Theme

Corruption- One theme in "The Killers" is corruption. Corruption is shown through the two men who come into the diner and tie the cook and waiter up in the kitchen and are planning to kill Ole Andreson. The most corrupted thing about the whole ordeal is that the killers do not even know who Andreson is and they do not know why they are killing him, they were just hired to do so. The killers say "He never had a chance to do anything to us. He never even seen us." (Hemingway 71). Nick finally has enough of the corruption and cannot take it any longer so he decides that he wants to leave the town. He cannot bare to know that his friend, Ole Andreson, is OK with getting killed because he is tired of running.

Inability to escape death- Another theme in this short story is the inability to escape death. Ole Andreson, the retired boxer, has been running and running from his problems for a long time, but he has finally decided to settle back in his home in Summit, Illinois and face the facts: he cannot run any longer. He realizes that the killers are going to get him anyways and there is no way to stop them.