A Clean Well-Lighted Place Tone

Ernest Hemingway is famous for being a flat and minimalist writer that tells the story as it is. However, that does not mean that the story is easily interpreted. He is actually a very challenging author to understand without rereading the story. The reader has to pay close attention to small details to get the full experience out of the story. A Clean Well-Lighted Place is a relatively flat and minimally written story with a deep sense of emotion that can be found through the tone that Ernest Hemingway shows in the characters.
The tone in this story appears to be dark and gloomy but as the story carries on it shows hope and compassion. "Tone is the attitude toward a subject conveyed in a literary work. No single stylistic device creates tone; it is the various elements an author brings to creating the work's feeling and manner." (Pearson p. 198) Hemingway shows tone such as loneliness, sadness, and emptiness through the old man. These are shown
He too would rather stay at the café at night rather than go home to his lonely house. The quote "Each night I am reluctant to close up because there might be someone who needs the café." (Hemmingway p.169 mk70) shows how the two men think similarly and how he knows people find comfort in a "Clean Well-Lighted Place." This knowledge comes with age which explains why the younger waiter is so self centered and can not relate to the old man. His tone is selfish, and foolish because he is not putting himself in the old mans shoes to see how rough it is for him. While the two older men would rather go to bed by 3 o'clock in the morning he would rather go to bed earlier. The old waiter also does not believe in God shown at the end when he says the Our Father and Hail Mary replacing all Godly words with nada. This could describe the sadness and loneliness that they feel and why they have to find an alternative location to feel a little bit of