Sylvia Plath - Daddy

LaTonya Harriott

Professor Preston

English 102

07 October 2005

The Struggle to Stay Alive

There are several conflicts that exist in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers”. The story is about a diner owner, George that is confronted by two mobsters who come into his diner looking for someone they have to kill. George had to deal with an internal struggle with having to be calm long enough for the killers to leave by talking to them and taking their minds off this deadly deed. Another conflict was Nick Adams when he goes to see Ole Andreson, the person that is supposed to be killed, he learns that Ole does not care that he is being hunted and does not want to run away. Nick struggles with Ole because he does not understand why he could just lay in bed while someone is looking for him to kill him.

George knows something is not right with the two characters that come in his restaurant and eat with their gloves on, “Both men ate with their gloves on, George watched them eat,” (Hemingway 216) and they began to get nervous. After George finds out the mobsters are there to kill someone that lives in that town he continues to remain calm and follows all instructions that he is given because he knows the seriousness of how mobsters operate. The struggle with George, the owner of the diner is when Al and Max the mobsters take him, Sam the cook and Nick, the other patron hostage in his diner to wait for Ole Andreson to get there. George decides to talk to Max who is sitting at the counter to try and get some information about what they plan to do after killing Ole and why would they kill him if he never did anything to them. With asking these questions, I believe this is when George learns they are definitely gangsters. The closer it gets to seven o’clock, George gets more and more relaxed because he knows Ole is not coming and these men can leave. George then tries to get the men to leave by letting them know how late it is getting “At six-fifty-five George said: “He’s not coming.” (Hemingway 219) At this point George is getting agitated at the fact that he wants the thugs to leave so he tells them that Ole is not coming after making a sandwich for a customer to take. Finally, George gets the thugs to leave and he immediately goes in to untie Nick and Sam. By George talking to the men and getting information from them about why they want to kill Ole he was able to send Nick to Ole’s house to warn him about them looking for him. George was able to overcome his struggle with the two men because he remained calm and persuaded them to leave without anything happening.

Nick struggled with understanding why Ole did not react to the news that people were after him to kill him. It was evident that Ole was involved in the mob or was involved with some type of illegal activity when he told Nick, “I’m through with all that running around.” He looked at the wall. There ain’t anything to do now.” (Hemingway 221) Nick on the other hand could not accept