I found the section that finally describes how and when Nick killed to be surprisingly disturbing and haunting. It starts on page 778 and ends right before the epilouge of the book. This scene is supposed to be the climax of the novel, even though it happened before most of the action. Underworld does follows the classic structure of a novel (intro, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion), except for the movement of time.
Anyway, I think this is probably the most emotional scene in the book, which would make sense as this is what forms Nick's character and estranges him from his brother, and makes him a "country of one". The description of George, "the little brightness in his eye", is startling. And obviously we ask- did he want to die? Was he playing Russian roulette- almost daring Nick to pull the trigger? Certainly seems like that, and Nick thinks so too. The repetition of "the way the man said no when he asked if it was loaded" and "first he poined the gun at the man's head" simulates Nick's thoughts- over and over and over- what just happened? This section is very well written and it shows more personality insight than we get in most of the rest of the book.
I also noticed that George immediately becomes "the man" after he is shot. Nick has forgotten the person and just remembers the crime. He is already turning inward and forgetting how his actions affect others.
In other news: my favorite passage in the whole book must be right before the murder scene. The description of the kids in the street during the summer (page 776-777) is wonderful!
When I read this section of the novel, I couldn't help but feel like this murder wasn't Nick's fault. Certainly it wasn't premeditated. And even though I know that Nick pulled the trigger on his own accord, I still feel like it wasn't a murder (although by definition yes, it was). I definitely got the impression that George wanted to die; it's as though he anticipated Nick's actions and used him in order to do so. On page 780, DeLillo writes that "in the extended interval of the trigger pull, the long quarter second, with the action of the trigger sluggish and rough, Nick saw into the smile of the other man's face." I feel like that smile was George knowing what was coming, and Nick realized that just a smidge too late. But, as Nick thinks, it "seemed to have the spirit of a dare," (781) like a game, certainly not like a murder.
I agree with you about this passage being well written. I especially liked the disconnect on pages 780-781; it was extremely fitting given Nick's emotions and thoughts at the moment.
I, too, thought that George wanted to do. After reading the description of the smile on his face and the way he first showed Nick the shotgun and then handed it to him, well, I thought it was premeditated suicide. The poor man clearly has something very wrong with him-- I noticed that when he showed Nick his heroin paraphenalia. This passage was very well written and it definitely drew me in.
I thought the murder scene was very peculiar (George wanted to die? Or maybe he just wanted to take a "risk" [aka make a STUPID decision] person?) and when I read the epilogue, Brian's reaction reminded me of that. "Kill me. I want you to (798)."
What still puzzles me is how George knew that Nick would do it. Or did he? Did he know that if he showed Nick the gun, he'd point it at him and pull the trigger? Is Nick that transparent? Or it could have been a spur-of-the-moment thing, not premeditated suicide --George could have just decided to say "no" when Nick asked him if the gun was loaded. But the way that George presents him with the gun (calling it a piece of junk, rusty, worn out) does seem pretty devious. I dont know! I'd probably go with premeditated suicide-- George probably knew Nick well enough that he'd want to shoot it. On second though, that's probably not too hard to guess.
I thought it was pretty ironic when George is talking about the gun and says that he "didn't want to leave it in the car where somebody who's not responsible" (779).
I'm still puzzled, actually, about why George showed Nick his heroin accountrement. At first I thought he was going to make Nick use it, but then he seemed to just enjoy the shock value of the moment. George was a very peculiar character, to say the least. But I do think that George was pretty sure that Nick would do it. He knew he was uncautious and very instinctive, and he interacted with him so often, he could probably guess his reactions.