Killers was personified with the theme of innocence, passivity, criminality, men and masculinity. The meaning to the story “The killers” by Ernest Hemingway is that not all heroes stories end with a happy ending. This is apparent as the hero in the story, Nick Adams, was at first held hostage along with the cook while the killers were waiting for Mr. Andreson. The killers keep calling Nick a “bright boy” which shows as they consider him as innocent, passive, and not as a man. But when the killers do leave to Andreson never showing up. Nick left to warn Andreson of the killers, which shows his courage and leap into man hood with his courage. But even with Nicks attempt to help Andreson. He was diminished as Andreson had already accepted his