The Darkness in the Light

Author's Note: This piece answers the question, "How does Hemingway use light and dark as symbols? How do the shadows fit in?".

I think that in the story, “A Clean, Well-lighted Place”, light and dark symbolize the happy and the sad, the good and the bad, the living and the dead.  The story reads, “It was very late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made…”, the old man sits in the shadows.  He doesn’t want to be noticed, nor does he want to stand out; just blend in.  Often times, sitting in the shadows or the dark means that you are trying to go unnoticed, trying to sit in solitude, or just wither where no one can see you.  The old man goes to the café because it is his light, his safe place, but he sits in the shadows because he is so lonely and so depressed.