Hemingways A Clean Well-Lighted Place Essay - 1552 Words

I chose to read and write about Hemingways A Clean Well-Lighted Place. Here is a summary of what happens. Two waiters in a Spanish cafà © are waiting one night for their last customer, an old man, to leave. As they wait, they talk about the old mans recent suicide attempt. The younger waiter is impatient to leave and tells the dead old man he wishes the suicide attempt had been successful. The young waiter has a wife waiting in bed for him and is unsympathetic when the older waiter says that the old man once had a wife. The old man finally leaves when the younger waiter refuses to serve him anymore. The older waiter argues that they should have allowed their customer to stay, that being in the cafà © is not the same as†¦show more content†¦The old man reminded me of a usual old man that has nothing to do besides sit around and get drunk. I liked how Hemingway used an age gap between characters, to show a difference in the way they acted. Its like it showed the evolutionary path that happens. First youre an impatient young man, and then you grow older and slow down to appreciate life. Finally youre old enough where life doesnt matter. You can see things like this in real life. When you are younger, say teens to early twenties, people tend to try to act superior or invincible. The world evolves around them. Just like the young waiter, in the story, young people are impatient. Especially just waiting for some old man. The young waiter doesnt want to wait; he has more important things to do. Hes tired, his wifes in bed, getting this old man to leave. His entire motivations have to do with himself. He doesnt see the old man as anything as an obstacle. He doesnt see him as a person. He wished him dead. The older waiter sees it much different. He has been around and understands that all the old man wants is a clean well-lighted place to drink his bra ndy. He knows the difference between and nice cafà © and some old bodega. This reminds me of how separated olderShow MoreRelated Yearning for Peace in Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place 1190 Words   |  5 PagesYearning for Peace in Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚         While Hemingways short story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is usually interpreted as an intensely poetic description of despair, it can with equal validity be seen instead as mankinds never ending yearning to find spiritual peace. Hemingways short story displayed this emotional journey in many different ways. First, the title itself is a symbol for mans desire to find a state of tranquillity, safety, and comfort. HemingwayRead MoreSymbolism In Ernest Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place1048 Words   |  5 PagesLife in a Lonely World In Ernest Hemingway’s story, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† the meaning could be takin in diverse way depending on how you see the story. 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The Double-Fold Oppression Of Intersectionality. The American

The Double-Fold Oppression of Intersectionality The American nation has long served as a battlefield for whites and their social norms versus African Americans and their native cultures. Although successful in previous years in acquiring basic civil rights, the early 20th century signified the African American downfall as their white foes discovered a new source of perilous power. From the early to mid-1900s, white backlash increased with the passing of legislature to segregate blacks, most prominently the Jim Crow Laws in the South. Throughout this period of black isolation, literature arose seeking to reveal African American oppression as well as to formulate an explanation for its deep roots in American society, especially works by†¦show more content†¦The harsh treatment towards blacks is explicit through the ease at which whites declare black crimes. Sophia, a black woman in the text, is put in jail merely for sassing Miss Millie, the mayor’s wife, after it is requested that she become her maid. The â€Å"sas sing† that Sophia conducts is referencing her blunt reply of â€Å"hell no† to Miss Millie (Walker 68). Sophia is brutally beaten by the mayor and six policemen, terminating in imprisonment. When Celie visits Sophia in jail, she is surprised that she is still alive: â€Å"They crack her skull, they crack her ribs. They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye† †¦ â€Å"She can’t talk. And she just about the color of a eggplant† (Walker 86-87). The inhuman treatment of Sophia for the mere repetition of a two-word phrase and fighting back after she is slapped, clearly represents the racial tension thriving bare on the fields of Georgia. As described by literary critic Trudier Harris, â€Å"Sophia must eventually suppress most of the traits that make her an interesting character, turning from vibrancy to somnambulism† (Harris 64). Furthermore, the power and influence of white ideology on society is evident through its mani pulation of the youth. One day, Sofia is instructed to watch Miss Millie’s children play ball. At one point during the game, the ball rolls across the yard until resting under Sofia’s foot. Miss Millie’s son demands that Sophia hand over the ball and continues to complain after she

Margaret atwoods rape fantasies Essay Example For Students

Margaret atwoods rape fantasies Essay The plot of Rape Fantasies by Margaret Atwood is all within the mind of Estelle, who talks to the reader as she might to a new friend. Estelle’s personality becomes exposed to us through the narration of her fantasies and lunchtime work experiences. We are told of Estelle’s workplace where she is with her friends discussing their rape fantasies. Examining Estelle’s world through her perspective of the conversation, we find she is a game player both outwardly in playing bridge and in her relationship with herself. â€Å"I like to guess a person’s age and then look it up to see if I’m right. I let myself have an extra pack of cigarettes if I am.† (31). This example of Estelle’s competitiveness is expressed in three other ways in the story. First, in her critical interpretation of Greta’s and Chrissey’s fantasies. Estelle says to her friend/reader that she is aware that Greta’s fantasy rapist came from a show that they both had seen and also compares him to Tarzan in a satirical, humorous way. Her comment to Chrissey’s bubble bath fantasy, â€Å"Anyway you might get bubbles up your nose from all the heavy breathing,† (32) appears to cause the other four wo men to become offended. Second, her thoughts and words will sometimes cut short the words of her co-workers as in this example: â€Å"Sondra was miffed too, by this time she finished her celery and she wanted to tell about hers, but she hadn’t got in fast enough. ‘All right, let me tell you one,’ I said.† (32). Third, this sort of personality domination is also seen in Estelle’s rape fantasies themselves. In almost every fantasy that Estelle reveals to us, she overcomes the rapist with her cool head and creative thinking; otherwise, she mentions physical attacks or force. Her first fantasy describes how she tricks the rapist into helping her squirt lemon juice in his eye. Then she tells us of the poor man who could not unzip his pants and was saved by Estelle from suicide by her kindness and sentimental understanding. In her third fantasy, Estelle helps a man with a bad cold who breaks into her apartment to rape her. She gives him Kleenex, Neo-Citra n and scotch and they watch the Late Show together. The next fantasy involves a man in her mother’s basement with an axe, but she tells him,I hear the same angel voices and they’ve been telling me for some time that I’m going to give birth to the reincarnation of St. Anne who in turn has the Virgin Mary and right after that comes Jesus Christ and the end of the world, and he wouldn’t want to interfere with that, would he? (35). This sends him back up the coal shoot. Then she briefly fantasizes about a number of potential rape situations where she hurts or physically overpowers her assailant, but quickly returns to less threatening possibilities. Her last fantasy is, in Estelle’s words, â€Å"the most touching†¦ and kind of dignified† (pg. 35) rape fantasy where she is dying of leukemia and is grabbed by a man in the same condition. She woos him and they move into an apartment where they die together. Estelle likes power; she is not helpless in her fantasies. Her fantasies of being a Kung-Fu expert demonstrate her wish for control over her body and her safety. Estelle can outwit, confuse, and fool her fantasy rapists; in fact she hopes she is not too vicious to them. By calmly listening to her rapists or starting a conversation with them, she attempts to assert herself. She can relate to and give advice to her rapists. They can even watch the late show together. Truly, Estelle’s rapists are as unrealistically obliging and polite as her coworkers’ rapists were romantically accommodating. These fantasy men are definite failures at raping Estelle, but they are more successful at having a relationship with a woman than the â€Å"successful† rapists. Ironically, the men even leave her feeling sorry for their unsuccessful attempts at rape. For example, Estelle mentions one rapist who gets his zipper stuck as he starts to undo himself and begins to cry, at â€Å"one of the most significant moments in a girl’s life,