The pervading metaphor in this story,
is, predictably, the clean, well-lighted place. To Hemingway, it was much more than the physical
darkness that frightened him-it was the symbolic darkness of reality. Hemingway was a modernist,
a realist, and a philosopher. He believed the ultimate purpose of life was to discover such a
clean, well-lighted place to escape from the darkness of the world-the dark truth that life is without
truth or meaning So light
represents any device man uses to distract himself from the darkness. The story's image of the
lighted caf� in the sea of dark nothingness perfectly symbolizes Hemingway's nihilistic view of a world
with no hope, no solace, no escape save that man creates for himself.
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