1. Critical Essay 1 Fiction Unit
As stated in your syllabus, the Critical Essay is worth 200 points or 20% of your total grade. The
purpose of the Critical Essay is to gain proficiency in the principles of evaluating literary
elements such as character, plot, theme, setting, point of view, etc. and to demonstrate the ability
to employ college level writing techniques. In order to exhibit this you will need to:
• Present a critical thesis (should involve ‘the why’ not ‘the what’) and develop it through
qualified critical sub-points in the body, as well as include a solid introduction (that follows the
three step process) and a conclusion that does not contain new information but is not overly
repetitive.
• Show logical thinking in your critical analysis and exhibit smooth transitions of thoughts
throughout the essay.
• Adhere to Standard Professional English.
In addition to the above, you will need to:
• Choose a topic critically analyses literary elements from one or two of the short stories that
appear in Kennedy/Gioia (no outside stories or comparisons). The paper should focus on
elements of the human condition; literary terms should only be used to help you explain your
observations of the human condition.
• Show an elevated critical analysis rather than the reporting of facts in a book-report type of
style.
• Avoid an unqualified 1st person and 2nd person.
• Qualify your assertions with evidence from the texts (at least one quote from each story
you discuss).
• Appropriately reference the works discussed using the standards you learned in class.
Helpful Hints:
• The thesis statement should be narrow in scope—this will aid in the analysis of specific
literary elements. If you do two short stories, your thesis must unify them in a common
observation of the human condition.
• Choose works that interest you. Although the assignment requires that you avoid personal
narration, the connection to the human condition in the texts will help you develop your
assertions.
Length requirement: Following the standards stated in the syllabus, the acceptable length
for the Critical Essay is 2-3 pages. Anything less than two full pages will be returned and
the late-work deductions as explained in the syllabus will be applied. The checklist to
follow should be included, but does not count towards the length requirement. A Works
Cited page should be included but does not count towards the length requirement.
Due Date: As stated in the syllabus, Critical Essay #1 is due Wednesday, 2/24 by 11:59pm.

2. Critical Essay #1
Name: _______________________
______ Chose a topic that critically analyses literary elements from one or two of the short
stories that were discussed in class (no outside stories or comparisons) (10 points)
______ Headed your paper according to MLA standards (see p 467 in RW for example) and
formatted your paper correctly according to the standards stated in the syllabus (5 points)
______ Presented a solid introduction that follows the three step process (10 points)
______ Presented a critical thesis (should involve ‘the why’ not ‘the what’). If you discuss two
stories, your thesis must unify them in a common observation of the human condition (15 points)
______ Developed the thesis throughout the body using qualified critical sub-points about the
human condition (40 points)
______ Presented a solid conclusion that does not contain new information but is not overly
repetitive (10 points)
______ Showed logical thinking in the critical analysis and exhibit smooth transitions of
thoughts throughout the essay. (20 points)
______ Adhered to Standard Professional English. (20 points)
______ Showed elevated critical analysis, rather than the reporting of facts in a book-report
type of style. (25 points)
______ Avoided an unqualified 1st person and 2nd person. (15 points)
______ Qualified your assertions with evidence from the texts (at least one quote from each
story you discussed) (10 points)
______ Appropriately referenced the text in your paper using the standards you learned in
class. (10 points)
______ Included a Works Cited page according to MLA standards (5 points)
______ Submitted your paper with this cover sheet/checklist pasted directly into your
document and named your file according to the directions (This is an all or nothing category—
both must be done correctly) (5 points)
______ Total (out of 200 points)

3. Dana Hollis Hollis 1
Instructor: Traci Clark
Eng 202-901
February 24, 2016
“Nada es por Algo” by Dana Hollis
Walking through the streets of a dark Madrid in a late hour, we come upon a well-lighted
place, clean in its appearance and simplicity. In this late hour past two, we see an old man
hunched over a glass of brandy, and the night is quiet. The old man sits with his sepia drink,
drowning his loneliness, and in the clean silence and light he finds comfort. – D.S. Hollis
In the short story by Ernest Hemingway, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”, there is a
beautiful spirit of solitude and pleasantness embracing this glowing grotto, shining, and pushing
the darkness away. An old man, or anyone seeking remembrance, can come there and know how
things once were, and cling to a dignity in nothingness. A key reference in the story, an

