This is an abbreviated sample of a typical research paper for English 1302.

(Part 1 Cover Page)

Nada y Pues Nada: Hemingway’s “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”

(Your Title)

by

Robert D. Young

(Your Name)

Instructor- Dr Young

English 1302

23 January, 2006

(Part 2 Outline)

Outline

Introduction

1)      Introduce the work—“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1933.

2)      Give background- History, relation to other works, etc.

3)      Brief Summary of story.

4)      State the thesis.  The story reflects Hemingway’s view that we all need a secure, clean, well-lighted place to stave off the chaos of the world.

I. Plot

1)      (Topic sentence)- The plot of the story is in chronological order.

(1)    Support from the work.

(2)    Your opinions.

(3)    Evidence from research (for research paper only)..

II. Characters

2)      (Topic sentence)- There are three major characters in the story.

(1) The major character is the older waiter.

(1)    support from the work

(2)    your opinions

(3)    Evidence from research.

       (2) The younger waiter is in contrast to the older waiter.

(1).support from the work.

(2) your opinions

(3)Evidence from research

(3) At the center of the story is the old man.

                       (1)support from the work.

                       (2)Your opinions

                       (3)Evidence from research

III. Point of View

1)      The point of view is third person limited to the older waiter. (Why is this important to the story?)

(1)    support from the work.

(2)    Your opinions

(3)    Evidence from research.

IV. Setting

1)      The story is set in Spain around 1930.  (Why is this important?)

(1)    support from the work.

(2)    Your opinions

(3)    Evidence from research.

V. Theme

1)      The major theme of the story is that we all need a secure place against the chaos of the world.

(1)    support from the work.

(2)    Your opinions.

(3)    Evidence from research.

VI. Symbols

1)      The major symbol of the story is the clean, well-lighted café itself.

(1)    support from the work.

(2)    Your opinions

(3)    Evidence from research.

Conclusion

1)      (restatement of thesis)- Hemingway uses the various aspects of the  story to show that all people need a place to get away from the chaos of the world.

(1)    Summary of major points of essay.

(2)    Evaluation of style.

(3)    Overall evaluation of the work.

(4)    Final summation.

(Part 3 TEXT)

 Nada y pues nada

            “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1933. The short story is apart from the major body of Hemingway’s work in that it is the most obviously philosophical. The story deals openly with the existential view subscribed to after WWI. On the other hand, the theme of the importance of having a bastion against the chaos of the rest of the world is consistent with Hemingway in his other works.

In this story an old man sits at a table at a sidewalk café in Spain drinking brandy. He is deaf, but he enjoys the atmosphere and watching the people pass on the street. Through the dialogue of the two waiters in the café, one young and one older, we find that recently the old man tried to kill himself. The younger waiter is impatient with the old man because it is getting late, and he wants to get home to his family. The older waiter is more sympathetic with the old man’s plight, and by the end of the story, we see that the older waiter also searches for a clean, well-lighted café to spend his late evenings. The story reflects Hemingway’s view that we all need a secure, clean, well-lighted place to stave off the chaos of the world.

The plot of the story is in chronological order beginning with the old man sitting at the table in the café and ending with the older waiter looking for his clean, well-lighted place.

There are three characters in the story. The older waiter becomes the key figure in the story because the focus of the point of view moves to him. Early in the story we find that he is more forgiving of the old man, and by the end we see that he too enjoys a drink at a nice bar. The younger waiter is intolerant of the old man, and his ignorance is shown by him saying, “he has plenty of money,” so why would he want to kill himself. (Hemingway, 268) The young waiter thinks only of himself and getting home to his family. Finally, there is the old man. We learn what we come to know of him through the dialogue of the two waiters. He is deaf, enjoys drinking at the café, has some money, and tried to commit suicide.

The point of view is third person objective in the beginning, but the focus eventually changes to focus on the older waiter. As the story starts out, we listen to the dialogue between the two waiters, but then later we are inside the head of the older waiter and we come to understand why he is more tolerant of the old man. He too suffers from insomnia.

The story is set in Spain probably in about 1930, but the time and place don’t really matter other than the unique aspect of the sidewalk cafe to Spain and Europe. The story could happen today anywhere in the world with only a few changes.

The major theme of the story is that we all need a secure place against the chaos of the world. This is a place in which we are comfortable, and the world cannot intrude. After WWI, many people lost faith in God because they felt he had allowed the destruction and killing in the war. They had to replace this loss with something. Hemingway replaced it with a dedication to work and a pursuit of experience. In this story, the clean, well-lighted café becomes a metaphor for that place.

The major symbol of the story is the café itself. “It must be clean and pleasant,” as opposed to the bars and bodegas. The order of the café is opposed to the chaos of the outside world.

Hemingway uses the various aspects of this story to show that people need a place to get away from the chaos of the world. He uses the young waiter and older waiter to show that we become more aware of this need as we become older. Even though this story may not be as enjoyable to read as some of Hemingway’s stories on lighter subjects, it makes one think about an approach to life if there really is nothing out there. Nada y pues nada.

(Part 4- Works Cited papge) 

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. “A Clean Well Lighted Place.”  Literature Eds. Laurie Kirszner and

          Stephen Mandell. Boston: Heinle, 2004. pp.267-270.