In "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros and "A Clean, Well-Lit Place" by Ernest Hemingway" , the authors express their feelings about the setting in strikingly similar ways. In Cisneros' short story, the narrator, Esperanza, talks about the many places her family lived during her life. two waiters at a cafe discuss their contrasting views on life, as well as the differences in their own lives. Although the actual settings of the two short stories are very different, feelings of disappointment and despair can be drawn from both. . Say No to Plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned” Get an Original Essay In “The House on Mango Street,” Esperanza explains her family’s ever-changing living situation. . Her family always had to move out of the house they were renting, but they later bought a small house on Mango Street. Although the house belonged to them, it was very small and dilapidated. She said: “The bricks are crumbling in places and the front door is so swollen that you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard…” (Cisneros 4). The narrator goes on to say that there is only one bedroom and one bathroom, so all six family members have to share them. Although their new home was a vast improvement over their previous accommodations, it didn't look at all like Esperanza. She had imagined something much bigger and more impressive. She expected the real house that she “dad talked about when he held a lottery ticket” and that “mom imagined in the stories she told us before going to bed.” Their imaginary house would have "real stairs, not ordinary hallway stairs, but stairs like the houses on TV...and at least three toilets...and a big yard with grass growing without a fence" (Cisneros 4). It's safe to say that the house on Mango Street fell well short of what the narrator dreamed of. The contrast between Esperanza's expectations and reality creates a feeling of disappointment, as she keeps hoping for a beautiful house like she sees on television but never manages to get it. In “A Clean, Well-Lit Place,” there is an old deaf man who regularly frequents a café. The old man comes to the cafe in the evening to drink and avoid his sad life. The old man finds comfort in the clean, well-lit cafe. A younger waiter and an older waiter watch over the old man, as he is known to get drunk and leave without paying. It was very late and the old man "...was sitting in the shade of the leaves of the tree made against the flow of the electric light." He liked to come at night, because "...the dew fell on the dust and the old man liked to sit up late because he was deaf and now the night was quiet, and he felt the difference" (Hemingway 1). As time passed, the young waiter grew impatient and wanted to go home. He said: “I wish he would go home. I never go to bed before three o'clock” (Hemingway 3). The older waiter insisted that the cafe remain open, because he knows the deaf man needs it to escape the nothingness of life. He relates to the old man in the sense that he too feels that life has no meaning. As the two waiters talk, the younger one finds it absurd that someone would want to stay out so late rather than stay home with their family. The older waiter tries to explain that he too had a family to go home to, but now that he's lonely, he needs somewhere clean and nice..