一个干净明亮的地方英文读后感.docx

Mind HarborAppreciation of A Clean Well-Lighted PlaceWhen it comes to outstanding short story writers ,we can not help thinking of Ernest Hemingway.He is a representative figure of minimalist literature in the twentieth century.His works always based on his abundant experience especially experiencing a lot of wars.In the middle of twentieth century ,because of the first World War ,people became aimlessness and hopeless.The people s spirit had been destroyed by the cruel war. They need someone to lead them to the light. That is why the characters made by Hemingway always can show great dignity under pressure in harsh environment.A Clean and Well-lighted Place is a typical short story which assumed Hemingways unique style. The story tells a ordinary thing happening in the cafe in a gentle way.We can only get though the simple dialogue between the two waiters to feel hollow in the old man s inward world.The old man had nothing but money.He tried to commit suicide but saved by his niece.He sat in the shadow in cafe late at night unwilling to leave.And the two waiters talked about the old man.The younger waiter showed selfish and impatient. He could not figure out why the old man had much money still to kill himself.He had a wife who is waiting for him to go home , so he wanted the old deaf man to leave as soon as possible.In the opposite ,the older waiter acted out apprehension and sympathy.He preferred the old man staying for a while.He was pleased to accompany the old man though the dark lonely night .In the end of the short story,the old man had already left.,and the cafe closed,the older waiter tried to go into a bar ,but he did not like it.At this time he was more deeply aware of a kind of loneliness.After reading this story, we know the important theme of this story is nothingness.Nearly all the characters live in Nothingness.The old man was hopeless ,he wanted to kill himself for escaping from the dark and loneliness .And the younger waiter thought that money can bring happiness .He was blindness and leading a meaningless life.There is no doubt that the older waiter is more clearer than the younger waiter.Due to the same life experience and the same no longer young reality ,he knew the old mans suffering and comprehended him.The common point of all these characters is that they were not able to find a clean well-lighted place to repose their mind.There are not many characters,no complicated plot,no board scene in this short story.The author uses dramatic technique to make the characters time ,place,plot highly centralized.A total of more than two thousand words of this story.Most of these words are describe the conversation between the two waiter.The main character almost had no talk,no action in the story.The writer only used some simple words,short sentence without character analysis or environmental description.However,it gives a strong felt to the readers.In the older waiters monologue,repeated nada or nothingness a lot of times.Not only can stress the theme of this story,but also like a hammer hit the readers heart. Except that ,Hemingway also used symbolic techniques in this work.The first symbolism is”the shadow of the leaves”.It repeated three times in the story.The old man sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light.The shadow protected the old man away from external interference.Meanwhile he could see the world outside more clearly.Once he thought the best way to escape the worldly troubles is death.And now ,he found truly protection belonging to his own. In this clean well-lighted cafe,he can no longer face the loneliness and helplessness in life.The second one is” Brandy”.It means another shelter to the old man.It also helped the old man to find a peace land.Wine helped the old man to calm down,to forget past and present.Made him respectable live with dignity. The third symbolism is “a clean well-lighted place”.In this short story ,a clean well-lighted place is cafe where the two waiters work .In a sense ,the cafe s signification is not only because of clean and well- lighted,but also it can provide a clean well-lighted place to the old mans inner world.In this place,there are no dark,no loneliness,no trivial matters.Last but not the least one is”nothingness”.At the end of the story,the writer replaced the word”nothingness” with all the key words in the original prayer to God.It can been seen that the loss of the old mans inner faith.In the old man and the older waiters eye,nothingness is everything,everything is nothing.The author believed all the material condition is nothingness.It is this nothingness sets off the actual feel which given by the cafe.History is a process of organic growth.The eternal pursuit of human being is a pluralistic spiritual life rather than material needs.But human being progress is always accompanied by the roar of the knell.When people move towards the highly developed material civilization ,let oneself become empty and freaky at the same time.Spiritual and material growth together and mutual betrayal.Materialization is also a degree of harm to human beings.From my point of view,the purpose of writing this story is to emphasize the significance of light a