Composition

Article Writing

Student’s Name: Daysi Fernandez

John, V. (1964). Tidying Up Hemingway’s Clean Well-Lighted Place,Studies in Short Fiction, 1, p. 140-146

In Ernest Hemingway's short story, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, an elderly man sits in the wee hours of the morning, drinking one brandy after another. Two waiters on shift serve him and talk about him while he sips his brandy at the lonely table. They talk about his drinking habits and his personal life. From their conversations, we get to know that the old man tried to commit suicide a week ago but was saved by his niece who cut down the rope. The younger waiter loses patience with the old man and refuses to serve him brandy. The older waiter who is watching from a distance asks the younger waiter to be patient to allow the old man to stay longer but the younger waiter is adamant in making sure the old man leaves. Once the old man pays the bill and leaves, the older waiter criticizes the younger waiter for his lack of sympathy with the old man. The younger waiter closes the cafe and goes home to his wife whom he persists is waiting for him in bed while the older waiter checks into a bar for a drink before heading home.

The quality of a scholarly article is evaluated on the basis of its accuracy, robustness, transparency, availability and unbiasedness. The Eigenfactor fundamentally measures the relative frequency of occurrence of each journal in the network of citations, and applies this as a measure of prestige. It automatically excludes journal self-citations unlike most other indicators. The article has applied citation to track performance with the sources of citation data derived from the original short story, 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.’ Originally published in 1933, the short story portrays elements of nilihism, famous with the modernist texts of that period. Dictated adversely by Friedrich Nietzsche, nihilism is a philosophy that calls into question the meaning of all things and even doubts the existence of meaning at all. Modern scholars confronted this doubt in diverse ways. In this story, Hemingway expresses the nihilistic doubt by regularly using the terminologies ‘nothing’ and ‘nada.’

The themes discussed in the article are relevant to the real world. The author depicts a dillusioning real life situation in which the characters address the unpredictability of existance, the fading of happiness and the universality of human suffering. The old man seems frail and dejected in life. He is facing loneliness and advancing death, which even money cannot prevent. The young waiter represents the materialism and insensibility of the youth. The old waiter symbolizes the perspective and wisdom of age, which is demonstrated by attempting to understand the possible reasons behind the old man's profound despair and alleged suicide attempt.

Every human being must face loneliness in diverse ways. They do it in distinct ways. Others divert their attention away from the loud silence of loneliness, so they intensively engage on work. Some watch television, others turn to their wives or husbands, pitying those less fortunate, thinking that they will never feel that kind of despair. They do not pause to remember that youth is a temporary stage that they will advance from. For some, pouring brandy into shiny glass while feeling the silence of the night is soothing. Others face loneliness by helping others to face theirs. They strive to provide a clean place with decent light to the needy.

Life is so unpredictable and can change any second. Later on, the old waiter is isolated with his knowledge that all is nothing. He is drinking at a dirty, ragged and unhealthy bar. He cannot achieve even the dignity that the old man at the cafe possessed; he is also sure that he will not sleep. Probably he is suffering from insomnia, but we know better. The old waiter cannot sleep because he is afraid of the darkness, afraid of nothingness. The society will only see the outside and not bother to look at what is on the inside. For example, the young waiter believes if the old man had money then he was immune to universal human suffering and loneliness. Deep inside the man was lonely and attempted suicide. Hemingway himself was a victim of insomnia, felt alone and deserted in the universe.

REFERENCE

Abramo, G., & D’Angelo, C. (2011). Evaluating research: from informed peer review to bibliometric. Scientometrics, 87(3), 499-514.

John, V. (1964). Tidying Up Hemingway’s Clean Well-Lighted Place, Studies in Short Fiction, 1, p. 140-146