A word that appears 17 times throughout the book, its use and context changes once the Hammer hits. Its first appearance, on page 29, is a casual conversation between Harvey and Mark. Harvey mentions something quickly about how he feels like killing somebody, Mark replies that he could have that arranged. A remark made in jest, a casual take on the idea of murder, the mindset shown in this conversation, one of the first between Harvey and Mark, shows the difference in thinking pre-Hammerfall. In the word’s first appearance in the novel, it is Mark’s joke, a joke that Harvey thinks twice about before moving on. In the time before Hammerfall, murder is something that is an action that can be joked about, rather than the major concern of day-to-day life it becomes once the Hammer hits.
Murder’s second appearance on page 233 is in a drastically different context. Whereas Mark once casually joked about knocking someone off, Eileen is confronted with the sudden use of murder as a survival tool, as a crime that holds no punishment. Watching the first few moments of civilization’s demise, Eileen sees Officer Larsen turn away from cold-blooded murder, more concerned with his own sustained existence than upholding the expired validity of his profession. “…the only cop was walking away, fast, after calmly watching murder. It wasn’t a world Eilieen understood.” (233). In this quick scene, the novel turns societal roles and taboos into lapsed luxuries that have no place in this new world. The world has changed in an instant, geographically, socially, completely.
Though the first use of the word is in jest and not a serious possibility, every use thereafter (except for one, on page 274, where the word is in the title of one book Forrester is hiding) is very real and is describing someone’s plans or actions. The frequent use of this word is found in different stages of realization, but it is always a real threat, as murder has become so common it is used as a deterrent, as recreation, and at certain points, as a necessity. At certain times, the word is not even used when the act has been committed, but even still, murder has become such an inherent aspect of this new world that the word’s connotation as an extreme violation of the social contract has lost its weight.