Hemingways reflection of light and dark is seen in his story "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" where his display of youth is shown in the young waiters life.  The light is a reflection of our youthfulness looking toward the light like the bright sun.  Each day is a bright and new beginning always knowing there will be tomorrow, with youthful confidence in life.  I think life for a young person is never looking in the past and always looking forward to the future, knowing that it will be there like the sun, never changing.  When it comes to young people it seems they must experience everything for themselves.  They think only of themselves, about what is going on in their own lives, not caring about other peoples lives.  The young waiter is unable to see beyond his own life to even care about the old mans life.  The young waiter only shows this in his eagerness to get home to his wife.
    "From the very first sunrise to the sunset we continue to be awed by beauty, power, and emanation of light" (DeSaint) when people are young the light is what empowers them continuously wanting to go to it.  Always seeking the beauty of it never fearing the consequences of it.  "As a being of light we have the ability to receive and project light" (DeSaint) when we are young "our consciousness filters out the parts of life and light we don't want to deal with" (DeSaint).  Light is the beauty we see in everything we come in contact with, always reaching for it but somehow never able to achieve it.
    "Darkness is a symbol of fear and loneliness" (Wall).  The young waiter is one of the people who "lives in it and never feels it" (Hemingway) when we are young we never fear the loneliness.  Young people never fear the loss of loved ones.  They thing that everyone in their lives will be there forever, like themselves.  The darkness to the young waiter is the fear of getting old and turning out like the old man.  When the young waiter describes "An old man as a nasty thing" (Hemingway) it is like Hemingways own darkness in his life when he describes his mother as, "the old bitch" (Mitran).  Hemingways own life was full of darkness when he was young he took his own life so he would never feel the darkness like the old man felt.  I think the darkness to a young person is just like turning on a light because when they turn it out they have nothing to fear in their lives.  Fear is a weakness that they don't want to have in their lives, so like the light it can be turned off.  Young people live for the moment not for the future, which to them is the darkness, unlike the reflection of them in a mirror to a young person the light just reflects brighter, never being afraid of their own reflection.  The reflection of light and dark is both good and bad, we need to learn to live with both in our lives.

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