is a classic case of a paranoid schizophrenic. Don’t believe me? How about when he says, “I’m crazy-yes, but I know one thing“ (267). That one thing is he knows is that he will be killed soon, very soon.The problem and/or question of whether or not the Swede would have been killed whether Johnnie had participated in that fight by his cheating or not, is easy to answer. The Swede had a death wish and wanted to die. Some examples of this are when he takes a drink of the alcohol offered to him by Scully (269). If you thought you were in danger, would you drink anything specially offered to just you? But the Swede just laughed it off and gulped the drink right down. They did not all collaborate in the murder of the Swede. I saw no evidence of this except that they didn’t help him at all. They caused no harm to him in any way except for the “card-fight” which was a customary thing to have after being accused of cheating. But that brings about an interesting point within itself. Did the Swede know that he would get into a fight after doing such and possibly be killed? As the Cowboy said, “Kill him, Johnnie! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!” (275). The gambler at the end who actually kills the Swede is provoked enough to commit the terrible act. The Swede was not just randomly attacked by a knife wielding psycho.In conclusion, I would assume that the Swede would have died no matter what the other folks did to him in the story. He was a whack job with a death wish and was very foolhardy if he wasn’t. I can say for sure that I would not like to visit the Blue Hotel and meet some of the strange customers that arrive there daily....
