Annotated Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” A Pocketful of Prose. Vol 2. Ed. David Madden. Boston: Heinle, 2006. Hemingway short story in which two waiters, a young one and an older one, discuss the last customer of the evening, an old man. The young waiter hates the old man to the point of being rude to him, notes that the old man tried to kill himself the week before, and wishes that the old man would go home. The older waiter suggests that sometimes one needs a clean, well-lighted place to make sense of oneself. The old man walks home with dignity; the young waiter goes home to his wife; and the older waiter goes to another café where he notes that the place is clean, but is not so well-lighted. The story comes to a climax with the older waiter saying the Lord’s Prayer with the word nada in place of almost everything in the prayer. Then the older waiter stays up until dawn, when he can finally fall asleep.