Hemingway was once quoted as saying "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."" Many authors have written about this idea in great length. Two examples put forward are both short stories. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings-, written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place- written by Ernest Hemingway. Though with different themes, both exemplify and depict the tragedy of old age, the burden it holds on others and the quite dignity often unseen by those of young age.
"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place- starts off by introducing the antagonist, the deaf old man. He is immediately described in a sad sympathetic tone, "while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept a watch on him."" (149). The old man had recently tried to commit suicide, he is deaf, lonely, and has nothing else to live for. "Last week he tried to commit suicide- one waiter said. "Why?- "He was in despair."" "What about?- "Nothing."" "How do you know it was nothing?- "He has plenty of money."" (149). As an old man, his age is depicted as a tragedy. His life is meaningless, all he can do is sit and wait for his eventual death as he is, "drunk every night- (150), he uses his time left to blur this sad reality. This theme of old age draws parallels to the story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings-. In this story the old man is described in an equally pathetic manner: "He was dressed like a ragpicker. There was only a few hairs left on his bald skull and a very few teeth left in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather had taken away any sense of grandeur he might have had."" (361). In both stories, a old man, on the verge of death, is shown to be a hopeless individual, whom is hanging onto life for some unknown reason. Both authors depict this sad state of being as a tragedy of old age.
The old men in each story are an annoyance to the young, an object of trouble and extra work.