Discuss the atmosphere of suspense and horror in “The Killers”.
Ans:
“The Killers” by Ernest Hemingway is a story full of horror and suspense. Horror is present there throughout the story. The suspense is felt by the reader kept very tight till the end of the story. The subject-matter of the story is full of horror and fear. Al and Max were two cruel, hardhearted killers. They were going to kill, Ole Andreson, simply “to please" one of their friends. For them, human life was so negligible that they were ready to take it without any “serious” motive, just for the sake of pleasure of their friend.
We note the activities of the killers, Al and Max, in the restaurant with fear and disgust. They were very rough and rude. They talked and behaved in the stupidest way. They treated George, Nick and Sam, (the staff of Henry's Lunch Room) in the roughest and rudest manner.
The suspense of the story becomes clear to us in the end when Nick went to inform Ole Andreson about the killers’ visit to the lunch room.
Ole was then altogether indifferent to his own life because of the continuous race he had been running with his expected killers (for saving his life). He had become, so fed up with the grim business that he had then surrendered and resigned to his fate. When we came to know about that, we feel shudder! The killers had' “accomplished” their task even without smearing their hands with the real blood of their prey. This really makes us horrified and we say abruptly that the story is really full of horror and suspense.
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