A Clean Well-Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway

While reading the story “A clean, well-lighted place” by Ernest Hemingway, the reader is given the perspectives of three characters: the old man, the younger waiter, and the old waiter. Hemingway uses an impartial omniscient narrator, who sees inside the minds of the characters, but the narrator doesn’t judge on their actions or thoughts. The narrator begins the story with the old man, and then moves the focus over to the younger waiter, and then ends the story with the old waiter. The reader gains knowledge of each character and why they feel the way they do, which is told as the story progresses. This could also explain why they chose certain actions within the reading. Hemingway uses this progression to move the plot forward by getting the reader to empathize with each character.
He is keeping the waiters late, and even though they oblige him the reader finds out through the mind of the young waiter that this is an annoyance. The reader can see the young waiter’s frustration when he over-pours the old man’s drink: “the brandy slopped over and ran down the stem into the top saucer”. This shift in focus causes the reader to sympathize with the young waiter. He simply wants to go home t go to bed with his wife, and he says of the old man “He has no regard for those who must work”. He has nothing to do but tend to this lonely, old man who may “leave without paying” because he is so drunk. His time is worth more to him than what he is required to do for his job, saying “I wouldn’t want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing”. The older waiter seems to understand and relate to the old man's