A Clean, Well-Lighted Place(海明威的一篇佳作的读后感)

The Inspiration from "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

Class 6 Student No.20114590

Name Wang Hong

I read this short story on my intensive reading course last week. Actually, I have to admit that it was the first time I knew this great writer, Ernest Hemingway. I had ever looked through his novelette named The Old Man and the Sea. It is a translated copy in Chinese. At that time I did think Hemingway was not a qualified writer. After finishing about a quarter of the book, what I all had in mind were an old man's finishing days and daily trifles. However, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" showed me an eligible novelist.

The story is fairly short, which only takes me 5 pieces of A4 papers to get it all printed. But if you had ever read it, you might find it attractive. The story happened after World War II in America. It describes a usual thing in a cafe. An old man sat late. There were two waiters chatting about him. After the old man was forced to go home, two waiters were off duty. The younger one went home. Then, the elder one closed the cafe and went to a bar. He ordered a cup of coffee and talked to the barman. The coffee finished, the elder waiter went home and was in insomnia. That is the whole story. It is simple. Here, I would like to show you how it moved me.

According to the conservation between the two waiters, the old man is about 80 years old, clean, rich, but deaf. He once had a wife, but his niece looked after him. It was his niece who saved him from committing suicide. When I read upon there, what confused me most was why the old man wanted to kill himself when he owned a lot fortune. Then, I recognized it happened in a hard time. The inflection of the war made the old man became in despair. He saw people's death and how cruel the war was. I was thinking that maybe his wife was killed because of war. For instance, maybe his deaf ears were caused by the war. So did his fortune. He liked to sit in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light, which made him feel safe. Moreover, he would rather stay in the cafe than stop drinking brandy to go home at night. In my mind, family is a place where you can find warmth, true love, and carefulness. It seems that the old man was unwilling to go to his rich house. Deep down, he may be a little bit afraid of his family. I am sympathetic towards him. Poor man he truly is, I think.

On the other hand, I want to show my opinions upon the two waiters.

The younger waiter, comparing with the elder and the old man, seems never suffer from any disasters. He complained that the eld man made him work that late. Even, he said to the deaf man, "You should have killed yourself last week". He did not serve another cup of brandy as the old man asked. Even though, it did not satisfy him. He urged the old man to go home so that he could be off duty earlier. You may say that it is understandable for a young man to do and speak in that impolite style. I agree. He is a typical man in a peaceful world. Lacking acknowledges and experience, the young are always so active, creative, and fearless. They know little about death or the dirty part of the world.

However, the elder waiter is different. Honestly, he acted as a person whose character is a combination of the old man and the younger waiter. It was him who linked up the whole story. Also, because of his appearance, pain brought by the war turned up. It is easy to find that he is the hero of this story. From my point of view, he is also one of the Lost Generation at that time. When Ernest Hemingway was creating the elder waiter, he might have mixed up with his own

personalities. Since the old man should have enjoyed his brandy a little bit more, the elder waiter felt pitiful for him. From his words, I think he was a man in good manners. But, he owned a poor spiritual world. I feel that he did not have any goals or dreams. What he did everyday was serving as a waiter. He even did not expect a wife. His insomnia, certainly, is a kind of sickness, which can be cured. Still, he considered it as “Many must have it”. That is negative and sorrowful. A man should not be like that. Moreover, there is a long paragraph writing about his self-thinking. It is something in Bible. But, all the nouns were replaced with “nada” which means nothing. As we all know that regions in European countries have a significant impact on their people. People respect their gods. Only if their gods are helpless in fact, they will not treat their gods as “nada”, I think. The chapter showed me that god was not being believed during that period of time. Something changed.

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, the title, you may now understand its meaning. The whole story simply describes a waiter’s night. It reveals the war hurt people’s spiritual civilization. The old generation has lost hopes for the future, but, the young generation is still fresh and enthusiastic. Hemingway living in this period saw the changes and development; fortunately, he wrote them down in his own way. I respect him sincerely.

From this short story, I saw a developing world as it always is. Although we may meet with a disaster like a war, most of time we enjoyed our life happily and peacefully. We may loose our faith sometimes. If happened, do not be afraid. What we need to do is just to find it, carry it on and keep moving. Hemingway reminds me of some other writers, San Mao, Bo Yang, and Qi Jinnian. They are all my favorite writers. They share a same attitude towards life and the world. In their eyes, the world should be appreciated, no matter how bad the people around you are or the society appears. They spread their hopes for the future among the young. They encourage from the heart. In my opinion, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is a light in our hearts. It can guide us from birth to death. Powerful it is. Believe that everything will turn better. We enjoy the life.

 

第二篇:A Clean Well-Lighted Place

ACleanWellLightedPlace

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