A Clean, Well-Lighted Place response

Author's Note: This is a short response about the story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, by: Ernest Hemingway. I am comparing the two waiters from the story and explaining what the café represents.

     In the short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, by: Ernest Hemingway there are two waiters at a café that is open until 3 in the morning. There is a younger waiter who wants to get home as early as possible because he complains that his wife is waiting in bed for him and he states that 3 AM is a terrible hour to go to sleep. The older waiter understands what the old man at the café is thinking. He knows what it is like to want to stay up all night at a clean well-lighted place. The old man doesn't want to be alone in the dark, he wants to have people around him and feel secure.

     In this story I think that the young waiter symbolizes society now, and the old man and old waiter symbolize society as it should or used to be. Now society rushes through life always trying to get onto the next thing in their life, but society should just wait and take a moment to observe the beauty of what's around them. The café symbolizes everything wonderful about the world, or the things that society doesn't stop and think about. The young waiter wants to leave and get on with his life, while the older waiter understands that the old man wants to stay late at the café and adore the beauty, while staying out of the dark.

Mildred's Thoughts

Mildred’s Thoughts

In the book Fahrenheit 451, by: Ray Bradbury Guy Montag’s wife, Mildred is one of the most intriguing characters. Sometimes she just goes with the flow, but other times she acts like she knows what’s going on around her. When Mildred is surrounded by people who don’t think and just do what the government wants, she acts like one of them. When she is by herself she knows that she must get out of the terrible dystopian world in Fahrenheit 451.

In the beginning of the book Guy finds an empty bottle of sleeping pills near Mildred’s bed. Since she had recently been having trouble sleeping she was supposed to take 1 pill each night. However, she takes all 30 of the pills in one night. The next morning Mildred calmly tells Guy, “Didn’t sleep well. Feel terrible, god I’m hungry. I can’t figure it.” (18). When Mildred said this you can tell that she was trying to figure out what to tell Guy.  Then, after Guy asks her what she remembered from last night and she said, “What? Did we have a wild party or something? Feel like I’ve a hangover. God I’m hungry. Who was here?” (19). Mildred is trying to convince Guy that she doesn’t know what happened the night before. Additionally her thoughts are scattered, and you can tell that she isn’t sure what to say. Mildred symbolizes how this dystopian society lives, in fear of the government.

Another example of Mildred being unengaged and not thinking is when Guy comes home from work on page 49. He lays down on the couch and starts talking to Mildred about the day. He isn’t felling well and while Mildred goes to get him an aspirin he vomits on the rug. Immediately after he tells her, “We burnt an old woman with her books,” (49). Mildred, being the dumb citizen that she is states, “Well it’s a good thing the rug’s washable” (49). This just goes to show how the citizens are completely oblivious to the outside world.

Mildred is a very interesting character to say the least. She acts two different ways throughout the book. Sometimes acts like a normal person would. Other times she acts like a normal person in this dystopian society.