The short story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” described a dialogue which is happened in a small café in Spain。 Two waiters are discussing their last customer--an old deaf man, drunk and seemingly peaceful。 He is a regular at the café and drinking alone in the shadow of a tree。 The young waiter tells the old waiter that the old man attempted suicide last week。 After the waiters watch a girl and a soldier hang on the street, the young waiter serves the old man another brandy and voices his impatience to the old waiter, complaining that the old man is keeping him from his warm bed with his wife。 Then they discuss the possible reasons for the old man’s suicide。 When the old man gestures for another brandy, the young waiter told the old man that it is closing time。 After the old man pays his bill and leaves the café, the old waiter rebukes the young waiter for his impatience and expresses his sympathy to the old man。 He compares himself to the old man, saying he understands the need for a clean and well –lighted place to be at night 。After that, the old waiter goes to a bar for a drink, because he dreads to return to his empty room, but he does not like the dirty place。 He goes home with a complicated mood at last。 

When referring to Hemingway, he is always associated with the nihilism。 “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is a typical story with nihilism。 In this short story, the old man is obsessed by the troubles of real world, so he goes to the small bar every day to escape from nihilism。 The old waiter also wants to find a clean and well-lighted place to get rid of nihilism and comfort his soul; however, he has no place to go to but to lie on his bed enduring the spiritual suffering。 Compared with the two old men, the young waiter is concerned more about material than spirit, so the young man is lost in the pursuit of material need。 

The paper is pided into five sections。 The first section introduces the background of the author and the novel and the content of this paper。 The second section gives a literature review on this topic。 The third section gives a brief introduction to existentialism and nihilism。 The fourth section provides an interpretation of nihilism in “A Clean, Well-Lighted place” from three aspects of existentialism: awareness of death, absurd world and attitude towards existence。 Finally, the paper concludes with an overall illustration of the topic。

2。 Literature Review 

For a long time, many researchers and writers have done a lot of studies on both Hemingway and his works。 Most works and books are about the theme of Hemingway’s works, such as nothingness, death, lost generation and “tough guy” images。 And some papers are about Hemingway’s writing style, such as his iceberg theory。 What readers usually see is one eighth part of the content that he wants to convey to others, leaving about seven eighth of the content a mystery。 Some focus on his anti-war attitudes, taking him as the representative of the “lost generation”。 When researching his anti-war attitudes, most researchers would refer to his work: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls。

Li Xiaojin, a professor in Chongqing Normal University, had a study about four symbols in “A Clean, and Well-lighted Place”。 The first symbol is “A Clean, and Well-lighted Place”, which not only refers to the café that two waiters works in。, but also a safety place in their inner world。 The second symbol is Brandy。 The old man tries many ways to forget his sadness。 No matter how rich he is, he cannot find the confidence and hope for his life since his youth will never come back。 The alcohol can help him live simply in his dignity。 The third symbol is the shadow of the leaves。 Sitting in the shadow of the leaves, the old man feels safe and peaceful without any outside disturbance。 It is another retreat for him。 The last symbol is the word nothingness。 In the old man and the old waiter’s eyes, the materials that the young man pursues are just nothingness and meaninglessness。 Only this clean and well-lighted place can show the respect for their dignity。 The author Li thinks that the purpose of this article is to stress the importance of light in one’s soul。 When the world becomes disordered and people feel hopeless, everyone needs to fight against the terrible spiritual crisis and find the courage to live。 (Li 69)