THE CITY

world. Like the precepts of the moral law, each and every outward
configuration of external reality already contains meaning, waiting
for the imaginative act to reveal their deeper truths. In creating
those inherently meaningful forms through stories, the writer
exercises “that faculty in man which is likest to the prime operation
of the power of God.” 5 Unbeknownst to them, atheist writers
imitate this prime operation of divine power by creating worlds that
unintentionally affirm a transcendent moral law. And so atheism is
pitted against man’s imagination, man’s chief creative power, which
MacDonald describes as being “made in the image of the imagination
of God.” 6
To show how inescapable imagination’s adherence to theistic
morality is, I want to look at one short text that embodies atheism’s
inability to be carried over into an author’s created world: Ernest
Hemingway’s story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” I choose
Hemingway’s short story for two simple reasons: First, it is a superbly
written short story, rich and layered with complex meaning, beautiful
in style. Second, Hemingway wrote “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”
without any Christian or theist intent. It is truly a case study in the
atheist imagination.
Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is the story of two
waiters, one old and one young, both waiting to close up a café one
late night. The remaining only patron is an old deaf man who tried
to kill himself the week before. The two waiters see the old man’s
lingering late into the night differently, the younger waiter impatient
for the deaf man to leave and the older much more understanding of
the old man’s need for a “clean, well-lighted place.”
The old waiter says, “Each night I am reluctant to close up because
there may be some one who needs the café.” He feels the need for
to create a space for “all those who do not want to go to bed” and
to wait along with “all those who need a light for the night.” The
younger waiter does not understand why the deaf man cannot just
go to a bar, chirping to the older waiter, “Hombre, there are bodegas
open all night long.” To which the older waiter replies, “You do not
understand. This is a clean and pleasant cafe. It is well lighted. The
5
Ibid., 3.
6
Ibid., 4.
Winter 2015
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