?The famous singer Frank Zappa said "The United States is a nation of laws; badly written and randomly enforced." The short stories of early 20th century quite well describe contradictions between written laws and their real meaning to people. The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, all these documents reflect American's ideals of 20th century which were far away from reality during that time. The declaration of Independence guarantees Americans the right to "Life," "Liberty," and it also says that "all men are equal." The Bill of Rights promises Americans the right to free speech, the right to fair trial, and the protection from having your property searched and sized. It is American's ideals, what all Americans are proud of, but in the early 20th century this ideals were ignored in some way or were enforced unequally between different groups of people.
             The Declaration of Independence guarantees Americans the right to "Life", "Liberty", and it also says that all men are created equal. These rights are stated officially and applying to all Americans regardless of race, sex or any kind of differences between people. However, "The Best American Short Stories of The Century" by John Updike shows us the reality of that time, and how those rights were ignored by the people. Moreover, it was common and quite normal during that period of time. "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway gives us an idea how right to "Life" really meant nothing in the past. When the killers come to the lunch-room they don't even try to hide the purpose of their visit and state "We are going to kill a Swede" ("The Killers,"p.71). This phrase means that it is very usual to them and they don't afraid of police. It is better everybody to know that Ole Anderson will be killed soon, because he "double-crossed somebody" (p....