Clean Well-Lighted Place

1. The setting to A Clean Well-Lighted Place takes place in an Italian cafe late at night during World War I. The setting shows that the cafe is always lit and the streets surrounding it are always lit up, it never gets dark there. The idea is that the old man is lonely and whenever there is light he will not fear the dark and being around other people will keep him alive.

2. The characters to the story are nameless because Hemingway is telling the story how he wants to. He uses minimum building blocks to complete the story. This story in whole is just simple. It is about finding out their true identity and why they are different but similar at the same time.

3. The connection between the old man and the older waiter is that they both are lonely and tired out by life. The older waiter respects and defends the old man because he is clean and tidy in what he does. For example, the old man never spills a drop of his drink and is always proper. The older waiter seems to be a clean, proper man as well where we can see a comparison to one another.

4. The rising action is the beginning part to the story where the old man is drinking away while the two waiters, one young and one older, talk about life and why their cafe remains open late at night. The conflict is the old man does not wish to leave and to keep drinking while the younger waiter wishes to leave and be home with his wife. The older waiter unlike the young waiter lacks confidence and is not young. Like the old man, he likes to stay late at the cafe and believes that staying here may lead to someone who needs the cafe. The climax in this story is when the old man goes on his way because the young waiter had told him they are closed when really there hours of business were to remain open until the last customer left. In conclusion to this, we see that the old man and the older waiter continue there night somewhere else because they cannot go to bed. 

5. The theme to this story is Solidarity. He defends and understands the old man and his thoughts are with him.

Ernest Hemingway's life in a paragraph:

Ernest Hemingway was an American Author who started off working in a newspaper office. He was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois and later moved to Kansas City at seventeen. During the First World War, he joined a volunteer ambulance unit in the Italian army where he was injured on the front line. He was recognized by the Italian Government and spent many times in hospitals. Upon his return to America he became a reporter for both American and Canadian newspapers. He then moved to Paris where he became a member of expatriate Americans. He then began to write novels, The Sun also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea, etc. All of these works and others had to do with loneliness and finding meaning in life. Also they take place during the War and post War. He was an alcoholic his whole life and this can be related to how the old man in A Clean Well-Lighted Place was. He never slept and was always working or drinking and he suffered with sleeping disorders as well, known as insomnia. His straightforward prose, his spare dialogue, and his predilection for understatement are effective in his short stories. He died a lonely man in 1961 in Idaho.

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http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-bio.html

Sonny's Blues

1. The setting takes place in Harlem, New York before the the Civil Rights Movement period. African Americans began to come in from downtown, from the South, and from the West Indies. There are four Harlem's: Black, Spanish, Jewish, and Italian. By the 1930's half a million people came into Harlem, one of the largest slums of New York. 

www.thehistorybox.com/ny_city/harlem_nycity.htm

Sonny was younger than his brother and his character is portrayed as someone who is lost and wants to find meaning. Sonny always wanted to get out of Harlem because of the drugs and because it is a deadbeat area. Growing up in Harlem, Sonny was probably street smart but mentally weak because he never completed school and held no job nor had a place of his own. Sonny believed running away from Harlem would solve his problems but in the end he ended up back in Harlem in pursuit for music and lived with members of his bandstand.

2. During the Revolutionary War, black men and women served in a variety of capacities for the Continental and British armies. Proportionally, more African Americans supported the British because they promised freedom to those who fled rebel slaveholders. In 1775, Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation in Virginia with such a promise and formed a black regiment of British soldiers. For these soldiers, the Revolutionary War was as much a war for liberation as it was for the American colonists rebelling against England. However, the British military was not always so magnanimous. More often they used blacks as workers to perform menial labor such as building roads and serving officers. Still, in places like New York, black men and women were used as spies for the British and sabotage rebellious cities. Moreover, they created networks to help enslaved men and women to escape to New York City which was occupied by the British. Many of these former slaves, known as the Black Loyalists would migrate to Nova Scotia and the Caribbean and become prominent leaders in the emerging freed black communities.

In New England, states such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island employed African Americans in the militia and the Continental Army. Promised freedom for their service, many served in regiments that were interracial. However, Rhode Island raised one of the few predominantly black regiments that fought for American Independence. Although the state legislature approved the measure because the state badly needed men to fight, the black soldiers fought valiantly when given the opportunity to fight for their freedom. As one white soldier remembered, the African American soldiers, known as the Rhode Island Line, played a critical role in the battle of Rhode Island, protecting a key flank which prevented the British from overwhelming the Continental Army. The spirit of the Revolution coupled with black military service inspired a wave of manumission laws that ultimately sealed the fate of slavery in the northern states. Some of these veterans would eventually become leaders in abolition movements throughout the north. While it is still unclear whether blacks served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War, our best understanding of African American military service in the ninetheenth century come from the records of the American Civil War.

www.coloradocollege.edu/Dept/HY/HY243Ruiz/Research/military.html

Sonny wanted to enlist in the military because it was a way out of Harlem, New York and because he had felt bad about the wrongs he had done in his life and it was a fresh start for him. His brother did not agree to this because he wanted nothing but the best for Sonny and he wanted to protect him like an older brother and like his mother had asked him to. Blacks were never treated well in the military and for Sonny to enlist would bring more hardship in his life when Sonny is really looking for happiness.

3. Billie Holiday- "They Cant Take That Away From Me"

The way you wear your hat;
The way you sip your tea;
The memory of all that.
No, no, they can't take that away from me.

The way your smile just beams;
The way you sing off key;
The way you haunt my dreams.
No, no, they can't take that away from me.

We may never, never meet again
On on the bumpy road to love.
Still I'll always, always keep the memory of

The way you hold your knife;
The way we danced 'til three;
The way you've changed my life.
No, no, they can't take that away from me.

The way you wear your hat;
The way you sip your tea;
The memory of all that.
No, no, they can't take that away from me.

The way your smile just beams;
The way you sing off key;
The way you haunt my dreams.
No, no, they can't take that away from me.

We may never, never meet again
On on the bumpy road to love.
Still I'll always, always keep the memory of

The way you hold your knife;
The way we danced 'til three;
The way you've changed my life.
No, no, they can't take that away from me.
No, they can't take that away from me. www.stlyrics.com/songs/b/billieholiday525/theycanttakethatawayfromme23382.html

Sonny's love for music and the time and dedication he spends practicing and playing is almost related to the way this song is written because no one can take away his music and his love for it. 

4. Bebop (1940's-1950's)

Bebop emerged in the 1940s a as a style of jazz in great contrast to the music of the big bands. It featured a small group of musicians -- four to six players -- rather than the 10 or more associated with the big bands. The smaller size allowed more solo opportunities for the players. The music itself was characterized by more complex melodies and chord progressions, as well as more emphasis on the role the rhythm section. Furthermore, phrases within the music were often irregular in length, making bebop interesting to listen to, but in contrast to music of the big bands, unsuitable for dancing.

www.hypermusic.ca/jazz/bop.html

Sonny prefers the Bebop style because he enjoys good rhythm and the music has to do with more complex melodies and chord progressions. The style of Bebop consists of smaller size bands than the larger ones where there are more solo opportunities. The music was a way to express their feelings and it symbolized pride upon the African American people. It can be said this helped with the social movement for Blacks because it brought communities together to listen rather than dance to.