There are many ways in which Ernest Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place and William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily are comparable. Both pieces share themes inclusive of solidarity yet both have main characters, in what appears to be a contradiction of terms, who suffer from isolation. As evidence of solidarity in Hemingway’s piece, “I am of those who like to stay late at the café,” the older waiter said. “With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007, p. 98). The older waiter understands and defends him when the younger waiter is hateful saying, “This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk. Look at him” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007, p. 97). These concepts are similar to the solidarity and compassion shown by the character referenced as the old Negro in Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. The Negro shows his solidarity to Miss Emily by protecting her from outsiders; protecting her secrets from outsiders until her death. This helpfulness is expressed in the following line, “Daily, monthly, yearly we watched the Negro grow grayer and more stooped, going in and out with the market basket” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007, p. 531). Miss Emily dies alone having been isolated in her home for years, “And so she died. Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows, with only a doddering Negro man to wait on her. We did not even know she was sick” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007, p. 531). Both main characters are understood by someone yet live isolated lives. It makes the reader feel compassion for the characters.
Both pieces also reference suicide; both from the viewpoint of another generation. The younger arrogant waiter in A Clean, Well-Lighted Place has the audacity to say, “You should have killed yourself last week” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007, p. 96). The words are spoken not just because the young waiter finds the old man a nuisance but also because the young man places no value on the life of...