4. underlying theme, is the concept of ‘nada’, a nothingness incubated into a shadowing grip of
hopelessness. A reminder of lost chances and the lateness of the hour. This menacing
nothingness, lurking beyond the temporary solace of the well-lit café, is symbolized when the
author uses the words, “an old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the
electric light” (Kennedy/Gioia 158). This shadow is the threat of the nothingness, and the leaves
of the tree are its minions. Throughout the story the affliction of existential depression persists.
Hollis 2
Hemingway’s message regards depression of the old, and their bygone chances. His intention is
to convey that when old, and when the lateness of our life haunts us, the specter of nothingness
often controls us, but we can find temporary relief, and a nurturing caress of hope, if we can have
a clean and well-lighted place. Why are the old men in this story, the patron and the waiter, so
dissatisfied?
The conditions of the old man and the old waiter are represented by conflict; the conflict
between elements of life thrust upon them that are dichotomic with their own ideals. This afflicts
them with a cognitive dissonance. Conflict, or contrast, appears to be a common thread that runs
throughout the story. The contrast between light and dark, between old and young, between
silence and noise, sobriety and drunkenness, and between cleanliness and dirtiness. These men
who are tortured by the futility and frustration in their unfulfilled souls dislike the darkness and
seek the light, they shun the music and chatter, they enjoy the well-swept to the unpolished, they
prefer the calm pace of old age to the impetuousness of youth, and the old man seeks the warm
numbness from brimming brandy and avoids the cold of an empty glass. Such contrasts within

5. these two men are the molecules of the story’s purpose. That purpose being to show two men
who have lost time, and have less time remaining than most.
Throughout the story there are sensations of nothingness; an atmosphere of nothingness.
In fact, the story itself is structured to make the reader feel the nothingness. It is classic
Hemingway, with the terse, concise dialogue, the insightful and frank perceptions on the
condition of man. A sparse, naked, journalistic approach, that mimics the raw and bare spirits of
Hollis 3
the two old men. Even the look of the story on paper is simple and lean. The one-line dialogues,
the periodic and epochal blocks of prose, lends to dominant white-space. There is no real plot,
just the setting of the scene, the dialogue amongst the characters, third-person omniscient
descriptions of their thoughts, and it’s simply an expose of a certain moment in time, late into the
night, with the author sharing with us a cutting message of futility and disillusionment; plot is
not necessary. The story is meant to be just a tidy little expression of how it can be for some
when life doesn’t quite turn out as expected. Hemingway is sometimes considered as a
Modernist writer.1
Modernism in literature is associated with expressions of post-war
disillusionment, alienation, unconventional, often short in length, and often has a psychological
edge to it, sort of neurotic, almost beatnik style, and often with ‘psychedelic’, anti-establishment
expressions, such as where Hemingway has the old waiter talking to himself and stating in his
thoughts how everything is “nada y pues nada……our nada who art in nada…..” and so forth.
1 Shmoop Editorial Team. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Genre." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008.
Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

6. (Kennedy/Gioia 161) This short story is a classic example within Modernism. It may be
Hemingway’s best piece for that genre.
Hemingway mentions how the old man had attempted suicide, and of course Hemingway
himself did commit suicide later in his life. He too may have felt this nothingness that the story
expresses. The story can be seen as a dark episode, a depressing, psychotic diorama, but it is
presented with such quaintness and charm, and with such crisp, honest narrative, that it can’t be
helped but to see it also as a positive piece, showing two lonely men, but only so because they
are beautiful people.
Hollis 4
James Joyce once said of Hemingway, “He has reduced the veil between literature and life,
which is what every writer strives to do……have you read “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place? It is
masterful, one of the best short stories ever written.”2
Hemingway’s old waiter may feel that he’s
nothing and has nothing, and all is nothing, but after reading this short story, we should feel that
the nothing is for something.
"On This Day…21 July." The James Joyce Centre. 21 July 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. Power, Arthur: Conversations
with James Joyce, edited by Clive Hart, London: Millington, 1974.
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7. Works Cited
Shmoop Editorial Team. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Genre." Shmoop. Shmoop University,
Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
"On This Day…21 July." The James Joyce Centre. 21 July 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. Power,
Arthur: Conversations with James Joyce, edited by Clive Hart, London: Millington, 1974.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Literature. 8th ed. N.p.: Pearson Education, 2010. Print. "A
Clean, Well-LIghted Place" pp 158-162