The Killing of The Swede

A detailed Summary of The Killing of The Swede

In the short story, "The Blue Hotel," the character of Johnnie is dynamic and round. The beginning of the story finds Johnnie playing cards with an old farmer. They begin to argue over the game. Scully, Johnnie's father walks in and stops the game so Johnnie could help him with the newly arrived guest's baggage. When they were done bringing the luggage upstairs, Johnnie asked the farmer to another game. "The farmer agreed with a contemptuous and bitter scoff" (397 paragraph 1) The cowboy and the Easterner looked on curiously. Again, the game is ended in an argument. As the farmer left the game, the cowboy and the Easterner wanted to try a hand at the card game with Johnnie. They asked the Swede to join in and he was nervously hesitant but finally agreed to play. The Swede had a piercing laugh and the others looked at him oddly.

During the game, the Swede had said to Johnnie, "I suppose there had been a good many men killed in this room." (397 paragraph 6) The others looked in amazement and Johnnie asked what he meant. The Swede mistakenly thought they knew what he was getting at. Johnnie had said "There hain't never been nobody killed in this room." The cowboy and the Easterner were as puzzled as Johnnie as to wh

Meanwhile back at the hotel, the men found out the gambler received three years for killing the Swede. The cowboy and the Easterner were discussing the fate of the Swede and the Easterner confesses that he saw Johnnie cheating.

After the men eat dinner, The Swede insists on playing another card game. The men gather around the stove and an another card game is played. The Swede accuses Johnnie of cheating. The Swede attempted to hit Johnnie in the face, the room fell silent, and Scully walked in. All of the men started bickering and Johnnie had been easily provoked by the Swede's accusations.

Johnnie was very defensive, arrogant and easily provoked as stated in the paragraphs above. The five men, Johnnie, the cowboy, the Easterner, Scully, and the gambler all had something to do with the death of unfortunate Swede. The Swede died because he read dime novels and believed he was right there in the middle of one. He accused people of wanting to kill him and stood up to a cheater. In addition, because the Swede did not want to be sidelined he died at the hands of another cheater, the gambler.

Johnnie and the Swede collided into each other, and began throwing fists at each other. In the background, watching the fight, the cowboy began yelling "Kill him, kill him!" to Johnnie.

at the Swede had said. The Swede felt they were ganging up on him. The Swede also thought they all wanted to fight him. The Swede kept repeating "I suppose I am going to be killed before I can leave this house!" (398 paragraph 8) Scully

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1038
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English