Contrast between the two waiters in Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
...mpanion waiting for him at home. The older waiter’s lifestyle was in despair. In addition to the lifestyle of the older waiter, he knew that the cafe was for lonely men like him who could not sleep at night. The older waiter in the café knew what the old man was going through. "He stays up because he likes it. He's lonely. He had a wife once" (Page 176). The older waiter probably had seen himself in the old man’s shoes. He did not have a wife, and he was alone. In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” the younger waiter’s lifestyle was not a lonely one. “I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me” (Page 176). The younger waiter has a good relationship with his wife, and he is happy to go home to her. He waiter had someone to care for him. He was not in misery, and he did not have to hang out all night at the café. The younger waiter enjoyed his life. In the story the two waiters had differences in their attitude toward the old man. The older waiter’s attitude toward the old man was understandable. He knew the old man had problems in his life. The older waiter cared about the old man getting home. “The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity” (Page 176). The older waiter saw the old man had good self-esteem. He saw that the old man did not let his drinking stop him from going where he needed to go; however the younger waiter was not as understanding. The younger waiter’s attitude showed that he did not understand what was going on with the old man. He can not relate to not understand the older waiter and the old man’s point of view. The younger waiter is not sympathetic toward the old man. “You shoul...