How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Just a bright boy," Max said. He leaned forward and took the ham and eggs. Both men ate with their gloves on. George watched them eat. (46)
Max takes the wrong meal – why? Is he too passive to bother correcting the error? Does he not notice?
Quote #2
"All right," George said. "What you going to do with us afterward?"
"That’ll depend," Max said. "That’s one of those things you never know at the time." (114-5)
Both men are being passive here, George in deference to the demands of the killers, and Max in deference to circumstance.
Quote #3
"Come on, Al," Max said.
"What about the two bright boys and the n*****?"
"They’re all right." (135)
The killers seem surprisingly inactive about the task at hand. They’re not alarmed that Ole didn’t show up, and they’re not concerned about leaving three witnesses who are free to run to the police or to Ole.
Quote #4
"Listen," George said to Nick. "You better go see Ole Andreson."
"All right."
"You better not have anything to do with it at all," Sam, the cook, said. "You better stay way out of it." (154-6)
Sam’s passive attitude contrasts with Nick’s active approach to this problem; passivity seems to correlate to experience. Those who are more jaded (like Sam) are able to sit idly by, while those who are more innocent (like Nick) feel the need to act – probably because the latter feels he can change things, and the former knows he can’t.
Quote #5
"I’ll go see him," Nick said to George. "Where does he live?"
The cook turned away. (160)
Sam’s turning away parallels Ole’s turning to the wall – a significant action in The Killers.
Quote #6
Ole Andreson said nothing.
"They put us out in the kitchen," Nick went on. "They were going to shoot you when you came in to supper."
Ole Andreson looked at the wall and did not say anything. (176-8)
Look at the repetition of language regarding Ole’s passivity. We are told twice that he says nothing and twice that he looked at the wall.
Quote #7
"There isn’t anything I can do about it," Ole Andreson said.
"I’ll tell you what they were like."
"I don’t want to know what they were like," Ole Andreson said. He looked at the wall. (180-2)
Ole’s passivity is contrasted with Nick’s willingness to act. Part of what makes this scene tragic is Nick’s eagerness to stop the murder.
Quote #8
"The only thing is," he said, talking toward the wall, "I just can’t make up my mind to go out. I been here all day."
On the surface, it looks as though Ole has resigned himself to fate. But the fact that he hasn’t yet gone out to meet that fate is an indication that he hasn’t accepted it completely. In actuality, he still wants to live, even if he is too passive to fight for it.
Quote #9
The cook opened the door from the kitchen when he heard Nick’s voice. (215)
"I don’t even listen to it," he said and shut the door.
The cook’s inaction is very different than Ole’s. He’s decided not to be involved and actively removes himself from the situation, whereas Ole accepts his death but passively avoids it.
Quote #10
"I can’t stand to think about him waiting in the room and knowing he’s going to get it. It’s too damned awful."
"Well," said George, "you better not think about it." (232-3)
It’s interesting that we end on this note – a note of passivity – instead of on Nick’s line of action (his declaration that he’s getting out of town). This way, the reader is left with a sense of futility, rather than hope.