What Is The Mood Of The Killer By Ernest Hemingway

Known for his brevity, Ernest Hemingway composed a short and highly reflective read, titled “The Killers”. Moreover, his simple language signals the reader to analyze every point, for every word matters and directly impacts the plot of the story. Besides the effect of overwhelming bleakness, Hemingway successfully helps readers analyze beyond the lines to discover a hidden meaning that may largely reflect the outcome of the story.

In the first analysis of The Killers, the hitmen, Al and Max, come into a local restaurant searching for Ole Anderson. While waiting for their victim’s arrival, they reply to the concerned restaurant workers, “You got a lot of luck”, and “You ought to play the races, bright boy” (1). At first, these short replies do not mean much, however, they carry a larger meaning. In reality, both hitmen are contemplating taking these workers out. Despite the workers annoying presence, they decide to leave them alive because they are unlikely to come in contact with the police and foil their plan to murder Anderson. Without the further analysis of these short lines, the readers may not recognize that the restaurant workers are lucky that they did not murder them in the heat of the moment.

One suggested reason was that Anderson may have double-crossed the unknown man that Al and Max are companions with, however, the readers fill in the mystery to the brief statement (3). It is difficult to imagine how Anderson could have betrayed these horrifying men, but it is implied that it most likely may consisted of drugs or money. Despite Hemingway’s use of brevity, his writing causes the readers to imagine and analyze beyond the simple