A Moveable Feast

Cafés serve as transitional locations for Hemingway, as they are places of refuge where he can write freely and socialize with others. Hemingway begins the novel with a comparison between two cafés, The Café des Amateurs and the Place St-Michel, situating cafés as a reoccurring symbol throughout A Moveable Feast. The Café des Amateurs is “ a sad, evilly run café where the drunkards of the quarter crowded together and I kept away from it because of the smell of dirty bodies and the sour smell of drunkenness” (4). Hemingway’s initial depiction of a café is one that doubles as the cesspool of the rue Mouffetard. He juxtaposes The Café des Amateurs with the Place St-Michel writing, “[Place St-Michel] was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old waterproof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait” (5). The distinction between these cafés represents two very different lifestyles, one of irresponsibility and one of commitment. Due to the inclement weather, Hemingway is forced to take shelter, choosing the Place St.-Michel. This initial decision represents Hemingway’s ultimate choice to become a mature novelist and to begin his coming-of-age journey.