The Young and the Lonely.

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customer of the café. This makes me think that the old drunken man is very lonely and sits alone in clean well-lighted place to drink away his sorrows.

The two waiters sit inside, watch their customer and discuss his attempt to kill himself a week earlier. "Last week he tried to commit suicide. Why? He was in despair. What about? Nothing. How do you know it was nothing? He has plenty of money" (288). By this conversation between the two waiters, it is evident that the younger waiter could see no valid reason for the old man to attempt suicide. His remark that he had plenty of money shows the readers that he lacks compassion for the old man. He feels that his money should be able to take the place of anything else lacking in his life. The older waiter, on the other hand, can identify with the plight of the old man because he, too, is old and lives alone and doesn't have anyone to go home to. He thinks the old man tried to kill himself because he realizes he has nothing else to live for except the clean and well-lighted café where he drinks away his sorrows. The alcohol becomes his someone to look forward to, and the clean well-lighted place becomes his place to go because there are people there and there is no one at home for him.

As the night wears on the old man is gradually getting drunk. When the younger waiter in a hurry goes back out to pour the brandy, he tells the old deaf man, "You should have killed yourself last week" (289). Even though the old man is deaf and could not hear this statement, this shows how the younger waiter has no respect or compassion for the old man. He doesn't care that the old man is lonely; all he cares about is getting home to his wife. He felt the old man had no

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regard for those who had to work because of the fact that he stayed so late. Wasn't that what the café was for - to serve customers late at night? It was evident he didn't like working late hours when he had a wife waiting for him at home. It was almost like he blamed the old man for his late hours. He took out his frustrations on his customer. He goes on to show further lack of respect for the old man when he once again signals for more brandy. The younger waiter goes out and tells him that he can't have anymore because they are closed and signals for him to go home. So the old man gets up and pays for his drinks, leaves a tip for the waiter, and begins to walk home. The younger waiter proceeded to close the blinds and close up the store an hour early only because he was tired and wanted to go home, further showing his lack of compassion for not only the old man, but for anyone else who would have a need for the cafe.

The older waiter was saddened by the fact that the younger waiter closed early. The older waiter then opens up to the younger waiter telling him his true feelings. He says, "I am of those who like to stay late at the café. With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all of those who need a light for the night"(290). The young waiter then says, "Hombre, there are bodegas open all night long" (290). The old waiter returns with, "You do not understand. This is a clean and pleasant café. It is well-lighted"(290). In this conversation, the older waiter reveals to the younger waiter that he, too, is lonely like the old man and that he knows what it is like to go home to emptiness at night. The younger waiter doesn't understand, or doesn't try to understand because he has his wife

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to go home to. He is so wrapped up in his own life that he doesn't have time to bother with the sorrows of others.

After the older waiter poured out his feelings to the younger waiter, the younger waiter leaves. Even though he is alone, the older waiter continues this conversation with himself. He says to himself, "What did he fear? It was not a fear or dread, It was a nothing that he knew too well.... It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada"(291). He is referring to the old man and his feelings. He is saying that the man had nothing to fear and that all he needed was light because the darkness was lonely. He then starts to recite his own version of the Lord's prayer, using nada, the Spanish word for "nothing" in place of words in the prayer. I guess this is his way to say that he too, like the old man, has nothing, not even a God, to go home to.

The old waiter then walks into a bar and stands at the bar and orders a drink. He then says to the bar tender, "The light is very bright but the bar is unpolished" (291). The bartender said nothing to him. The old waiter is saying that this is a nice bar but it is not as clean as it should be. It lacks the clean part of a clean and well-lighted place. He then goes home and lies in his bed and finally goes to sleep after the daylight comes up and says to himself, "It is probably insomnia. Many must have it"(291). This lets us know that he is an insomniac, one that does during the night and sleeps during the day. That is why he waited until the sun came up to finally go to sleep.

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Hemingway describes this Spanish café as a haven for the older characters to escape their loneliness. They have nothing else to live for, nothing to look forward to, and no pleasure left in life except for the comfort of being able to spend a little time in a clean, well-lighted place. This is a necessary illusion against the darkness of the older characters' existence in this short story.

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