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The old waiter, the story’s protagonist, is the older of two waiters at a clean, well-lighted café. Hemingway depicts the old waiter as kind, dignified, and wise in his belief that, since life is meaningless, one must prioritize being comfortable and dignified above all else. Because the old waiter understands the importance of small pleasures, he is sympathetic toward an old drunk who likes to stay up late drinking at his café. While the younger waiter hurries to get home, the older waiter is unrushed; he doesn’t want to be anywhere else because he recognizes that lingering at the café is a pleasure. The old waiter is shown to be empathetic, since he carefully considers what led the old drunk to attempt suicide the week before, imagining what it must be like to be 80 and without a wife. He decides that “nothing” was the cause for the attempted suicide—life’s meaninglessness, in other words. He then recites a version of the Lord’s Prayer that replaces many words with “nada,” suggesting that he, too, thinks there is no reason for anything. The old waiter’s own actions mirror the old man’s; when he goes for a drink at the nearby bar after his shift, for example, he quickly leaves because its shabbiness fails to provide him with the atmosphere necessary to feel comfortable and dignified, which are his priorities in life.
Old Waiter Quotes in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
The A Clean, Well-Lighted Place quotes below are all either spoken by Old Waiter or refer to Old Waiter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Quotes
“Last week he tried to commit suicide,” one waiter said.
“Why?”
“Because he was in despair.”
“About what?”
“Nothing.”
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“I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?”
“He stays up because he likes it.”
“He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.”
“He had a wife once too.”
“A wife would be no good to him now.”
“You can’t tell. He might be better with a wife.”
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“I wouldn’t want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing.”
“Not always. This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. Look at him."
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The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.
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“What is an hour?”
“More to me than to him.”
“An hour is the same.”
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“You have youth, confidence, and a job,” the old waiter said. “You have everything.”
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Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada and our daily nada and nada us our nada as nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.
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Get the entire A Clean, Well-Lighted Place LitChart as a printable PDF.
Old Waiter Quotes in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
The A Clean, Well-Lighted Place quotes below are all either spoken by Old Waiter or refer to Old Waiter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Quotes
“Last week he tried to commit suicide,” one waiter said.
“Why?”
“Because he was in despair.”
“About what?”
“Nothing.”
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?”
“He stays up because he likes it.”
“He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.”
“He had a wife once too.”
“A wife would be no good to him now.”
“You can’t tell. He might be better with a wife.”
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“I wouldn’t want to be that old. An old man is a nasty thing.”
“Not always. This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. Look at him."
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The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.
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“What is an hour?”
“More to me than to him.”
“An hour is the same.”
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“You have youth, confidence, and a job,” the old waiter said. “You have everything.”
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Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada and our daily nada and nada us our nada as nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee.
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