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People are often powerless to stop terrible events from happening. 

Despite their knowledge of the terrible threat against Ole’s life, Nick and George are powerless to stop the killers from achieving their ultimate goal. George tries his best to keep the killers appeased and get them out of the restaurant as soon as possible. Nick goes to find Ole to give him a warning. He even does everything in his power to persuade Ole to do something about his situation, to fight back in some way, either to leave town or fix his mistake. However, none of these actions serve to stop the killers.

Ole and Sam both realize their own powerlessness. Sam quickly recognizes the threat posed by the two hitmen and immediately complies with their demands. Even after they’re gone, he declares his intent to stay out of the situation and tries to persuade Nick to do the same. His reaction and advice seem to come from experience, as though he’s seen similar situations before and realizes there’s nothing to be done. Ole himself seems to have come to a similar conclusion. He’s worked with men like the killers in Chicago and understands that he’s powerless to avoid his own fate at their hands. None of the characters, whether they are naïve or experienced, physically or mentally strong, are able to stand in the way of the killers or the death they will deliver.

There is a fine line between courage and foolishness.

There is often a fine line between courage and foolishness, as explored in “The Killers.” As in other stories by Hemingway, the text suggests that those who fight despite the odds are heroic, portraying their struggle in the face of death as something courageous and worthy. Nick is the character who embodies this trait the most, as he’s the one who puts himself in harm’s way to warn Ole. Even when given an out by George, who encouraged him to go in the first place, Nick sticks by his decision. He might be called courageous for choosing to do so, but other characters would disagree and call him foolish.

Sam, in particular, views this “courageous” act as the height of foolishness. The cook explicitly tells Nick that it’s better for him to stay out of the whole thing. In the face of Nick’s insistence, Sam turns his back to Nick, giving up on him. He states that Nick thinks he knows what’s best, but calls this stubbornness naivety rather than courage. In Sam’s eyes, Nick is not a hero doing the right thing, but a youth who doesn’t want to rethink his actions or consider that he may be making the wrong decision. He knows that Ole is going to die and that Nick might die as well in his attempt to stop what is unstoppable. Ultimately, although Nick makes it safely back to the restaurant, it remains unclear whether Nick’s actions are brave or foolish.

Gentleness has no place in a world of cruelty. 

Ole is seen by those in his life as a gentle man, despite his tough appearance, but gentleness seemingly has no place in the world of crime-run Chicago. That world is cruel and violent, as shown through Max and Al, two hitmen who have no problem with killing anyone who gets in their way. Ole inhabited this same world for a time, as he fought in the ring as a prize-fighter and did work for a criminal group in Chicago. He enacted violence on others, something which his landlady finds surprising and at odds with the character she sees in him.

In the end, Ole’s mild temper is crushed underneath the cruelty of the world he inhabits. His whole life has been defined by the violence of the ring, his face marked by it. Even the end of his life comes at the hands of cruel hitmen who will show him no mercy or kindness. The hitmen don’t know what kind of man Ole is and will never see him in the familiar light that the landlady does. Their coldness and cruelty, as well as the coldness and cruelty of violent Chicago, far outweigh any natural gentleness that characterizes Ole’s true nature.

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