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The first mainplot, is about the two mid-level hitmen, Jules Winnfield (Samuel Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta). They arrive at their destination, take back a stolen suitcase, shoots almost everybody in the room, miraculously avoids being shot when a hidden person is relived. Accidentally Vincent shoots the head of their prisoner, Jules calls for help and he calls «The Wolf» (Harvey Keitel) to clean up. And finally everything is down to a Mexican stand-off in the coffee-shop, while Jules is preparing to be a good Christian.
Vincent Vega was originally supposed to be Vic Vega, but Michael Madsen (staring Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs, had other plans, so Travolta got the part on his behalf as Vic`s brother). Travolta achieved an Oscar-nomination for his part in this movie. He plays a heroin-befuddled killer -charming, philosophical, but careless enough to leave his machine gun lying around in the kitchen. A man who can accidentally blow the head off an innocent party («The car hit a bump») but is worried more that the spilt brains have messed up his suit. At the time being Travolta was a forgotten teenage star, with a bunch of bad B-movies on his record. Still, Tarantino wanted him so much in the part that he said to a very sceptic Lawrence Bender (TriStar, producer) that if Travolta didn`t get the part, he would abandon the project, and of course, he got his way.
The part of Jules Winnfield were especially written for Samuel L. Jackson. He plays a really mean and cold-blooded killer, seemingly to enjoy taking the lives of «the former businesspartners of Marsellus Wallace». He even quote Ezekiel 25:17 while doing it, thinking it`s a cool thing to say before killing someone.
«The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides with the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother`s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon those with great vengeance and with furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.»
Ezekiel 25:17
Jules frequently quotes «Ezekiel 25:17» in Pulp Fiction, but in fact he has greatly altered the Bible passage. The actual passage says:
«And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.»
Jules is very much modelled on a blaxploitation stereotype, as evident in such films as The Mack, the film playing in the background at Drexl`s place in True Romance.
On reflection, Pulp Fiction is very much Jules`s story for, even tough Vincent has more screen time, it is Jule`s conversation which provides the coda. In Reservoir Dogs, the only black character, Holdaway, was marginal. In True Romance, there were stereotypical characters - black crooks, Italian gangsters, a Jewish movie producer and a curious Waspafarian. In Pulp Fiction, the two most powerful characters are Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel), Jewish, and Marsellus (Ving Rhames), black. Has Tarantino really delved that deeply into the concerns of race in Pulp Fiction? Probably not consciously. Part of the success of Reservoir Dogs has been attributed to the fact that he`d simply given white boys the kind of movies that black boys have, in the vein of Juice, Boyz N The Hood and Menace II Society. Kit Carson congratulated him after Reservoir dogs for producing a real «White Guy Movie». The truth is, the casting of Pulp Fiction has well and truly dispelled any notion of racism.
Initiation is an important aspect of Quentin Tarantino`s movies. The character that is closest to a theme, has to be the spiritual journey that Jules takes, and even though a lot of things happen in the movie that don`t have to do with Jules, they still kind of add up in their own way to Jules` epiphany.
The mysterious briefcase and the «beautiful» glow from whitin and the recitation of Ezekiel 25:17, followed by the «miracle» of Jules and Vincent`s survival, indicates some kind of religious power, as it does again in the final scene when Jules repents. Jules`s discussion of «unclean» meat, another utterance with religious overtones, precedes this. The code to the briefcase is 666, as too is the code to Mia`s house, this, of course, being the mark of the devil. The devil himself «the tyranny of evil men» supposedly has that branded on his person, in the exact same spot as the Band-Aid on the back of Marsellus` neck. And Butch? He rides a chopper called Grace. Some of this might be coincidental, but it might also work as symbolism, suggesting Jules is an evil man «a serve of the devil», and he tries to turn over during the story (after the «miracle»), as seen in the last scene were he lets Pumpkin and Honey Bunny walk away with his wallet «Buying their freedom», and he attempts to «walk the earth» like Caine in Kung Fu.
It is important to note that Jules, believing in the «sign from God» starts out killing a bunch of guys while quoting the bible(!). But after the miracle he prevents violence in the coffee-shop, at the end of the movie, and turns down his criminal way of living, while Vincent on the other hand, who believes it`s just a coincidence.
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