OPPapers.com

The Killers

The Killers essay

"The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway is a story based upon Hemingway's view of the big city in the late 1920's. During the era of prohibition whoever controlled the flow of alcohol controlled the city. Unfortunately, the police were powerless against man thirst for booze. The Mafia also expanded into the bookie field, and if someone didn't pay up or double crossed the Mafia they were taken out. Hemingway was unfamiliar with this city scene and we can see a very strong correlation between him and one of his characters, Nick Adams. Nick was a newcomer to the city, completely unfamiliar with the boldness of disregard for the law that was present. The Theme that I feel Hemingway is trying to convey is how much corruption and disregard for the law there was in the late 1920's. The plot of this story primarily consists of an attempted murder that takes place in a lunchroom diner. The diner itself plays an important role in the setting of the story. It gives us insight into the lives of two of the customers, Nick Adams and Ole Anderson. When we ask ourselves what type of a person would have gone to a diner in the late 1920's, it reminds us of the common, single, working man. This is also the type of person who would be more susceptible to making a bet with a bookie, throwing a fight for a bet, or even making some other sorte of deal with the Mafia.

The town in which the diner is located in also plays an important task in giving the killers an underlying importance. This underlying importance displays an early dominance from these two characters. "The backdrop to the action in the ‘The Killers' is a static, conventional town that, like the universe in which the killers...