Coping

Imagine being the most beautiful girl in your school, walking hand in hand down the hall giggling with your boyfriend, being as in love as two eighth graders could be. Now picture going to a high school party hosted by your best friend’s brother, getting hit on by 90% of the high school boys, and catching your boyfriend cheating on you with your best friend. Because of the shock, you demand to be driven home, with the only option being your best friend’s brother. As he drives you home, he begins making a move on you and ends up crashing the car, causing you to fly through the windshield. How would you cope with having to have your whole face reconstructed, no longer being known as the most beautiful girl in the school, and having to go through the heartbreak of being cheated on? In My Life in Black and White, coping is a huge theme because of all the tragic things that happen to Lexi.

After Lexi’s boyfriend, Ryan, heard about her terrible accident, he himself felt even more terrible for basically causing the accident. Since she was bedridden for a while, he would try to visit her to see how she was doing and a lot of the time try to apologize too, but since she was furious with him, she never gave him the chance to explain what exactly happened and why. (124) “If only I never met Taylor. If only Ryan never moved here. If only the party never happened. If only I didn’t get into Jarrod’s car. If only I didn’t take off my seatbelt. Ifonlyifonlyifonly.” Lexi was full of “if only’s” and that’s one of her ways of avoiding things. She avoided making contact with Taylor and Ryan, and basically all her other friends from school after the accident, and she’s avoiding the fact that all the things mentioned before happened, she just doesn’t want to admit that they truly did happen, and that’s her way of coping.

When it comes to the accident, Lexi copes in a strange way too. With her being known as the most beautiful girl in the entire school, not to mention her poor family life back home, it’s no surprise she’s quite a drama queen when it comes to overcoming the tragic accident. (122-123) “But of course she noticed. Everyone noticed. Here. Gawk away.” Lexi always took everything way out of proportion, thinking everyone was staring at her, and thinking everyone thought she looked disgusting even when they did try to give her compliments. This was one of the reasons it took her so long to carry on with what happened, her overly dramatic technique of coping.

Coping is a huge theme in My Life in Black and White, because of all the tragic things that happened to Lexi. Lexi overreacted about this a little too much, but maybe that was just her way of coping. Just be thankful you have a nice family who’s always going to be there for you and a nice warm bed to sleep in because people around the world have it a lot worse. If tragedy does ever happen to you, just take a deep breath and think it through and be thankful for how lucky you are to have other blessed things in your life.

Critique

When I read A Clean Well-Lighted Place, I was expecting a way different setting from when I saw the short film. As the author described in the text, they made the cafe seem like a dark dreary place, in which no one would ever want to visit, whereas in the film the cafe looked like a nice family place in which people visit all the time. I think the author just needed to describe the setting in better description to make how the cafe looked more clear to the reader. Some setting things were portrayed differently between the text and film, in which some bugged me but some were fine.

One of the opening scenes was that the man was sitting in a shadow near a window, but when the filmed showed the location of the man, he was sitting in a perfectly lighted booth. This was one of the differences that really bugged me, because to me it really changed the whole vibe of the film. Another setting difference between what I pictured and what was shown in the film was where the waiters were viewing the old man from. I pictured them sitting at the bar watching the old man, but in the film they were sitting what looked like in the middle of a random hallway with chairs and a table. This didn't bug me as much because it didn't affect the vibe of the story, it just kind of confused me as to why they were just randomly sitting in the hall of the cafe.

Another difference between the text and the film was how some things were portrayed. Towards the end when the old man was walking away after he got kicked out of the cafe, I was honestly prepared for there to be a splash or for the man to get hit by a car. I know that sound terrible, but that is honestly how the film was portrayed for me. I like how the man walked into the darkness and when the scene faded away, a light was all that was left, but maybe they could tweak it just so it doesn't seem like something tragic is going to happen.

Light vs. Dark

In the story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Hemingway uses many different terms and descriptions to give off the feeling of lightness and darkness. An example of darkness is the constant mentioning of the setting being 'very late'. When I think of night time I think of darkness and, well, evil. There's really no 'bright' side to it being very late at night, besides being able to go to sleep. Another example of darkness is the different examples of emotions mentioned throughout the story. Despair, loneliness, fear. These emotions are all brought up in the story, causing the story to have a depressing and dark vibe. The third example of darkness is how the cafe is explained at looking. The story tells the readers that the tables of the cafe are all empty except for the one occupying the old man. There are multiple mentions of the cafe having shadows coming through the windows, which happen to have metal shutters. While reading I never really came across any stand out lightness symbols, but when I did, they were always followed by a dark description. When I read A Clean, Well-Lighted Place I was truly expecting a nice happy story, but when I finished the piece I felt somewhat depressed.