The old man, who we will call the "Gentleman,"-- to keep the confusion minimal between the old man and the old waiter -- in "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" cannot be happy without his wife. The two waiters represent the Gentleman's battle of his inner consciousness. The waiters portray the demons of the Gentleman's personal heaven and hell. We recognize this by Hemingway's use of characterization. Hemingway never identifies a particular part to the extended dialogue, because ultimately it is one stream of consciousness (the Gentleman's). This reveals everything is nothing to the old man; though he has money now (everything) he has lost his wife (nothing).

The Gentleman experiences purgatory, in a spiritual sense, on Earth through the waiters. The waiters - young and old - represent a part of the Gentleman. The young waiter represents the Gentleman in his youth by having confidence and inexperience. The old waiter is just coming out of middle age and even though the old waiter is poor he still understands that the money doesn't matter. Also, the Gentleman can relate to the old waiter because he doesn't believe money is significant either. So, the more the old man drinks th

This quote/prayer shows the reader the Gentleman has given up. He has nothing to feel good about, no faith to follow, and is basically lost in every day life. Also, the old waiter gives another prayer says, "Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee." He now tells us that there is nothing to be ashamed of or feel bad about. He has nothing. This brings us back to the point about everything versus nothing. Ironically, he is giving this speech while in the bodegas (hell) and since he is in hell and praying it seems odd. So, because the Gentleman gives these two prayer speeches we can understand his pain and suffering. We can understand why he would take the old waiter, who he best relates to, and be happy with that decision.

The Gentleman's hell is shown through the old waiter. The old waiter would rather go to the bodegas, which is hell, than go home. The old waiter is the inner side of the Gentleman that the Gentleman doesn't want, but accepts the position he is in. So, we start to see where the Gentleman is leaning towards. The old waiter would rather go to the bodegas because he has no wife or significant reason to go home and the Gentlemen agreed. Also, it was stated in the text "the Gentleman tried to commit suicide by hanging himself". He was tired of suffering, because of not having his wife. Then we see the "Nada" speech that includes two prayers. One was the Lords prayer and when putting "nada" in the text tells us that the Gentleman had nothing to feel good about. The other was Hail Mary, which is only seen in Catholicism and all religions have a Lords prayer but Catholicism. He also feels that there is nothing to feel bad about. Basically, there is nothing left in life but death. So, if the Gentleman tried to commit suicide and talks of Hail Marys meaning nothing to him then we come to believe the Gentleman is looking for a way out even if it is the easy one, hell. We know he will go to hell because of the Catholic slurs.

Purgatory is a place or state of temporary suffering

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hail Marys, Clean Well-Lighted, Gentleman Gentleman, Actually Gentleman, Heaven Hell, Hail Mary, Roman Catholic, CLEAN WELL-LIGHTED, nada nada, Miriam-Webster Dictionary, nada nada nada, waiter waiter, gentleman's personal, personal heaven, home wife, waiter gentleman, nada speech, gentleman waiter, bodegas hell, lords prayer, gentleman's personal heaven, nada nadas nada, prayers lords prayer, shown waiter waiter,
Approximate Word count = 1371
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)