In “A Cleaned Well-Lighted Place,” Hemingway proposes that life has no meaning. When reading this short story, we can see inside the mind of the old waiter, and we get to know his thoughts from his point of view. The most ironic situation in the story, that enhances the readers experience, is that only the reader and the old waiter know what is really going on in the mind of the old waiter since he is the narrator of the story. The old waiter makes it clear that his life has no meaning when he says, “It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too” (Hemingway 161). Everyone does not know what it is like to have “nothing”, but this old waiter understands why the old man likes to come in and drink at the café late at night. The point of view adds effectiveness of the author’s purpose because the story is…show more content… Older people like the waiter and old man have lived life and have had their ups and downs. The young waiter does not know what it feels like to have nothing as Hemingway states, he says, “He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” (160) The young waiter does not put into perspective as to why the old man is lonely and that he may be lonely one day as well. The older waiter knows how the old man feels and his struggle to find a way to deal with his loneness, as he says, “He would go home to his room and lie in bed and finally, with daylight would go to sleep” (Hemingway 162). The young waiter has no compassion for the old man and thinks his time is more important than the older man’s and say an hour is, “more to me than to him” (Hemingway 160). The old waiter tells the young waiter, “You have youth, confidence, and a job. You have everything” (Hemingway 161). Younger people tend to think only of themselves but in reality they need to step into the shoes of older people to see what they might be struggling with or dealing with on the
