3. A Clean Well Lighted Place by Hemingway

Plot, character and setting

A Clean Well Light Place is an exploration of ideas of existentialism and ‘nothingness.’ It takes place late at night at a cafe, where two waiters discuss an old man, who is filled with despair. One of the waiters is keen to get home to his wife, where as the other wants to stay in the bar. It’s a simple story with deep symbolism. The setting is vague, as is the story. The characterisation isn’t overwhelmingly in-depth - the text is primarily thematic. The setting of the story is unclear in terms of time and place. However, one can examine the context of Hemingway at the time and his influences. He was living in Paris, still suffering trauma from World War I. He was influenced by the work of existentialist writers such as Satre, who once wrote on this concept, saying “Life is a useless passion,’ which encapsulates the themes of this short work by Hemingway.  

Literary Analysis

Hemingway explores the idea of nothingness through the characterisation of the older waiter in contrast to the characterisation of the younger waiter in A Clean Well Lit Place. 

Hemingway characterises the old man as lonely, a loneliness brought about by uncertainty on the meaning of life and existence. The man uses the word nada, meaning nothing in Spanish in  his thought process, saying "Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. The relentless repetition of the word nada, creates a sense of delirium and a lack of logic - tying into ideas of lack of purpose. Religious reference undermines basic fabrics of human existence, subverting something familiar and almost a ‘refuge,’ in it’s spiritual support. This is undermining both the prayer and the act of saying it and ties back into ideas of existentialism. 

How does the text reflect an aspect of American culture?

This poem is not reflective of distinct American ideals but rather the attitudes and ideals that criticised them. Hemingway was one of the writers who used existentialism and rather dark themes to counteract the flaws of attitudes such as the American dream. The younger waiter is young and naive, and through his negative depiction of this character - Hemingway is critiquing naivety and he explores the ideals of ‘nothingness,’ The cafe serves as a symbol for light to distract from the darkness, from the nothingness felt by the waiter, which he describes as  'a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too.’ In the repetition of the word nothing, he fixes the idea in the mind of the reader. 

2. A New Leaf by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plot, character and setting

A New Leaf follows Julia Ross - a woman who falls in love. She is charmed by the good looks Dick Ragland - notorious for over drinking in Paris and they have a short lived romance. As Dick  struggles with alcoholism - Julia begins to give up on him. When she finds out he’s had an affair, she breaks up with him. Phil informs Julia that after she broke up with him, Dick is lost at sea, upholding his promise to her and not drinking. This is a blatant lie, Dick continues to go to bars and live a life of michief. Phil and Julia marry. 

A New Leaf was published in the Saturday Evening Post on the 4th of July 1931. The story is set in Paris in the 30s. 

Literary Analysis

Fitzgerald explore character more than he does plot, in A New Leaf. Each character undergoes personal development in some form throughout the text. This contributes to the contour of the narrative in the growth of tension. 

For instance, Julia Ross is painted as superficial and beautiful, she is also discreet and naive- playing well into gender stereotypes. Her meekness comes through in the first few paragraphs of the text, as she sits in the cafe reacting to Dick’s handsome nature, 'She sat there, a well-behaved woman of twenty-one, and discreetly trembled.’ The term ‘well-behaved,’ is diminutive in that it’s usually used to describe children, making her seem young and naive. Julia’s development and journey as a character lies in her conviction that she can ‘fix’ Dick and his alcoholism, and the end of the text she refers to him with the alliterated metaphor, ‘He broke rather then bent,’  likening him to something solid - like an object to describe his mental state, something that can be fixed  

He also explores the theme of idealism - Julia optimistically believes she can fix Dick, and through the failure of this and Dick’s ultimate death, Fitzgerald is critiquing this idealism. Phil, the voice of reason, says to Julia, 'Julia, don't marry Dick. This isn't jealousy--I know when I am licked--but it seems awful for a lovely girl like you to take a blind dive into a lake full of rocks. What makes you think that people change their courses? Sometimes they dry up or even flow into a parallel channel, but I've never known anybody to change.’ The extended metaphor of the ‘lake,’ likens Dick to something still and unmoving, contrary to Julia’s perception of him - this in itself us a criticism, he is undermining her idealism. 

How does the text reflect an aspect of American culture?

This text reflects a distinctly American idealism and superficiality. Illusion is prioritised over reality. Fitzgerald is undermining the idealism throughout the text - Julia is a personification of this American post-war idealistic landscape, she is naive and optimistic. In the ultimate outcome of the story, the death of Dick and Julia’s heart break - Fitzgerald criticises American culture of the time. This plays into criticism of the American dream and the toxicity of obsession with materialism. 

1. Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Plot, character and setting

                                                       

Everyday Use takes place during the 1960’s, centering around the Black Pride movement in which black Americans celebrated their culture and heritage - many wore African apparel adopted African names and learnt African languages. It explores the conflict between a mother and two daughters. The story is narrated by the mother. One of the daughters, Dee, comes to visit. Dee is very political and very much in touch with the Black Pride movement, in comparison to her meek sister - Maggie. The climax of the plot is reached when she asks to have some rugs to hang up, demanding they’re part of her heritage - the mother ultimately insists they go to Maggie who will use them for ‘everyday use,’ just as her ancestors would have - thus meaning she’s more in touch with the family’s heritage. Walker is making a fundamental point in this text, critically analysing Black Pride

Literary Analysis

Walker uses a narrative structure, a short story convention, in this work - building up slowly to a conflict. She creates tension and conflict in a number of different ways, for instance - voiced disapproval from the narrator. When Dee arrives at the home, which is beginning of the building of tension, her mother writes negatively of her hair, 'It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears. ‘ In using animalistic simile here, Walker immediately indicates the mother's negative attitude towards the hair. Thus, the reader immediately senses disapproval and tension is created. 

The characterisation of Dee also plays an important part in Walker’s communication of ideas of family and heritage. Dee is characterised as fake, the audience comes to distrust and resent Dee, which plays into portrayal of parts of Black Pride as fake, almost as if Dee is a personification of this concept. Dee doesn’t understand her own family’s heritage and yet accuses her family of not understanding their heritage. Walker depicts this ignorant portrait of Dee when Dee says '“And I want the dasher too,” demonstrative of her complacency and her entitlement over her family, which further demonstrates her lack of understanding of her family.  

The decision to voice the story in first person allows the audience to empathise with the narrator - the mother. 

How does the text reflect an aspect of American culture?

America’s history is tainted by racial prejudice and ways to counteract it. Black Americans are continually and consistently underrepresented  undermined and vilified. Stories that are told to counteract this and to tell the stories that are rarely told in the history of mainstream American culture. This story tells the story of a radical period of change - the 1960’s, it’s context is reflective of a key period of change in the American narrative.  It also explores values and themes surrounding family - a reoccurring theme in American literature. Alice Walker is a key writer in telling the stories of Black Americans and other marginalised group and this text is reflective of this.