Expectations vs. Reality Theme Analysis

Throughout “The Killers,” Hemingway depicts the fallout of dashed expectations. Whether the characters are merely disconcerted by their banal assumptions proving faulty (Max and Al when the diner won’t serve them dinner yet), or thrust into a moral and emotional crisis by the world not conforming to deeply-held beliefs (as Nick is when Ole Andreson contradicts his ideas about mortality), the story shows profound consequences for those who believe too much in their own expectations. Max and Al, after all, fail in their plan to murder Ole, while Nick becomes panicked to the extent that he considers uprooting his whole life. In this way, Hemingway suggests that those who cling too deeply to their expectations of the world are maladapted. The world will always defy expectation, and it’s best to be able to take things on their own terms.

Hemingway first establishes the tension between expectation and reality through Max and Al’s almost comical experience of eating at Henry’s diner. The two hitmen believe themselves to be confident and suave professionals, and they appear to assume that the world will conform to their plan: they’ll arrive at the diner, eat their meal, kill their target, and get out of town without a hitch. The obstacles to this are initially banal: the clock, for instance, reads 5:20 when it’s actually 5:00, which immediately shows that reality isn’t always as it appears. Furthermore, the menu appears to offer many options for dinner, but Max and Al try to order a few entrees and have to be told repeatedly that the dinner menu is not offered until 6:00. Instead of treating this as a routine inconvenience, the hitmen become angry and frustrated (“Everything we want’s the dinner, eh? That’s the way you work it.”), showing that they feel entitled to an experience of the world that conforms to their expectations and desires. Their inability to be flexible with their expectations is directly related to their failure to kill Ole: when he doesn’t show up as they expected, they simply leave without killing him rather than reconfiguring their plan based on the circumstances they’re in.

Unlike Max and Al, George (the diner’s manager) is someone who can see the world for what it is, and this gives him a strategic advantage over the hitmen. This is first apparent in George’s refusal to be intimidated by the rude, blustering out-of-towners who try to bully and insult him. When the hitmen bark orders at him or ask sarcastic questions insulting the town, George remains cool and matter-of-fact. This is likely due to George’s ability to see that Max and Al are not who they believe themselves to be. While they fancy themselves to be clever, experienced hitmen, Hemingway depicts Max and Al as being ridiculous and bad at their job. Their outfits, for instance, are so over-the-top that they look “like a vaudeville team” and Al makes it clear that Max’s behavior is unprofessional (and possibly dangerous to them) when he tells him, “You talk too goddam much.” Furthermore, they show themselves to be either stupid or not paying attention when their food arrives and they can’t remember who ordered what. Their theatrical appearance, mishaps, and overconfidence all betray a lack of experience, and since George sees past their attempt to cultivate a suave appearance, he is able to stay calm in the face of danger. In fact, he is even potentially able to exploit their weaknesses and manipulate them into leaving earlier than they otherwise would have: as a hostage, George looks repeatedly at the clock and tells the men that Ole isn’t coming. He is potentially emphasizing the clock’s fast time rather than the real hour, taking advantage of their inability to distinguish reality from appearance.

All of these misalignments of expectation and reality are relatively minor, but they prepare readers for the story’s major instance of subverted expectation: when Nick goes to warn Ole that his life is in danger, and Ole doesn’t try to save himself as Nick expected, but instead reveals that he is resigned to his death—a betrayal of expectation that shakes Nick’s world. When Nick decides to warn Ole, George and Sam’s reactions make clear that Nick is putting himself in danger: Sam says so outright, and George’s refusal to go himself implicitly suggests that, with Max and Al still running around, Nick might find himself in a life-threatening situation. But Nick feels that it’s worth risking his life to warn Ole because the stakes are so high. Nick either values life or fears death so much that he feels that it is the correct and courageous thing to do to put himself in danger to save someone else.

However, this is all predicated on the unquestioned assumption that Ole will be grateful and will take steps to change his fate. Nick, in other words, assumes that Ole couldn’t possibly feel differently about the situation than Nick does. This proves incorrect when Nick arrives at the boardinghouse, tells Ole about the hitmen, and Ole “said nothing” and looked at the wall, leaving Nick feeling “silly” and confused about the situation. Ole’s reaction—or lack thereof—is at such odds with Nick’s expectations that, at first, all Nick can do is repeat himself stupidly and hope the outcome changes. Despite evidence to the contrary, Nick cannot admit that his assumptions about Ole’s attitude towards death are false. However, as Ole explains that he’s “through with all that running around” and that, after grappling with his mortality, he has resigned himself to death, readers begin to see that perhaps some things are worse than dying. This runs in direct opposition to Nick’s youthful and naïve assumption that nothing is worse than death, and weighing this possibility precipitates a crisis in Nick that makes him question whether he really knows anyone or anything at all.

Hemingway reveals the magnitude of Nick’s crisis when Nick tells George that, in the wake of seeing Ole, he needs to “get out of this town.” Having his deeply-held assumptions about life and death undetermined has made Nick want to literally leave his whole life behind—an extreme and destructive act. This drives home how putting too much stock in assumption and expectation makes a person maladapted to reality. While George sees through Max and Al and is able to “not think about” Ole’s resignation to death (and can therefore live in the world on its own terms), Nick’s false beliefs are so deeply held that, when they’re contradicted, he has to take extreme measures to reinvent his life. Obviously that’s not something a person can continually do, and the story therefore suggests that it’s best to be flexible about expectations from the start and try to see the world for how it actually is.