Description, Visual and Auditory Clues, and Imagery in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, By Hemingway :: A Clean Well-Lighted Place Essays

Description, Visual and Auditory Clues, and Imagery in A Clean, light Place   Each wickedness I am reluctant to close up because there may be several(prenominal) one who needs the café (251). The waiter who speaks these words, in a Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway, realizes that his café is more than just a place to exhaust and drink. The main character of this narration is an elderly, deaf(p) man who spends every flush at the same café until it closes. Setting is used to help the reader ascertain the old mans loneliness and the comfort he receives from the café. Hemingway uses direct explanation, visual and auditive clues, and experience imagery to establish the setting and to develop this attending.   Hemingway uses direct description at the very beginning of the story to establish the setting of the story for the reader. It was late and everyone had left the café except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of t he tree made against the electric car light. In the day conviction the street was dusty, and at night the dew settled the dust...(249). This conveys a sense of retirement and peace which surrounds the old man. More importantly, this description gives the reader a feeling for the loneliness which has engulfed the old man. The use of shadows and light, along with solitude, gives the sense of loneliness.   The visual and auditory clues the author uses are necessary in understanding wherefore the old man continues to return to the café each night. Turning off the electric light he continued the conversation with himself. It is the light of course but it is necessary that the place be clean and pleasant. You do not hope melody. Certainly you do not want music (251). It is important that the café be well-lighted to counteract the old mans dark and lonely life. In addition, music would only be a distraction from his thoughts and a disruption of the solitude which qu iet brings.   Finally, through Hemingways use of sense imagery, the reader is able to understand why the old man visits the café at night. ...the old man care to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference (249). Evening brings a sense of serenity to the old man. The day time distractions, even for a deaf man, are replaced by evening solitude.