skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Epstein and Faulkner
Recently we read Epstein's "Family Values" and Hemingway's "The Killers." In different ways, both of these stories are about a lack of involvement, lack of attachment; they suggest that a profound solitude is at the heart of modern society. Comments, questions, thoughts?
I thought about how "The Killers" might be related to money.
ReplyDeleteIn my idea what is really happening is kind of cruel.
I speculated that the heavyweight prizefighter wrestler is too poor. He might have decided to support his family by getting insurance money from his death.
It's very unusual and sad. I think this way because the guy lives in rooming-house alone, not in his own house and lay in a small bed. If he were doing well as the prizefighter, he would earn big money and live in good house. Naturally I thought he has serious health problem such as cancer and lost his job and found nothing to do after his boxing career. He might want to support his family by the insurance money from his death rather than spend all the money in fighting against a disease that can't be healed. So he could call the agents who kill people in these situation and ask them to kill him in condition that he has to pay some money beforehand. So the agents, Al and Max could try to kill Ole Andreson without a guilty conscience. Before Al perfomed his mission, Max revealed this. From this, I guess they kill him not because of vengeance but because of order.
It's cruel and dark and lacking in humanity! But you know those incidents actually happen! It's scary.
I think Hemingway might have intended to show that society is losing its humanity because of money.
I thought this way, a boxer, a Swede named Ole Andreson, wanted to be killed.
ReplyDeleteSo He,swede,hired killer himself and tell them "please kill the boxer whoes name Ole Andreson" anonymously. But the day (The day of be killed) comes and Swede suddenly changed his mind.
We can thought this way because we see he already dressed up which could means he prepared his own death. But as most people always be scared to be dead, He was scare too.
That's why he was so calm and didn't care about killer's coming(probably he told killer to kill bower only when he is in restaurant or only at that time, whatever).
Why he wanted to be killed?
Maybe.. He missed the time when he was hero at the ring(boxer field). He now has nothing to do, lose everythig.. people don't care about him. He used to be strong but now he feel he is weak.
Maybe that kind of reason. :)
In the Killer we find it strange that the boxer doesn't seem to care that there are people who try to kill him. Something that's more weird is the part where the people who work in the restaurent don't really seem to care.
ReplyDeleteBoxer seems to feel that life is meaningless. I think the boxer actually knew that there were someone who try to kill him. We find him lying down in a bed with clothes on. That shows that he was thinking to go out, or he did go out but decided to come back because he slightly saw what was going on in the restaurant from outside.
He was also depressed by his friends reaction who didn't really seem to care. They told him that someone tried to kill him but they didn't sound angry or nervous. They should they call the police when the killers left but they didn't and there was no tension to be seen among those who work in the restaurent. They just didn't care because they survived.
The killers
ReplyDeleteWhat funny guys, two killers, they are. Al and Max don’t seem to be killers because Max is too talkative and they don’t hide anything like their plan and their appearance. On page 219, even the narrator described two killers as a vaudeville team. Hahaha. Anyway, let’s go over the story. When Nick got to Ole Anderson’s home, Anderson was lying on the bed with all his clothes on. What does it mean? It means that he already knew that he was going to be killed. Although he would be killed, he wanted his body to be remained good. Also, he didn’t go out for a long time. It shows that he was scared of death. Then, why are the killers trying to kill Anderson? On page 218, the killers said “We’re killing for a friend. On page 222, George said “Double-crossed somebody” Now we can know that Anderson deceived somebody. One thing I’m still curious about is why Anderson is indifferent to his death. Why didn’t he try to escape from the killers? Why did he give up running away? On page 221, Anderson said he can’t get out of town because he is through with all that running around. Ah? I can’t understand his thinking. Being killed is not the best way to be through all the problems. It’s his life. Life can’t be two times. Although he was a boxer, he looks so weak to bad people. Also, other people are scared of the killers so that they don’t help Anderson actively. In that situation, our boy, Nick, feel sick of this town and the people in the town. In the end, he decides to get out of the town.
In conclusion, I think Hemingway criticizes modern people, who are scared of bad people and don’t care about others. And here, Irony comes out. Since the Industrial Revolution, we've believed that our lives are getting better by getting products that we need. We are often under the illusion that if we get something we need, then we will be happier. Take a look at our world. Does everybody in the world look so happy? No, they aren’t. Also, ironically, the people in poor countries have higher level of happiness than the people in rich countries. What does it mean? It means there’s something more important than material things. And this is the thing that the people living now should think about.