Hemingway’s influence on his generation is undeniable, but the question of whether he truly was a modernist is still being debated. In this article, I will argue Hemingway as a modernist through an analysis of the language, themes, and narration in his short-story “A Clean, Lighted Place”. The story is about a young and old waiter contemplating the nothingness in life. The language used by “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, which is a short story, is simplistic and overly brief. Except for a few narrative sections, such as the introduction of the setting and the interior monologue of the older waiter at the end of the book. In the majority of sentences, direct speech is used, as in “He felt despair.” “What? ” “Nothing.”.” As the reader can see, this dialogue is direct and without adjectives. Hemingway would also say “You ought to have killed yourselves last week,” as he addressed the deaf-mute. A statement like that is normally followed by “he acted cruelly or in spite”, but Hemingway presents it not as callous but instead, as something one might say every day. There are no descriptive words used except in reference to the settings or characters. Yet, Hemingway uses them as journalistic language that presents things exactly as they appear, without any hidden meanings. It’s well lit. The leaves have shadows now. The description of the man’s age, his deafness, his drunkenness, and his suicidal thoughts is perhaps the most striking example. Hemingway had a theory called the “Iceberg Theory” whereby he would limit the amount of information given to his readers. Hemingway did this by only giving the necessary details. It is important to note that the theme of “Nothing” is one of the central themes of this story. Hemingway uses vague pronouns to describe the nothingness that the waiter was contemplating. He never clarifies to whom and what the pronouns refer.
The reader will have to do the interpretation of what they think or see into “nothing”. Hemingway’s modernist writing is characterized by the fact that he uses no words to switch scenes or to indicate the passage in time. He instead leaves it to his readers to track the story?s pace and to know what is happening. In the story, the young waiter only has a few words with the older one before the older man requests another brandy. Hemingway doesn’t suggest that the man drank the brandy fast. The old man actually stays at the cafe for quite a while. While the pace of the story might seem fast, in reality it is much slower than that.
The concept of nothingness runs through the entire story and is indicative of a meaningless and empty life for both the older man and waiter. Both men fear loneliness, hopelessness and “nada” and view the cafe (Spanish: nothing) as a safe haven from the lonely and dark night. The cafe, with its bright lights and cleanliness, is their only refuge from the dark and the loneliness. “This is an attractive and clean cafe,” says the old waiter. It’s well lit. The light is good …”,. This can be taken to mean that the cafe’s light chases away their emotional darkness. The light that brings them some comfort is temporary.
Hemingway also uses isolation as a way to express “nada”. In the story we see the image of “an old man who sat on the ground in the shade” of a tree. The repeated key words, such as “the oldman sitting in his shadow”, imply the depths to which the oldman suffers from loneliness and the intensity of separation he feels from others. Deafness of the man can be expanded to include his isolation from the world, which is interpreted by the reader as living in a deserted isle. Modernism is often associated these themes because the First World War saw man’s destruction and chaos.
The Narrative Authority is also important to modernism. The third-person narrative is told by a distant narrator with implicit omniscience. The reader is given hints as to what is going on, such as the fact that the older man “felt it” when there is silence and that the young waiter wasn’t really the bad guy. The narrator was only in hurry. He only speaks when he wants clarification on who is speaking. “Last year, he had attempted suicide,” a waiter told him.
As this analyzation demonstrates, Hemingway shows a clear illustration of the characteristics and traits of modernism. Isolation and loss are a result of the wartime experience, followed by the aftermath. These elements eventually lead to the idea of Existentialism. In this case it is nothingness. Hemingway has also switched from an objective to an internal monologue. James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and many others have used the same technique. This technique is also used by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.