hemingway 'The Killers'
.... Firstly, initiation can describe the discovery of the existence of evil, which often is depicted as a confrontation of the innocent protagonist with guilt and sin. This confrontation often includes a process which leads the protagonist to gain insight and experience, and this experience is generally regarded as an important step towards maturity. The second group of critics focuses more on the results of the process. In their opinion the decisive aspect is the initiate’s loss of childlike ignorance and innocence and subsequent gain of experience and maturity. Thus, this approach is often compared to the biblical Fall of Man and initiation is seen as an inevitable process of loss and gain to be undergone by every individual (Freese 1986). In contrast to these two approaches, which focus mainly on the individual process, the third one emphasises the sociological aspect of initiation. In these critics’ understanding, initiation describes a process of introduction into the values and manners of a society in order to become a full member of society. Critics of the fourth group concentrate on the process of self-discovery and self-realisation. Thus, they stress the intra-personal process (Freese 1986). To sum up, all four aspects belong together and show the process of initiation from different angles. This brief account should serve as a basis for having a closer look at the story of initiation and possible ways to define it. (Short) Story of Initiation As it already seems almost impossible to define the short story, it is even more difficult to find a valid definition of a (short) story of initiation. Nearly all attempts to give a definition of a short-story fail, because one can always find a story that does not fit into the definition but which is commonly known as a short story. However, most short-stories are characterised by complexity and functionality. The representation of different aspects within the story, such as time, space, characters, action, theme, and stylistic means, is marked by selection, reduction and condensation. As already indicated, a precise definition of a story of initiation does not exist, either. However, various attempts at a definition have been made. The work of Brooks and Warren (Understanding Fiction 1943) had a pioneering influence with regard to the story of initiation, because they were the first to introduce the concept of initiation into literary criticism. They applied this new term to the two short stories ‘I want to know why’ (Anderson) and ‘The Killers’ (Hemingway). According to them, initiation means the discovery of evil and disorder. A critic that tried to give a more detailed definition of the story of initiation was Marcus (1960): An initiation story may be said to show its young protagonist experiencing a significant change of knowledge about the world or himself, or a change of character, or of both, and this change must point or lead him towards an adult world. It may or may not contain some form of ritual, but it should give some evidence that the change is at least likely to have permanent effects. (Marcus 1960) Furthermore Marcus (1960) distinguishes three types of literary initiation, i.e. tentative, uncompleted, and decisive initiations. However his attempt has been criticised for being too general and only taking into account the field of anthropology (Freese 1986). In addition, in 1797 Freywald rejected Marcus’ tripartite definition and gave her own one. In her opinion the initiation must be an interrelation between two poles, such as the individual and the society. The most decisive aspect is that the process has its consequences for the initiate’s conscience and behaviour and this change must be obvious in the text. These critics’ different opinions towards the story of initiation can also be seen in their different attitudes towards whether or not ‘The Killers’ is a story of initiation. The most recent attempt to define the story of initiation was done by Freese (1987) who applies his ‘working definition’ of a short story of initiation to ‘The Killers’. The Killers – A short story of initiation Although the Killers has often been classified as a ‘story of initiation’, it seems questionable whether it is a story of initiation at all. As already mentioned, Brooks and Warren were the first to use this term in literature. However, as a precondition of considering ‘The Killers’ as a story of initiation it is vital to answer the question of who the protagonist is. Thus, Brooks and Warren were the first to regard Nick as the protagonist of the story because the focus in the story is left on Nick. They see a process of initiation in Nick’s discovery of evil and disorder and regard this to be a first step toward the mastery of discipline. In Marcus’ tripartite structure, ‘The Killers’ is a tentative story of initiation, which means that the initiation only leads to the threshold of maturity without crossing it. These stories typically show shocking experiences and, as such experiences do not always lead to maturity, Marcus demands that one has to observe permanent effect on the protagonist before it can be called a story of initation. Schumann already discussed this classification and, in his opinion, the initiation of Nick leads to a turning away from society, because he reacts emotionally. In contrast to these approaches Freywald completely disagrees that ‘The Killers’ is a short story of initiation. According to her, Nick does not discover evil but death and the decisive encounter neither mean ‘insight’, ‘experience’, nor ‘knowledge’ for Nick. Furthermore, Nick’s flight seems to be aimless and thus Freywald designates Nick as a victim. Vaidyanathan (1974) has a similar opinion to Freywald and states that ‘The Killers’ is neither a weak nor a strong initiation story, since Nick has not been brought to the threshold of maturity because of the episodic nature of the story. In addition, the focus is too little on Nick to expect any changes. One necessary precondition of ‘The Killers’ classification as a story of initiation is the assumption that Nick is the protagonist. More recently, some critics have doubted this assumption and put forward Ole as the real protagonist of the story (Vaidyanathan 1974). One of the first that did not accept Nick as the protagonist of the story was Evans. He argued that Nick cannot be the protagonist, because one does not know enough a...