Topic > Setting Analysis in "The House on Mango Street" and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"

In "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway '', the authors show their feelings about the setting in strikingly similar ways. In Cisneros's tale, the narrator, Esperanza, talks about the many places her family lived during her life. In Hemingway's short story, two waiters in a bar discuss their contrasting views on life, as well as the differences in their lives. Although the actual settings of the two stories are very different, feelings of disappointment and desperation can be drawn from both. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In "The House on Mango Street," Esperanza explains her family's constantly changing living situation. His family was always forced to leave the house they rented, but then they bought a small house on Mango Street. Although the house was actually theirs, it was very small and dilapidated. He says, “The bricks are crumbling in some places, and the front door is so swollen that you have to push hard to get in. There is no courtyard…” (Cisneros 4). The narrator goes on to say that there is only one bedroom and one bathroom, so all six family members must share them. Even though their new home is a big improvement over their old one, Esperanza didn't feel like home at all. He had imagined something much bigger and more impressive. She expected the real house that her "father talked about when he had a lottery ticket in his hand" and that "mother dreamed of in the stories she told us before going to bed". Their fantasy house would have “real stairs, not normal hallway stairs, but stairs like the houses on TV… and at least three bathrooms… and a big yard with grass growing without a fence” (Cisneros 4). It is safe to say that the house on Mango Street was far less than what the narrator dreamed of. The contrast between Esperanza's expectations and reality creates a sense of disappointment, because she continues to hope for a beautiful house like she sees on TV but never manages to get it. In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” there is a deaf old man who is a regular at a bar. The old man comes to the bar at night to drink and avoid his sad life. The old man finds comfort in the clean, well-lit cafe. A younger and an older waiter watch over the old man, as he has been known to get drunk and leave without paying. It was very late and the old man "... sat in the shade of the tree leaves against the electric light." He liked to come at night, because, “…the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit up late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet, and he felt the difference” (Hemingway 1). As time passed, the younger waiter became impatient and wanted to go home. She said: “I wish he would come home. I never go to bed before three” (Hemingway 3). The older waiter insists that they keep the bar open, because he knows that the deaf man needs it to escape the nothingness of life. He relates to the old man in the sense that he too feels that life is a meaningless nothingness. While the two waiters talk, the younger one finds it absurd that someone would want to stay out so late rather than stay home with their family. The older waiter tries to explain that he too had a family to come home to once, but now that he is alone, he needs a clean, well-lit place like the bar to seek solace. It is very clear that the younger waiter sees the bar as nothing more than a place of work, while the older one sees it as a place where people can escape the.