Questions for Paragraph 2, pick ONE to write your thoughtful reaction.
1. In how many ways are the two waiters different from each other? (Consider situation, attitude, character, and beliefs.) Make a list. How are these differences revealed?
2. Explain Hemingway’s use of symbol in this story. How does he use light and dark, the shadows of the trees, the café itself, etc.?
3. Make a case for the story’s being less than entirely depressing. What can you find in it that gives at least some small cause for hope?
4. What effect does Hemingway achieve by ending the story as he does, with the old waiter in bed, telling himself he has insomnia?
5. Do you think it is important to the story that the old man is deaf? Explain. Is it important that the old man “drinks without spilling”? Why?
