In my Honors English class in junior year, we were having a class discussion about a few Hemingway short stories. One of the stories was "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place". In it, two waiters at a cafe are discussing an elderly customer who refuses to leave, despite the late hour. The younger waiter talks of how the man has no consideration for those with places to be and things to do. "An old man is a nasty thing," he says. What does the waiter mean by this?, our teacher asks.

A few students chime in, none very enthusiastically or intelligently. A girl a few seats away from me takes her turn:

"Well, old people, don't, like, bathe as much as we do."

Silence.

"Wh...What?" someone asks.

"Well, shower floors are, like, slippery, you know? They can't do it as often as younger people, so sometimes they smell kind of bad. And sometimes," she says, her voice now a whisper, "they have to wear adult diapers."

Stunned, horrified silence.

Our teacher: "I think what Hemingway meant was that a lonely old man has no place in a young, fast-moving world. The statement was symbolic of the despair, decay, and loneliness that old age can bring, of the apathy and resentment that the elderly often receive from the young."

The girl: "Oh."

The End

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