"Blood-Burning Moon" by Jean Toomer and "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway are two stories that take place in the roaring twenties. This is a time in America that the "times" are changing quickly. There is huge economic growth due to new machines, the new machines shorten work hours and the growth increases wages. This changed how much free time people have and what they did with it. The automobile allows people to become mobile, which increased the need for new highways, with the new highways the hospitality industry grew as well. The enactment of the 18th amendment of Prohibition brings about a whole new group of criminals.
In the "Blood-Burning Moon" Bob Stone thinks the following about Louisa: "She was worth it. Beautiful nigger gal. Why nigger? Why not, just gal? No, it was because she was a nigger that he went to her." Bob Stone is conflicted in his love for Louisa and what he feels is his entitlement because he is white and she is black. While Bob walked to meet Louisa and he was trying to justify his relationship with Louisa. Why should he sneak around, if he was a master he could just take what is his. He may truly love her but he could never be openly with her because it wasn't acceptable in this time frame of history. It was not acceptable for blacks and whites to have romantic relationship, Jean Toomer, the author, experienced this firsthand. Jean's light skin allowed him to move between the white and black worlds, until he married a white woman. Bob wasn't willing to risk the embarrassment or harassment of being with a black woman openly.
When Louisa did not meet him in the clearing as planned, Bob believed she was with Tom, he went to her spoiling for a fight with Tom. The author paints the reader a picture of anger and rage that both of these men feel towards each other. This leaves me the reader wondering if Bob was angry about Louisa being with Tom because he truly loved her or that he did not want Tom touching what he considered his property. Bob attacked Tom first and Tom tried to send him off, dismissing him. He eventually defends himself against Bob, again Bob was the one who pulled out the knife first, and Tom defended himself by killing Bob. Tom was lynched and killed by an angry white mob, it did not matter to them that Tom was attacked first. The other blacks that witnessed the scene hid in their homes, they were not willing to step in because it would not have made a difference in Tom's outcome but it would have subjected them to harm. Today this would have been considered self defense and Tom would have walked away, but in the twenties blacks were still considered second rate citizens. How dare this black man defend himself against a white man? "Two deaths for a goddamn nigger", this statement brings to life how insignificant Louisa is as a person. She was not worthy of being consoled even though she watched both men she cared about die.
Ernest Hemingway's style of writing is very different from Jean Toome's, Jean paints a picture for the reader with his details the reader can "see" the rage between the men in his story. I had a hard time following "The Killers" the first time through, I got tangled up in the dialogue and lost the point of the story. Once I was able to separate out the dialogue and the characters in the story, I felt like I was "watching" an old black and white movie.
Two guys from the big city slide into to a small town in order to kill someone, this is made possible by the automobile boom people can now move in and out of an town quickly. Ernest tells us how the two men have "different faces but they were dressed like twins" and he tells us how they were dressed with little detail other than what articles of clothing they are wearing. He does not need to give more detail their manner of dress implies they are gangsters. They are waiting for Ole Andreson in what had once been a saloon but now was a lunch-counter, a lunch counter because of Prohibition.
When George is caught watching Max and Al eat with their gloves on the banter changes; Nick, George and Sam are told why the two men are there. Max and Al toy with the three men while they wait for Ole Andreson, they argue amongst themselves about "talking too much". I would be freaking out but you don't get that sense about George, he appears to be staying calm in the face of danger. The impression I got of this era was keep your head low, Sam says it best "you better not have anything to do with it at all. You better stay out of it". If you were unfortunate enough to get caught in the middle of something like this but yet fortunate enough to walk away without harm that is what you should do, walk away and forget it.
Ernest's depiction of the Ole Andreson, "a heavyweight prizefighter and he was too long for the bed" tells us that he is large man that might have been able to defend himself but he has given up. Where once he might have been able to move far enough away that he wouldn't have been pursued was no longer the case because of the automobile. People were able to move about more freely and quickly with the automobile. With today's technology it is even harder to "hide". Also Ole's acceptance "there ain't anything to do", speaks of a time when the mob ruled the streets and there was not much the police could do to protect someone like Ole.
The 20's was a time of great changes, modernization of items we take for granted today but also a dangerous time because of Prohibition. Prohibition was passed to stop immoral behavior but incited even more immoral and illegal behavior, go figure.
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