7. The story “The Killers” reflects some of the darkest aspects of the modern society. Discuss.
No doubt, the story “The Killers” reflects some of the darkest aspects of the modern American society.
When we go through the story, we find that there appears to be no hold of law and order in the modern American society. It is very easy to kill and to make hostage to anyone. Gun is the order of the day. The killers have a gun and they make the members of the staff hostages. They control the situation in the restaurant for more than two hours and there is no police around. People are killing each just to oblige their friends. They do not need any serious excuse.
People are helpless against these killers. They cannot escape the killers even by running away and leaving towns. They cannot get help from the police. In the story, Nick advises Ole to get help from the police, but Ole says, “That wouldn’t do any good,” and “There ain’t anything to do.” This is the darkest aspect of the modern American society.
Even innocent people are helpless against the killers. They cannot get help from the police either. The best they can do is to leave towns.
At the end of the story, we find that everybody is afraid. Sam, the cook, even refuses to listen to anything relating to Ole. Nick says, “They’ll kill him,” and George says, “I guess they will.” These sentences show the situation of law and order in the modern American society.
Therefore, we can conclude that the story, “The Killers” reflects some of the darkest aspects of the modern American society. (264)