Hemingway’s short-story masterpiece stand out as a representation of the author’s writing by giving an insight into the psyche of the author himself and reflect on the deeply-rooted lost generation’s hollowness and meaninglessness. However, it also aims to delve into the phenomenon of the inevitability of death as well as masculine fellowship. Apart from the portrayal of Nick Adam is of great significance as he fit well into the framework of a typical dignified hero confronted with his dealings between violence and evil as an introduction into his adulthood.
As far as the characterization of Nick Adam is concerned, likewise, it would be fair enough to shed light on Hemingway’s portrayal of crime as opposed to masculinity which emerges out to be chaotic. There are many misconceptions in this particular story as the author has attempted to inculcate the fact that the world is not the other way round and at the same time foreshadows the wretchedness and the harsh reality of being a part of the world as it is not actually as it seems to be. Hemingway’s story revolves around two ‘gangsters’ which in itself highlights a negative aspect of society as he specifically highlights the history of crime in Chicago. The transitional dialogue as used by Hemingway deliberately gains the interest of a reader. During the Prohibition period, the criminal activities were at stake and almost took over humanity turning them extremely disillusioned.
A critic Chris Semansky in one of the commentaries has marked “The Killers” as an embodiment of waiting and thus associates it with Hemingway’s own technique of keeping suspense as the story progresses. Moreover, “The Killers” can more specifically be referred to the representation of Einstein’s theory which was an embodiment of ‘relativity’, while it also coincides with certain aspects of uncertainty. Apart from this the indecisiveness of sexual identity is of great significance in its ambiguity as well improbability as it foreshadows the deceptiveness of appearances.
According to Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective, ‘The Killers’ is an ultimate reflection that borders between the utopian as well as dystopian space. In this particular story for instance, the ‘murder’ around which the entire story revolves, seems to be a proclamation that emerged from the “superego” of the murderers in the category of ‘ID’, ‘Ego’ and ‘Superego’. However, the murder that took place as a result of an awkward relevance of brotherly relation with a dear friend considering the killing of Anderson as a moral obligation of fulfillment of a friend’s desire. Besides that, Al and Max seem to be on the face of the face of holding no personal grudge against the supposed victim. Yet, these ‘two killers’ are distinctively drawn towards the “superego” that rests within every individual and hence, in their situation the psychoanalytic view takes over.
Ole Anderson surprisingly is aware of his killers and does not want to run from them anymore. He is completely aware of the fact that there are people wanting to kill him for things he has done in the past. Of all the characters, this one can be explained very well by the Freud’s theory of conscious mind. Ole Anderson has the most activated conscious mind where he is aware of everything, has no anxiety, and is ready to face his killers. This could possibly be the reason why Ole Anderson chose not to try to avoid the killers. It also clearly reflects Freud’s ‘death instinct’ or ‘Thanatos,’ which explains that people have an unconscious desire to cease their own existence. Mrs Bell, the landlady, confirmed Anderson’s ‘death instinct’ inclination by telling Nick that Ole Anderson does not feel like going out.
One of Freud’s theory in which he describes ‘repression’ as avoiding and suppressing a feeling due to remembering and experiencing pain is reflected in the fact that the cook at the lunch home wanted to avoid the situation completely after the killers left. The setup in the lunch room at the beginning of the story portrayed 2 gangsters instilling fear in the minds of the cook by tying him back to back with Nick in the kitchen with a towel in his mouth. This was certainly a bitter enough experience for the cook that led to repression.
Furthermore, through the flashbacks into the beginning of this particular story it could be perceived that the ‘lunch hour’ coincided with Freud’s “ID” as it ultimately an directed of the individual’s struggles between wants and desires in which the idea of ‘desire’ takes over. However, since personal satisfaction is of great significance according to Freud’s psychoanalytical perspective. In the lunch room for instance the desire to eat a specific dish almost indulged the killers in their imaginary aroma. However, it was solely their ‘desire’ that compelled Al and Max to feed their “ID”. Hence, George humble request from the two men to wait for the meal to get prepared and their reaction again justifiably represent Freud’s ideology of “ID”.
Moreover, George’s decency is inflicted upon and is driven by his rationalized action. However, this rationality forced him to question morality as well as criminality of Al and Max in terms of killing a person they never had met before. Besides that, George seems to be stricken by two devastating situations yet he manages well to get rid of it. Here, this particular situation again develops its association with Freud’s “ID” theory that permeates the immediate cause and effect followed by an immediate action for personal ‘desires’. George rationally attempts to prevent to prevent any person to the lunch-room. Because he had already sensed something wrong in the air as he is fully aware of the two gangsters wanting and waiting to kill Anderson. Moreover, these particular psychological dealings among misconceptions lead George to lie to the men heading towards the lunch-room. At the same time it is also reflexive of the ‘life-instinct’ of George and hence it as well is termed as an “Eros” by Freud.
The characterization of Freud’s theory of “reality anxiety” is further intensified by one of the incident that take place in the lunch room in which the Max discloses to George about the planned murder of Anderson, yet Al being victimized by the fear of the real happenings of the world angrily forbade him from revealing any secret. However, this again is an insight into Freud’s ideology in which he claimed that the reality anxiety is often a stimulation of an ego which deliberately conveys the vibes of the potential danger of the real world events. Al’s ego prevented him to reveal anything further to George because his ego enabled him to sense the potential dangers. Besides that, the cook also played well in keep himself away from the reflux. Perhaps he too was aware of the potentially threatening situation that almost waved towards everyone. Therefore it could easily be perceived that the cook too was an obvious representation of “reality anxiety”. The cook always suggested Nick and George not to be a part of this traumatic situation since it was merely a foreshadowing of a gloomy and a life threatening incident. Furthermore, Nick’s unconscious side of mind is depicted through his disagreement to follow the advice of the cook as he is fully driven by his superlative urge to rule over his desire as his “superego” again seems to rule over his ego as reflexive of Freud’s theory of “moral anxiety” as Nick is seemed to be under the inclination of the fulfillment of his moral obligation of letting the victim know that his life is threatened. By getting involved in this chaos, Nick’s “ID” overpowers his ego and rationally act to subject Nick’s desires risking his own life.