As a man gets old, he has very few things left in life to look forward to.  He has already raised his family, excelled at his job, and done all of the things that there are for a man to do.  So, what does he have left?  Well, just like the old man in Ernest Hemingway’s, “A Clean, Will-Lighted Place,” all that there is left to look forward to is the end; and, with the end approaching, there are only two things that matter, light and darkness.
    Light is what the old man has left to hang on to.  It is his only hope in life, his only purpose for living.  It serves not only as order for him in a terrible world, but as his guidance.  He seeks the light to deal with the disorder and despair of everyday life.  This is the reason that the old man must have the light where he is sitting in the cafe.  It is his security blanket.  It is the light, the old man has finally realized, that is the source of all goodness and peace.  It is the direction of truth, but more importantly, it is the origin of God.  The light is God and the old man needs God.  He has realized that he needs God because it is God who, in the form of Jesus Christ, said, “I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness” (John 12.46).  He also knows that he will soon be giving his life to God.  “Unfortunately for the old man, this light is an artificial one, and its peace is both temporary and incomplete (Wall).”  The light will soon end, and the darkness will close in around him.
    Darkness is what the old man has lived through his entire life.  He has felt bitterness because of his physical handicap.  He knows what it is to be old.  He has experienced pain and frustration due to youth’s complete disrespect for him at his age.  An example of this is when the young waiter says to him, “You should have killed yourself last week,” (Hemingway).  In dealing with this darkness, he attempts suicide.  “He is obsessed by death, by a meaningless world, by nothingness” (Isabelle 37).  Being unsuccessful, he retains his composure.  He has come to know the meaning of nothing because “...one needs to know nothing and feel nothing to come to complete humility” (Isabelle 43).  He is awaiting the inevitable.  He is awaiting his death and the day when the darkness will take him.  Only when a man understands these things, can he understand their great importance.
    The old man in this story illustrates the fact that there is only a thin strand linking darkness and death, with God and light.  Sometimes it takes tremendous experiences in a person’s life to make this link.  It took the old man an entire lifetime to realize that in life there is no peace.  In the end he discovers that what most people think is light is truly darkness, and what most people think is darkness is truly light.

*See home page for works cited*