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A Clean Well-Lighted Place is such a vivid world creatd by Hemingway. The bar is its own self-contained universe of texture and light and shadow. Is there any image that stands out for you?

Yes - to your question, Brad. I was also struck by the vividness.

Right from the first few words we're told it's late at night. And we can visualize the shadow the leaves make against the electric light. In most of the story we're THERE. In one setting. In a place that's clean and well-lighted. And we never really leave that image. So, it's very vivid. (We can also easily imagine what the area looks like during the day, in the dust. If we want to.)

So, to me, the lighting is the key and well-chosen image that makes for a very special atmosphere in this story.

Best wishes to all!

Misha wrote: I love that Hemingway gives just enough detail of the scene and setting that I could create a vivid mental picture, but allowed enough flexibility that I was creating the picture. It's my imagination filling in the gaps, and so the cafe and the old man and the shadows and the empty tables became mine.:

I imagine that each of us would draw a different "Clean Well-Lighted Place" all our own. It's one of the great strengths of Hemingway, I think; this ability to paint a picture with minimal brushstrokes while trusting his audience to complete the picture for themselves invests us deeply in his work -- if we're willing to go along for the ride. All of his that I love best are like this whether they are a short story or a novel.

yes - the soldier and his companion with the "uncovered head". do you suppose the lack of covering signafies a lack of virtue on her part? i'm assuming such. i invision them as the eurpoean version of “The Kiss at Times Square� By Alfred Eisenstaedt...