Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” was first published in Scribner’s Magazine in March of 1933. It was then anthologized in Hemingway’s 1933 short story collection Winner Takes Nothing. It is regarded as one of his most important and influential short stories and as a clear example of his “Iceberg Theory” and his focus on typical Modernist existential themes. Utilizing the Iceberg Theory, Hemingway allows most of the story to sit below the surface of the text and evoke themes through subtext.

Hemingway was a member of the “Lost Generation,” a group of ex-pat writers who came of age during World War I and were heavily influenced by despair and loss. Themes of death, mass violence, instability, existentialism, religion, and identity surfaced often in his texts, including “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” Along with many short stories, Hemingway’s body of work includes nine novels and novellas, many of which are considered integral parts of the English literary canon. A celebrated writer in his lifetime, Hemingway won many awards, including the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.

This guide refers to the story as published in the Finca Vigia Edition of The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, published in 1987 by Scribner.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss suicide.

The short story opens in a café, where an old man sits quietly in the shadows of a tree, though the café itself is lit with “electric light” (288). It is late at night, and the world is so quiet that even though the old man is deaf, he can feel the difference. He has been there for a while and is well known to the waiters, as he is a regular who comes in for a drink, often drinking so much that he forgets to pay.

The waiters, having nothing else to do, watch the old man and discuss him. He attempted suicide the previous week, and they speculate about his reasons for doing so. One waiter concludes that it was because he was in “despair” about “nothing,” a conclusion he reaches because the old man “has plenty of money” (288).

As the two waiters sit together near the door, a young woman and a soldier walk by. One waiter remarks that the guard will catch them, noting that the guard walked by five minutes earlier.

The old man rattles his saucer, and the younger of the two waiters goes to his table. The young waiter asks the old man what he wants, and the old man orders a brandy. The waiter tells him he will get drunk, but the old man does not respond.

The younger waiter complains to his coworker that if the old man drinks more, he will stay all night. He is tired and wants to go home, and he laments that the old man didn’t die by suicide.

When the younger waiter returns to the old man to pour him more brandy, he tells him, “You should have killed yourself last week” (289). The man only responds that he wants his cup filled with more brandy and thanks the waiter, who goes back inside.

Upon his return, the two waiters discuss the old man again, revealing that the old man had hanged himself, but he was cut down by his niece because she feared for his soul. While the younger waiter contemplates the man’s motives, the older waiter merely says he does not know.

The younger waiter wishes again that the old man would leave so he can get home to his wife. The older waiter says the man stays because he likes the atmosphere, and he too used to have a wife. The younger waiter remarks that the old man has a niece who cares about him but that being old is a “nasty thing” (289). The older waiter objects and defends the old man, saying he is clean.

The old man indicates he wants more brandy, but the younger waiter speaks rudely to him and cuts him off. The old man pays for his drinks and leaves the café, walking “unsteadily but with dignity” (290).

The older waiter asks why the younger waiter did not allow the man to stay longer, and the younger waiter explains again that he is tired and in a hurry to go home to his wife. He says time is more valuable to him than the old man and that he can just drink at home, though both waiters agree that that is not the same as drinking in a café.

The older waiter jokes with the younger waiter about going home early to his wife, to which the younger waiter replies, “I have confidence” (290). The older waiter points out that the younger waiter has youth, confidence, and a job, while the older waiter only has a job, revealing that he too likes to stay late at the café “with all those who do not want to go to bed” (290). He likes to keep the café open for those who need the light and pleasantness. He says the younger waiter does not understand, and the younger waiter responds with “Good night” (291).

The older waiter closes the café and heads out into the night. He continues his conversation in his head, noting that a good café must be clean, pleasant, and music-free. He then ponders his emotions, noting that he does not feel fear or dread but “a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too.” (291). He then begins reciting the Lord's Prayer, replacing most words with “nada,” which means “nothing” in Spanish.

He has one drink at a bar, and the barman is bothered by him. The waiter notes to himself that he dislikes bars and prefers “a clean, well-lighted café” (291). He thinks about retiring to his room, where he would fall asleep at dawn, noting it must be insomnia that keeps him awake most nights, and that many people probably have it too.