文档介绍：summary
This story begins at a quiet café very late at night. Everyone has left café except a deaf old man, drinking alone. Two waiters（a young one and a old one）talk about this old man; one tells the other that the man attempted suicide the week before but failed.
  Throughout the conversation, the young waiter continues to insult the old man, calling him “a nasty thing.” However, the older waiter defends the senior, understanding the old man’s desire to stay up all night drinking.
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The young waiter ( the waiter with a wife) forces the old man to leave and closes the café, while the old waiter wants to keep the café open for anyone who needs it. 
At last, the old waiter recites to himself the Lord’s Prayer, but he replaces most parts with “nada”. (the Spanish word for “nothing.”) On his way home, the waiter stops at a bar, but leaves quickly, because the bar is unpolished.  He goes back home but keep awake until dawn. He tells himself, “it is probably only insomnia.” “Many must have it.”
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Historical setting: after WW I, lost generation (people could not operate in the postwar world, getting lost in searching for meaning of life)
Physical setting:
A clean, well-lighted quiet Spanish café very late at night
Setting –Decisive Role
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The function of setting
Building up an atmosphere:
quiet place (no music) gives people a sense of peacefulness.
good light gives people a sense of security, pushing away the darkness of night. (there is hopelessness in the dark, while the light calms the nerves)
we got a feeling that outside world is a chaos.
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the place helps to struggle with despair
Old deaf man needs the café
He feels lonely, aimless and despairing is his old age (his life is without useful purpose) .He tried many unsuccessful ways to deal with despair. (money, marriage, committing suicide)
The only solution: got drunk at this well-lit pla