ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Loneliness. Loneliness pervades “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and suggests that even though there are many people struggling with despair, everyone must struggle alone.

Detailed explanation-2: -The clean, well-lighted café of the story’s title is its central image. This kind of café is a kind of idealized space; in it, even the loneliest, most despairing of men can find some kind of comfort. The café represents a space in which one can escape from troubles – in this case, from the despair of everyday life.

Detailed explanation-3: -Imagery is a powerful literary device used by Hemingway in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” to create a sense of contrast between the café and the old man’s home, to convey the theme of loneliness and isolation, and to convey the theme of the passage of time and the inevitability of aging.

Detailed explanation-4: -The café represents the opposite of nothingness: its cleanliness and good lighting suggest order and clarity, whereas nothingness is chaotic, confusing, and dark.

Detailed explanation-5: - Irony in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place The younger replies, “You have everything I have.” The dramatic irony is that he is wrong, and the reader knows it. Then, the older waiter comes to the bar and, when asked, says he wants “nada.” It is verbal irony meaning that cannot order “nothing.”