The story initiated by describing the setting of the story. The setting of the story is in a café as stated in this citation, “It was very late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light.” Moreover, the atmosphere in the story is serious, sympathetic and desperate as the old man is in his solitude; the older waiter is sympathizing with the old man’s despair because he as well, feels it too; and the younger waiter is desperate to go home to sleep. The rising action takes place when the young waiter went over to the old man and asks for his order. Next, the climax is when the young waiter disrespected the old man, “"You should have killed yourself last week," he said to the deaf man.” The old man then paid for his bill and walked away slowly but with dignity, “The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.” The falling action takes place when the older waiter went to a bar, drink coffee and ponder for some things that leads to the conclusion that he prefers to be in a clean, well-lighted place rather than to be in a bodegas or bars. Now, he goes home and sleeps.
The main characters of the story are the old man, the older waiter, the younger waiter and a bartender. The niece of the old man and the bartender are the minor characters. The old man is in despair according to the comments of others, “He's lonely.” “He must be eighty years old.”, According to the comments of others. He is deaf, according to author’s direct comment, “In the day time the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference.” According to the comment by others, he attempted suicide,” "Last week he tried to commit suicide," one waiter said.” He sits on the café as his routine every night. He finds the place comfortable for him to think of his life as it was going disappear. He is financially stable according to comment by others, “He has plenty of money.” The older waiter is a sympathetic character. He is character who understands the shortcomings of the old man. He understands why the old man is habitually in the café drinking liquors and killing his time. He know that the old man can find refuge in that certain time and place, night and a clean, well-lighted place because he knows the feeling of the old man, according to personal speech and action, “It is not only a question of youth and confidence although those things are very beautiful. Each night I am reluctant to close up because there may be someone who needs the cafe.” The younger waiter is the epitome of youth. He gives the idea to the readers how is the youth of today living as if there’s no tomorrow. He doesn’t understand the old man because of his young age, according to personal action and speech, “I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o'clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?" The young waiter has bad attitude, according to personal action and speech, “"You should have killed yourself last week," he said to the deaf man. The old man motioned with his finger. "A little more," hesaid. The waiter poured on into the glass so that the brandy slopped over and ran down the stem into the top saucer of the pile.” It can be extracted from his character a saying that youth cannot understand elders for they are still on the young age but one will surely experience it and understand how it may be. The bartender can be found on the last part of the story when the older waiter goes to a bar or bodega as they called. Bartender is a passive character. Not in the business.
Hemmingway used the dramatic or objective point of view. The author is just observing and giving reports on what he sees happening in the characters.
The tone of the story is serious and sympathetic. It is serious because it is talking about the despair of the old man and it is sympathetic because the older bartender is sympathizing to the feelings of the old man. The mood of the story is also serious and sympathetic. Readers can imagine the situation of the old man as he was eager for his death.
The diction of the story is informal for Hemingway used the dialogue way of making the characters converse. He used some Spanish words like nada, pues, y, and hombre etc… His sentences are in simple, compound and compound-complex. Example for simple sentence that can be found in the story is "He has plenty of money." For compound, “He put down the saucer and poured the glass full of brandy.” For compound-complex, “They sat together at a table that was close against the wall near the door of the cafe and looked at the terrace where the tables were all empty except where the old man sat in the shadow of the leaves of the tree that moved slightly in the wind.”
Indeed, Ernest Hemingway is a writer who uses symbolism in a way that it carries some of his stories’ theme. Many symbolisms in this short story were presented. Its title manifests a symbolism of a place that is meant for people with problems like the old man to escape from reality and endure the time he has in it. The place was like a heaven on earth if we regard the role of it to the old man. He is deaf and it symbolizes his isolation from the noise and even the reality on earth. The old man also symbolizes the old age, the point when people gets lame life. Most of all, the old man has no family, double the sadness he feels. The older waiter tends to understand the old man’s feelings as he is also going through it and he may also be like him. He symbolizes the people in middle ages who can already relate to the old man’s feelings. He understands the need of some people like the old man to unwind and have a private time for himself. On the other hand, the younger waiter symbolizes youth. He enjoys the accompaniment of his wife and has a good job as a waiter. These are the reasons why the younger waiter doesn’t understand the old man’s habit. The shadow of the leaves symbolizes a place that can cover up people who were in despair. It is a sanctuary to them to where they can be their self. The word “light” in the story is precious because it is the light that is needed by the lonely people. It is the light that gives brightness to their distorted life.
The narrative device in the story is foreshadowing. There is foreshadowing in the story. The older waiter sympathizes with the old man as he is, as well, feeling what the old man feels. It only tells that the older waiter will also be like the old man when he reaches the same age.
The conflicts of the story are God vs. man, man vs. man, old age vs. young age, man vs. death and man vs. himself. The old man attempted to have suicide but was being stopped by his niece, “"Last week he tried to commit suicide," one waiter said.” It is against the will of God. The conflicts reflected here are God vs. man, man vs. death and man vs. himself. The young waiter, because of his ignorance to the old man’s feelings didn’t understand him and it resulted in disrespecting the old man. This conflict, man vs. man, also reflects to the conflict of old age vs. young age. We must treat every person with respect whether he/she is young or old. Respect is important to the society; it creates barriers that lead every person to right attitude in socializing or treating other persons.
The theme of the story is “Understanding the elders is undeniably crucial as they are experiencing the adversity of their age”. Some of our elders are experiencing what the old man in the story experiences. They long for death; for them, they feel useless to the society. If they don’t have family, no sons and daughters, no wife then there will be nowhere else but death. In the case of the old man, he is also deaf; he cannot hear anything that isolated him from the reality which the lively world brings. It added into his burden. They might be hard to figure out but we, as their “juniors”, must be aware of the emotional and physical need of them. Comfort, respect and love are the only support that we can give to them. Give them what they want, but death is excluded. Leave it to God. We are young but it is only for now, later the beauty of being young will eventually get old and no one can hinder it so be nice to the elders.
The values that can be extracted in the story are respecting the elders, understanding them and valuing life. As a member of the younger generation, we must respect our elders because they were the ones that were senior to us. From them we inherit everything that they may leave whether it’s abstract or concrete stuffs. As the elders get older, we must extend our patience to them. They might be doing something nonsense or ridiculous but it’s how they react to what they feel. We must only adhere and comfort them. Understanding our elders is undeniably crucial. They are part of our life and in understanding them we find more satisfaction than to reprimand them of what they are doing. The value of life is related to the unsuccessful suicidal of the old man. As human beings made by God, we must wait for the right time of when we are going to die. Remember that ending your life with your bare hands is a great sin against God.
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