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The roar of the .45 shook the room. Charlotte staggered back a step. Her eyes were a symphony of incredulity, an unbelieving witness to truth. Slowly, she looked down at the ugly swelling in her naked belly where the bullet went in. 'How could you?' she gasped. I had only a moment before talking to a corpse, but I got it in. 'It was easy,' I said.

Mickey Spillane#6

ViolenceCrimeMurderConscienceDetachmentPsychology

About this quote

What does it mean?
A killer coldly reflects on a murder, contrasting the victim’s shock with his own ease.
In plain terms
After shooting someone, he feels nothing and calls it easy.
What can you take from it?
Extreme violence can numb moral feeling.

Where it applies

  • crime
  • psychology
  • narrative climax

Putting it to work

  • analyze motiveless violence
  • study criminal detachment

Questions to consider

  • How do killers justify murder?
  • What happens to conscience?

Another view

This perspective risks glorifying cold-bloodedness.

More from Mickey Spillane

  1. Don't worry, I don't underrate the cops. But cops can't break a guy's arm to make him talk, and they can't shove his teeth in with the muzzle of a .45 to remin…

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  2. When you sit at home comfortably folded up in a chair beside a fire, have you ever thought what goes on outside there? Probably not. You pick up a book and rea…

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  3. The cops aren't exactly dumb, you know. We can get our own answers. Not like I can. That's why you buzzed me so fast. You can figure things out as quickly as I…

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