"A Clean, Well Lighted Place" Response

“A Clean, Well Lighted Place” is a short story rich in symbolism. It focused mainly on the differences in emotions, which are affected by light and dark. Dark is a disturbing time, when depression and thoughts or attempts of suicide happen. Light, however, is an escape from the anxiety, depression, and self-consciousness. This and a few other details are very important and needed to be portrayed in the film adaptation of the story.

For one, in the story, the old man sits by the window. Although this doesn’t seem incredibly important, the glass acts as a barrier between the light of the cafe and the darkness of the outside world. In the film adaptation, the old man sits a booth, which isn’t even beside the window. Also, some of the dialogue  between the two waiters gives clues to the old man’s life and why the darkness may bother him. In the film adaptation, the two waiters are Irish and incredibly difficult to understand. This causes some of the dialogue to be missed, therefore making the symbolism less clear.

Although there are several other differences, besides these two main points, the director did a fairly good job of portraying the short story. He also captured the essence of the cafe lifestyle very well. I believe that the actors were cast well, and they accurately portrayed the inner feelings of their characters, although they were hard to understand. Overall, there are only a few major differences that affect the story in the film adaptation.