"The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway

"The Killers"

The character Nick Adams appears to be the main character of the story because he is present throughout the entire piece of writing. A main character is someone who is involved in the central conflict and is easily identifiable. Nick Adams is described by both, he gets the most involved out of all the characters when he takes the initiative to warn Ole Anderson of the trouble coming his way.

"The killers" is a story of two criminals who for unknown reasons are looking to kill Ole Anderson, a boxer from Chicago. The killers spend a great portion of the story waiting in Henry’s lunch-room for ole to come for his daily six o'clock supper, but to their dismay Ole does not show. This is when we really establish our main character, Nick who wants to do right by warning Ole, so he ventures to the rooming house where Ole is waiting.

Quotes:
1. On numerous occasions the killers insult the intelligence of the men in the diner by saying,

“You’re a pretty bright boy, aren't you?" or
"The town's full of bright boys" or
"Oh, he's a thinker"

The reason that Hemingway has the killers repeating these insults, is obviously they aren’t meant as serious questions or compliments, I think the purpose of them is to show that the killers maybe feel they are superior to the men in the small town diner, and that they will easily get away with the killing they plan to do, because the men are clueless and helpless. This explains why they didn’t feel it was necessary to use a weapon to in order to force them into the back kitchen.

2. "He comes here to eat every night, don’t he?"
"He comes here at 6 o'clock, don’t he?

I found these to be quite important quotes because when Ole Anderson does not show up for his regular 6 o'clock supper it is safe to assume that Ole did not show up for a reason. You already know that Ole is aware of the hit men coming after him, even before Ole tells Nick that he knows people are after him, and that he has accepted his fate.

3. "This is a hot town"

When one of the killers calls summit a "hot town" at the very beginning of the story it makes a person stop and wonder what he could mean, and once a person really thinks about it the word hot is not just used to describe soup, it can mean strong, violent, furious, intense, or reckless. I think the killer is referring to the crime and how easy it would be for them to get away with murder is such a "hot town." So right off the bat the quote leaves you thinking that these men are up to no good.