Discussion Topic
Key characters in Hemingway's "The Killers"
Summary:
Key characters in "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway include Ole Andreson, a former boxer who is the target of the killers, and Nick Adams, a young man who encounters the situation. The killers themselves, Al and Max, are also central, as they create the tension by planning to murder Ole. Additionally, George, the diner manager, plays a significant role in the narrative.
Who is the protagonist of "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway?
It is possible to have a protagonist in a story who never appears in person but whose motivation and influence is are felt throughout. A good example of this, with which Hemingway must have been familiar, is to be found in Henry James's greatest novel, The Ambassadors (1903). Mrs. Newsome, the rich and domineering mother of Chad Newsome, is the protagonist although she remains in America while everything take place in Europe. It is she who sends the middle-aged hero Lambert Strether to Paris to find her son Chad and persuade him to come home to take his place managing the family manufacturing business. It is Mrs. Newsome's strong motivation that drives the story. When Strether does not seem to be making much progress with Chad, who is having an affair with a married woman, Mrs. Newsome sends two more "ambassadors" to France, her stiff, prudish daughter and her daughter's...
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husband. Since there should be anantagonist as well as a protagonist, it is clear that the antagonist is the cultured, sophisticated Mme. de Vionnet, Chad's mistress. The two women on two different continents are fighting over possession of the handsome playboy Chad Newsomee.
In the case of Hemingway's "The Killers," the protagonist is an unnamed "friend" who is paying the two hit men to kill Ole Andreson. The friend has been hunting Ole for quite a while, judging from what Ole tells Nick when Nick comes to the rooming house to warn him. So the antagonist in this story can be none other than Ole Andreson himself. The hit men would not be there if the friend was not paying them, and Ole would not be on the lam if he hadn't done something pretty serious to antagonize that friend. George, Nick, Sam, Max, Al. and Mrs. Bell are all just little people who happen to get involved in a battle between the protagonist and antagonist.
References
Nick Adams is considered to be the protagonist in "The Killers". He is a young man sitting in the diner when the two hit men enter. He is still innocent regarding the reality of the criminal world of the 1920s. The men who have been hired to kill Ole introduce Nick to this world where violence and death are a regular part of doing business. Nick feels he must warn Ole of the danger, but Ole has resigned himself to accept the situation and just wait in his room for the men to kill him. Nick's innocence has come to an end, bringing him into the adult world. His young age leads him to express his desire to get away from Summitt because he sees no other way to deal with the situation.
Who is the code hero in Hemingway's "The Killers"?
Ole Andreson is a potential code hero but not complete.Nick Adams is on the road to becoming the complete code hero though still young and learning.
Nick bravely confronts evil when he goes to warn Ole about the killers. Ole is part code hero because he has accepted the inevitability of his death, but still manages to thank Nick for coming! However, Nick is right to note that he is too passive about it, 'I can't stand to think about him waiting in that room and knowing he's going to get it'. A true code hero must act even in the face of death.
Ole himself says, 'I just can't make up my mind to go out...After a while I'll make up my mind to go out'. Of course leaving his room would result in his death but facing up to death is a code hero requirement. At the moment, staring at the wall, he is not acting, not facing up to things.
Nick has been like a true code hero by facing up to death and by demanding Ole should act. However, at the end he shows he's too young to be one when he says,'I'm going to get out of this town'.it is naive to think he can escape life's grim realities by a change of scenery.