“Nada” in Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-lighted Place

劉鈺瑩

【Abstract】The short story A Clean， Well-lighted Place develops through the dialogue between a young waiter and an elder one. The idea of “nada”， which means nothingness， runs through the whole story. In this essay， the author discusses the meaning of “nada” in this novel from the perspective of the lost generation.

【Key words】nothingness; traditional values; death; lost generation; existentialism

As a representative figure of the lost generation， Ernest Hemingway depicted in his famous short novel A Clean Well-lighted Place a deaf old man who suffers from loneliness and despair and indulges himself in alcohol in a café late in the midnight. The novel develops through the dialogue between a young waiter and an elder one. The idea of “nada”， which means nothingness， runs through the whole novel. In this essay， I will discuss the meaning of “nada” in this novel from the perspective of the lost generation.

The lost generation refers to the generation that came of age during World War I. In Hemingways memoir A Moveable Feast， he writes that this term is coined by Gertrude Stein by proclaiming that ““All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation” （29）. Wounded both physically and mentally by the unprecedented brutality of the war， people of this generation tend to act aimlessly and recklessly to search for the meaning of life in a changed world， feeling adrift by the loss of the traditional values. The lost generation include many American literary notables who live in Europe after World War I， such as Ernest Hemingway， F. Scott Fitzgerald， Ezra Pound etc. Many literary works of these writers are greatly influenced by the war with a theme of struggling with nothingness.

“Death is the great nada”， said Robert Penn Warren （7）. The lost generation is familiar with death， for they have seen millions of death in the battlefield of World War I. Regardless their race， age and religion， the soldiers are killed， being wiped out of the existing world by guns and bombs in a minute and suddenly nothing can be done to them. Then people realize that the essence of death is to stop existing. When one dies， all his achievements， wealth， or sufferings become meaningless. The existentialist philosopher Doreen M. Tulloch points out that “being is mere facticity， and what is not being is ‘nothing”（40）. Thus， death is the opposite to being and existing. In A Clean Well-lighted Place， both the old man and the elder waiter have passed through their youth and will soon face their death， which is a dreadful unknown state of endless darkness and nothingness. From Hemingways experience to serve in the World War I， we can assume that the deaf old man is a retired veteran who loses his hearing in the battlefield. Although he is fortunate to survive in the war where he witness many of his comrades death， he will eventually face his own death of age. In such a situation， all his money and past experience become useless and he will inevitably stop existing in this world. Therefore， despite his richness， the old man is in despair. Foreseeing his future the same as the old man， the elder waiter understand the old mans despair and choose to shelter those who would like to stay late at the café. It is ironic that although the young waiter is full of confidence and still has youth， he will lose them one day and face the death himself， finding himself in the same situation with the old man who he temporarily dislike and is unsympathetic to. In this way， everybody in this world， whether confident or depressed， rich or poor， will finally meet a state of nothingness which is death.

Although death is a kind of great nada， the living people have to face another form of nothingness， which is the loss of traditional values and the spiritual barrenness. According to Robert Longley， “Many young men eagerly [enter] World War I still believing combat to be more of a chivalrous， even glamorous pastime than an inhumane struggle for survival”. They take part in the war with patriotism， courage and masculinity， believing in the honor of their fighting as a soldier， the rightness of their morality and their physical strength to defeat the enemy. However， the astonishing death toll of more than 18 million people， including 6 million civilians， shatters their illusion of traditional world. The military machine kills young healthy human beings like slaughtering lambs. The overwhelming power of guns and bombs， the uncertainty of death and the chaos on the battlefield deprive this generation of people of all the hope， love and faith. The nothingness of the traditional values， such as morality， intelligence and interpersonal relationship， turns the battlefield become a brutal place of inhumane struggle for survival. According to Marc Dolan， along with the spiritual emptiness， “technological innovation and the expansion of the consumer-oriented aspects of the economy” after the war lead people to materialism （50）. Without the discipline of an effective value system， people in the post war years tend to give priority to the wealth accumulation and satisfaction of personal desire. Robert Penn Warrens explains the situation that， “if there is at center only nada， then the only sure compensation in life， the only reality， is gratification of appetite， the relish of sensation” （8）. Thus， suffering from the nothingness of traditional value system， people in the lost generation tend to seek happiness through money and physical satisfaction， regardless of the social morality and interpersonal relationship. This idea of materialism appear in many literary works of the lost generation. From this novel， we can see that in the pursuit for material wealth， laws can be broken and the fidelity of love no longer exists， which shows the barrenness of peoples spiritual world at that time. In Hemingways A clean， Well-lighted Place， the old man is the very victim of spiritual emptiness. He has plenty of money， but the material wealth cannot save him from the despair of the emptiness of his spiritual world， so that he can only ease his spiritual pain through alcohol and he even tries to commit suicide. With no friend， children or wife， he feels lonely and isolated from this world. He was even cursed by the young waiter for his staying late over the closing time of the café. The world for him is no longer the warm place before， where people have warm and close relationship with each other. Maybe his hearing was destroyed in the machine of war， but his heart is injured in the cold machine of the material society. The lack of value system and discipline is also showed through a soldier going by the street with a girl with no head covering （possibly a prostitute） during the curfew. Regardless of the regulation in the army and the social moral standard， the soldier seeks sexual satisfaction to compensate the emptiness in his heart due to the shattered traditional values such as patriotism， courage and honor.

This novel of Hemingway reflects some idea of existentialism. According to Doreen M. Tulloch， existentialism means that “the world in itself has no meaning or purpose or finality; it exists as sheer contingency; it is， in fact， fundamentally meaningless in itself” （38）. It means that all the aims and plans are meaningless in itself and human beings come into this world out of contingency. So one must look to his or her own action to create meaning. In A Clean， Well-lighted Place， the old man makes his effort to seek meaning through the light and order in a café to fight against the nothingness in his life. Also， the elder waiter searches his meaning by providing shelters for those who need a light in the night， who want to stay late in the café. Although the nothingness is so overwhelmingly depressing， they havent given up their effort to fight against it and to keep their dignity.

A Clean， Well-lighted Place is a masterpiece of Ernest Hemingway for his presentation of the spiritual uncertainty and confusion of the lost generation. Although both the old man and the elder waiter are lonely and depressed by the nada in their life， they are still holding on to their dignity by staying in a cleaning， well-lighted place. In this sense， the lost generation hasnt been defeated.

References：

[1]Dolan， Marc. The （Hi）Story of Their Lives： Mythic Autobiography and“The Lost Generation”[J]. Journal of American Studies，vol.27， no.1，1993：35-56.

[2]Hemingway Ernest， A Moveable Feast[J]. New York： Touchstone Books，1996.

[3]Longley， Robert. The Lost Generation and the Writers Who Described Their World[OL]. ThoughtCo.Oct，23，2018.www.thoughtco.com/the-lost-generation-4159302.

[4]Tulloch， Doreen M. Sartrian Existentialism[J]. The Philosophical Quarterly（1950-），vol.2，no.6，1952：31-52.

[5]Warren， Robert Penn. Hemingway[J]. The Kenyon Review，vol.9，no. 1，1947：1-28.