inforce the need for a clean well-lighted place in a spiritual and moral wilderness. The old man in the story is a lonely refugee from the world of God. He sits contemplating death, alone. The young waiter does not understand the old manÆs dilemma, but the old waiter does. In his understanding, we see HemingwayÆs (1953) views on the meaninglessness nature of an existential existence, ôIt was a nothing he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too. It was only that and light was all it needed and a certain cleanness and order. Some lived in it and never felt it but he knew it all was nada y pues nada y nada y pues nada,ö (383).
The old man contemplates suicide. His life is one of no meaning and he is alone. The cafT is his only respite against the dark nothingness of life. The young waiter is unaware of this and the old man annoys him because his lingering in the cafT means he will have to stay later at work. The older waiter is sensitive to the old manÆs condition. As he says to the young waiter, when the old man disappears, ôWhy didnÆt you let him stay and drink. ItÆs not half past twoö (Hemingway 1953, 381). The older waiter understands the anxiety and fear of being alone with oneÆs choices and approaching mortality. We see this when he explains to the younger waiter that he empathizes with the old man because it is also his condition, ôI am one of those who like to stay at the cafT. With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the nightö (Hemingway 1953, 382).
We see in this story the anxiety and fear over the radical responsibility we have for our choices. We also see the inescapability of death and finite time in life, the end of being. Hemingway (1953) parodies the LordÆs Prayer in this story. He does show to demonstrate that there is no comfort in a higher power in the existentialist worldview against the meaninglessness, the inescapab...