A Clean Well-Lighted Place is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Written in Hemingway’s signature dry style, it mostly leaves the reader guessing about its setting. Although descriptions are not detailed, there are enough hints scattered in the text that one can guess certain details. In A Clean Well-Lighted Place, the reader seems to be expected to read between the lines to understand the setting.
The time period when the short story takes place is not specified. However, at some point, it is said that a soldier wearing his uniform went by. From this, one can infer the possibility that there is a war. Moreover, it is shown that the soldier was with a girl whose head was uncovered. This suggests that this characteristic is important enough for the culture to be mentioned. Perhaps the story takes place in the past or in a conservative country. As some characters speak Spanish, it can be inferred that it is a Spanish-speaking country.
At the center of the short story is a café, which is sparsely described: it has electric lights, the tables are empty, and no music is playing. There is a “shining” steam pressure coffee machine, which suggests a certain tidiness on the part of the workers; the bar, however, is unpolished. Overall, the place is light, mostly clean, and said to be pleasant. Moreover, one of the waiters refers to bodegas of the town or city as somehow lesser than the café, meaning that the establishment must have a reputation in the town.
The short story also touches upon what is outside of the café. The action takes place at night, and it is pointed out that it is quiet at night, meaning that during the day, it is noisy on the outside. Furthermore, it is said that the street is dusty during the day, while at night, the dust settles. The tree leaves that leave pleasant shadows from the electric lights seem to be a draw for the café’s guests.
Based on the information in A Clean Well-Lighted Place, the reader can guess that the short story most likely takes place sometime in the past, possibly during wartime. It appears that the setting is a conservative Spanish-speaking country where it can get dusty during the day. The titular clean well-lighted place refers to a café, which seems to be a respectable place for its visitors.