Reading Response to "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

Author's Note: I chose to pick three quotes from A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway, and write about what they mean.

"The old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference."

Even though the man is deaf, it's more peaceful at night when it's quieter and everyone has gone home. it must be hard not to be able to hear anything, so he likes it better with no one else around where he can think in peace.

"How do you know it was nothing?" "He has plenty of money."

The two waiters are talking about the old man sitting in the cafe, who tried to commit suicide. Obviously it wasn't for nothing; you wouldn't just kill yourself because you were bored. But just because you have a lot of money doesn't necessarily mean you're happy. Many people tend to think that because you're rich, you have no problems in life. The man had a reason to commit suicide, which the waiters are kind of overlooking: He has no one except his niece.

"With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night."

In this quote, the younger waiter is responding in an interesting way to what the older waiter had previously said about liking to stay late at the cafe. It means that he is possibly afraid of sleeping in the dark, and he does not want to go to bed. That he'd rather sleep when it is light outside.