Ernest Hemingway "The Killers"Critique essay
... his almost unique ability to set up the whole setting of the story through meek and short dialogues and cues. That definately makes him a master of dialogues. In spite of the fact that the dialogues are at first sight rather poor for words, they can easily replace heavyweight eloquent descriptions and deliver all the depth of the writing. It?s not much that the author recreates precisely how people speak, but with his brilliant word choice and use of repetition he makes the reader remember what has been said. These dialogues keep the dynamics of the story going ?non-stop?. ?He comes here at six o?clock, don?t he?? ?If he comes.? ?We know all that, bright boy,? Max said. ?Talk about something else. Ever go to the movies?? ?Once in a while.? ?You ought to go to the movies more. The movies are fine for a bright boy like you.? Even such small fragment contains plenty of intensity, by which the whole story is filled. Hemingway?s specific writing style, as well as the dialogues, is also very important to his writings. His style of writing was probably influenced by his early work as a reporter in a newspaper, because one of the major reporters? rules was use of short sentences and paragraphs. The words, that Hemingway uses in his writings, essentially have nothing special in them, but the way he puts and stirs them together is his own special style. The style that has inspired lots of writers all over the world (including my personal favourites originally from Russia) but no others could recreate it in their own works. Probably the best words (or at least the best I?ve found) to describe and characterize his writing style are ?unvarnished? and ?meekness?. These attributes seem to be even more appropriate for this particular story, because I don?t think there is a need in vivid scenes and descriptions to develop author?s attitude towards the story?s theme, especially considering its peculiarity. One of the story charecters, Ole Anderson, shares not only Hemingway?s attitude towards inevitability of death, but also shares author?s terse language. A man knowing about the killers waiting for him outside and knowing that the only possible outcome is unhappy end, most likely wouldn?t prodigally waste his words trying to speak unspeakable. And he doesn?t: ?There isn?t anything I can do about it,? Ole Anderson said. ?I?ll tell you what they were like.? ?I don?t want to know what they were like,? Ole Anderson said. He looked at the wall... The theme of the story is also perfectly combined with the plot. Presence of the crime is peculiar ?classics of genre? f...