Nick Adams is a young man who doesn’t have much life experience. However, he shows growth over the course of “The Killers,” suggesting that he is becoming a man of action. By the end of the story, Nick gets closer to embodying Hemingway’s “code hero” archetype: that is, a man who sticks to his principles and fights to live courageously even in the face of death. While he originally follows the killers’ orders in the lunchroom when under the direct threat of death or violence, afterward Nick chooses to put himself back in the path of danger by going to see Ole Andreson. This choice is in contrast to Sam’s decision, as the cook follows the philosophy that he can’t change the outcome and so won’t involve himself any further. Even when Sam tries to challenge and dissuade him, Nick goes anyway.

Because of his ideals, and perhaps also his naivety, Nick doesn’t understand why Ole won’t fight for his life or try to escape the threat of the killers. During his visit, he presses Ole until he finally realizes that the large man can’t be shaken out of his stupor and leaves. Nick seems confused and devastated as he imagines Ole simply waiting in that room for death to come and find him, a fate that, by now, Nick has decided is antithetical to the way he wants to live. By the end of the story, Nick is eager to get out of town and away from a situation that he can’t bear to contemplate. He has gained a new life experience and has cemented some of his ideals of action in the face of threat and death.