to their meaningless existences. For example, near the middle of the story, there are twenty-five lines of dialogue which appear on the page in an patterned form, underscoring efforts by the characters to establish order. Further, with the pattern of prayer as he parodies the universal Christian prayer, "Our Father" using the wordnada the older waiter In other words,he expresses his understanding of the lonely nothingness of men's lives and the need for all men of experience to fashion for themselves an escape from their terrible loneliness and feeling of having nothing.

Certainly, other symbols work to dispel the void in the old men's lives. The light dispels the darkness of loneliness and the meaninglessness of their worlds. By sitting in the "clean, well-lighted place" of the cafe, the old man can dispel the darkness of the absurdity of his life, and he can also act more ethically. For, Hemingway always stresses ethical conduct as a way to create order out of lonely nothingness.

Thesis statements are debatable statements that make up the foundation of your argumentative essay. Before writing a strong thesis statement, you need to find a topic that interests you enough to motivate you to find the evidence you need to support your argument and analysis.

In terms of a topic, decide first if you would like to explore a character (like the old man), an event in the story (the waiter's assumption about the old man's despair), or a detail about the setting (the emptiness of the cafe). Once you have selected an element of the story, pair it with a literary term. In this case, you have been asked to discuss symbolism, so that part is easy.

Next, look for a good verb to connect your ideas; because you are dealing with symbolism, the verbs "symbolize" and "represent" are ideal choices. Does the emptiness of the cafe symbolize, or represent, the loneliness of old age? Does the old man's drunkenness and loss of connection to reality symbolize the losses of war suggested by the presence of the soldier? Any number of ideas can be represented, or symbolized, by different details in the story, and it is up to you which one to select and argue. Just make sure you choose a thesis statement that can be supported by evidence in the short story and quotes that you can analyze. The evidence and the quotes must be present in the story for your thesis statement to be convincingly argued.

One significant symbol in this story is the "shadow of leaves," a phrase repeated in three descriptive passages. The dominant theme is the existential nothingness, the "nada," of life; the meaningless in which each individual must create their own meaning. The old waiter says the "shadow of leaves" are an advantage to those who want "a clean, well-lighted place" to sit in when they don't want to sleep, when they "need a light for the night."

The well-lighted cafe creates an appearance of a life with substance, a life not completely overshadowed by the darkness of "nada" (i.e., "nothing"). The shadow of leaves creates an illusion of substance; an illusion of a something dancing in the nothingness. This appearance of substance is comforting for those who have no hope left for meaningfulness, who have come to despair in an existence of meaninglessness: they have come to what is called existential despair.

The "shadow of leaves" is the symbol of this appearance of substance, this shadow of substance that counters the nothingness of a meaningless existence. In other words, if life has no meaning to it, if the universe is in fact meaningless and despair (i.e., hopelessness) is the end of all humankind, then pick something that offers the shadow of light, of beauty, of interest, of hope to latch onto to in the surrounding darkness that is teeming with despair, as represented by the girl and soldier on a street quiet with dew and one street light.

This is a clean and pleasant cafe. It is well lighted. The light is very good and also, now, there are shadows of the leaves.

the tables were all empty except where the old man sat in the shadow of the leaves of the tree that moved slightly in the wind. A girl and a soldier went by in the street. The street light shone on the brass number on his collar.

A possible sample thesis statement (depending upon your level of writing development) might be something like: Since Hemingway is exploring the alternatives to a life of dark nothingness, the symbol of the "shadow of leaves" illustrates that he believes any alternative will be the allusion of substance and not substance itself.

Alternatively: Since Hemingway is exploring the alternatives to a life of dark nothingness, the symbol of the "shadow of leaves" illustrates that the older waiter believes any alternative that is the mere allusion of substance and not substance itself is as important as real substance.