There are many badly written stories that are comprised of nothing. However, there are also a few choice literary pieces in which the concept of "nothing- plays an integral role. One of these stories is Ernest Hemingway's A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. The story revolves around an old man, who frequents a particular café, and the two waiters who work there. The older waiter identifies with the old man, who simply wants a clean place in which to pass the time and fight off the impending darkness. The younger waiter does not see this point like the other two men do and simply wishes to hurry home to his wife and the life he still has to live.
Later in the story, after the younger waiter has headed off for home, and the café has been closed down, we see the older waiter roaming the darkened streets, trying to find his own clean, well-lighted place to pass the time in. As he walks along, he thinks to himself about life and what makes his café so pleasant for the old man. This is when we start to see the concept of "nothing- really begin in the story.
Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada. 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. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee. (Hemingway, par.74).
But, does "nada- really mean nothing in this excerpt? There seems to be a deeper meaning to it. "Nothing- is what the old man is trying to keep at bay while he sits in the café and drinks. It is an ominous presence that he is trying to run from, to escape. "The Nothing is a relentless monotony, unbroken by joy or sorrow. It is unending emptiness without comfort or companionship of man or God. It is the senselessness of each heart-beat that is just like the last and refuses to give in to death- (Wall, par.
