The Killers

In Earnest Hemingway's The Killers, the reader is thrown into a terrible situation controlled by two men. These characters, Max and Al, remind me of the kind of jerks you run into standing in line at a concert or a movie. They begin conversing with you, then insulting you to one another.

The dialogue between the characters consumes most of this piece, allowing them to set the scene and provide background information versus the narrator. This is an interesting device, however, at times I had to reread passages in order to keep up with who is saying what.

What stuck out to me most was that the dialogue contributed from Max and Al (to each other and to the other characters) seemed so nonchalant considering they have come to the diner in order to kill a man. Going back and forth with likes like

"So, he thinks it's all right." Max turned to Al. "He thinks it's all right. That's a good one."
"Oh, he's a thinker," Al said.

I felt that this story could go a bit further, meaning I would like to see what came of the characters put in this situation. We don't know what comes of Ole Anderson or why he was put into this situation. However, the last line "you better not think about it,"fit perfectly with the tone of the rest of the piece.