Close Reading on The Killers
With the title "The Killers", Hemingway tells a story of the life and morals of the average mobster in the Prohibition Era of the 1920's. Organized crime ran rampant, and mob bosses ruled all. Anyone who crossed the path of a crime family the wrong way had to pay the ultimate price, no if's, and's, or but's. Hemingway's short story plays out an ordinary scene of this gangster lifestyle. The story in a nutshell: Nick was eating his food and talking to one of the waiters when two men "dressed like twins" (Hemingway, 216) entered the small diner in the diminutive, suburban town of Summit. The men carried vicious and fearless attitudes. They did not take any lip service from anyone. Nick and the waiter exchanged a few words with the two men, and somehow managed to tick them off. One of the men ordered the cook, referred to as "the nigger" (Hemingway, 217), out from the kitchen, only to escort him, along with Nick, back to the kitchen where they were tied up and gagged. The men revealed they were waiting for the "Swede" (Hemingway, 218), a regular customer of the diner, to come have dinner. The plan was simple: When the Swede came,
They had no remorse for any harm they might have caused, and Nick took notice of this. The mere fact that "drink" was stressed, the man was asking if the diner had any hard liquor, a substance which was prohibited by the United States government at the time. Ole was a former prize fighter and a big guy, but this is not why he was unafraid. This shows the true power the mob had over the everyday life of America in this time-frame. "I'm through with all that running around. When Nick found out why these men were in town at that specific diner, he was very frightened by these men. The story focuses on these men and how they conducted themselves. This came as no surprise to the "Swede" and he tells Nick to leave. He knew he had double-crossed the wrong people, and had accepted his inescapable fate. He had secluded himself to his room all day long, in hiding.
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