A Clean Well-Lighted Place

Annotates and comments, often line by line, on familiar and obscure details and allusions to the people, places, things, events, and other references found in the story. Opens with a discussion of the story\u27s composition history and cultural context before moving into an explication beginning with the title and closing with the story\u27s final lines on the old waiter\u27s stoic triumph over the darkness of despair. Covers topics such as the symbolism of the old gentleman and the quiet café, connections to Spanish painter Francisco de Goya\u27s life and art, and ambiguity of the waiters\u27 dialogue