Ernest Hemingway's Short Story 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place'

While Hemingway's short story "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is usually interpreted as a representation of the conflict between man and aging, it is also a fruitful example of negatively-used social categorization. In the story, the young waiter’s use of person perception is completely offensive to the old man who falls victim. Due to the young waiter’s inability to sympathize with the old man, the waiter grows increasing more rude and cruel as the story continues. In Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”, the young waiter designates the old man as undeserving of freedom and life based on the man being elderly, deaf, and alone in the café.
The young waiter is blatantly ageist, stating “An old man is a nasty thing” (153). He is best described as self-indulged. He is clearly in a happy marriage and is eager to return to a wife “waiting in bed’’ for him. He has successfully obtained “youth, confidence, and a job… everything,” according to the old waiter (35-36). Although, despite his prosperity , he displays no compassion for the old man. The young waiter is simply in a hurry to leave the cafe and move on with his life. His youthful happiness has blinded him
The narrator defends the waiter, saying “He did not wish to be unjust. He was only in a hurry” (154). The narrator wants the audience to be aware that the waiter is ignorant and cruel but he is not evil. He is like any other young adult that hates his or her job and wants to go home. The naivety that comes along with the waiter’s age causes him to be unaware and inconsiderate of the old man’s feelings. He socially categorizes the man based off of the three most distinct characteristics he has observed. While the waiter constantly belittles the man for his age, disability, and loneliness, the narrator wants the audience to be aware that the young waiter is a normal person and is not capable of evil