varying deegrees of darkness in our lives that we must face (whether they be internally or externally induced) and we all try different ways to shed some light on the dark corners of our lives. This is depicted by all the characters in the story who have either resorted to drinking, congregating with others at their workplace to avoid going to an empty house or retreating to their loved one.

Quick background on Ernest Hemingway. He was born on July 21st, 1899 in Oak Park, Illonois and died July 2nd, 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho as a result of suicide. He was the son of a physician and drew most of his literary inspiration from his experiences of the World Wars. He started writing for the "Kansas City Star" newspapaer at the age fo seventeen before he became enlisted in the Italian military where he became a decorated officer for his efforts during the war. When he left the army, he went to work for the "Toronto Star" newspaper.Eventually, he moved to Paris with his first wife to pursue his writing career and earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 for his book "The Old Man and The Sea". Hemingway was married three times and seemed to have a life filled with tragedy with his father committing suicide, his divorces, the traumatic experiences of the wars and several unfortunate accidents which he had survived during his life. In his later life, he retreated to Cuba but because of paranoia (thinking that the FBI would be after him in the Russian-assisted, communist island) he returned to the United States where he subsequently killed himself with a shotgun.


Throughout the story, Hemingway creates parallels with his own life. He mentions a soldier walking along the road and at some point, the light illuminates his figure and moreso his badge. I find that this represents Hemingway reminiscing about his past self; him the young, stately soldier illuminated in the light while he looks on at who he was over his bottle, whilst sitting in the shadows. He also depicts the drunken, old man as a person who had amassed great wealth but still wanted to take his life. This is similar to Hemingway in that he came from a good home with his father being a prominent physician and he in his life, had gained success through writing, but also sought to and eventually did commit suicide. Furthermore, he links himself with the drunk old man in that like the character, he had no wife in the later years of his life. With his body degenerated, no support system and paranoia plaguing him, the words "A wife would be no good to him now" ring true, as he takes his own life similar to the character of the old drunk, who had attempted to do the same.

Sonny's Blues Indeed

I recently read a story called "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin. The story takes place in Harlem, New york circa the late 1940's early 1950's at the time of the Harlem Rennaisance. Unemployment is high, living conditions are far less than prime with the introduction of housing projects which have taken the place of the traditional houses, crime is up and narcotics lace the air. Yet, creativity through music particualrly, flows through the community as a means of escape from an otherwise dismal lifestyle.

It is this need to escape that shapes the character of Sonny in the story. Having lost both his parents and subsequently his brother to the military, it is not hard to see why Sonny needed to create for himself an escape. While living with his brother's fiancee's family, he sought to do this by playing piano. However, his talent and dedication went unappreciated causing conflict with their family and no odubt within himself, since no-one understood him and they were all to quick to cast him aside. This could have also driven him toward heroin abuse as (later revealed in the story) it would gave him a feeling of "control" over his situation.

In reading the story on ediscovers that the narrator was formerly enlisted in the army. This is interesting since African-americans in the army have had a long a varied history. It was traditionally considered a last resort to have 'blacks' in the army and if brought into the ranks, they were, it is believed, sent to the front lines to die and defend the ranks of white soldiers which were to follow.

It is ironic that Sonny would want to enlist in the army knowing that he would most likely be placed on the front lines, when he could not commit suicide when going through his period of addiction and withdrawal. The irony is further deepened in that being as free spririted as he is, he would consider the idea of joining a group which would seek to strip him of his individuality and conform to a strict status quo.

The song "Solitude" by Billie Holiday states:

"I sit in my chair and filled with despair
There's no one could be so sad with gloom everywhere
I sit and stare I know that I'll soon go mad
In my solitude I'm prayin'
Dear Lord Above

Send back my love."

I find that this lyric describes Sonny's afflictions in his time of rehabilitation as he would have had much time to reflect upon his choices and where they have brought him to. In addition, it shows his longing for his love of music and the piano which, I would believe, he had no access to while going through treatment.

Furthermre, the role of bebop comes into play significantly in the story. Bebop, being an updated or more modern approach to the classical art of Jazz music was frowned up by many Jazz musicians at a time when jazz was becoming popular and veritable. Bebop unlike jazz, focussed on the solos of particular musicians in the group who would make up a solo based on their mood at the time which lent a brooding and sometimes dark feel to the music, when jazz was more upbeat and lent itself to dancing.

Sonny was drawn to bebop in my estimation, because it represented an outlet to the spirit which he tried to express and was his way of being a social creature without words. It also showed his individuality and nonconformity in that he was experimenting with a style of music which was not main stream at the time and considered not up to par with the more established jazz. Conversely, it represented to hsi brother, the root of Sonny's problems since the man which Sonny's idolized was a heroin addict himself. Later however, bebop came to represent Sonny's sould to his brother and a means of understandign him on a level much deeper thatn any conversation could have acheived