Femme fatales
Esmeralda is presented as a femme fatale, a kind of amoral and seductive female character common to many film noirs. She asks Butch what it feels like to kill a man, claiming to have an interest in the subject. Her suspicious and glamorous demeanor leads the audience to assume that she will double-cross Butch, which ironically never happens. Mia is also a femme fatale, given that she can seemingly convince Marsellus to attack anyone she likes, a tension that is ever present in her date scene with Vincent.
Weaponry
In Pulp Fiction, most of the main characters carry guns, including Jules, Vincent, Marsellus, and Butch. Crucially, Butch finds an assault weapon laying on the counter in his apartment, which Vincent left behind while going to the bathroom. In the pawn shop sequence, Butch most forage for another weapon after being disarmed by Zed and Maynard. He cycles through a hammer, a baseball bat, and a chainsaw, before settling on a katana (sword). In the diner scene, Jules, Vincent, Pumpkin, and Honey Bunny are locked in a "Mexican standoff," using their pointed weapons to leverage power between them. The film shows that weapons, although critical instruments of power, are liable to human error, like when Vincent accidentally kills Marvin.
Automobiles
Tarantino heavily references the "car culture" of the 1950s by filming several pivotal scenes where characters ride around in cars together. Vincent and Jules are first seen riding in a car, and later must go to great lengths to dispose of it after Vincent accidentally kills Marvin. Vincent and Mia's date sequence is bookended by two shots of them in the car: one where they look expectant and composed, and one where they look shaken and traumatized. Butch literally runs into Marsellus with his car, and must hobble away. One of the film's final scenes is at an auto shop, where Winston Wolfe has successfully disposed of Jules and Vincent's blood-spattered vehicle.
Suits
Vincent, Jules, and Wolfe all wear suits while conducting their criminal dealings. Tarantino portrays the men in formalwear to emphasize their professionalism as career criminals, especially Winston Wolfe, who prides himself on being a well-known fixer, able to resolve nearly any kind of potential problem. The suits that Vincent and Jules wear for most of the film also provide the setup for the comical image of them wearing Jimmie's "dorky" tee shirts. The quasi-professional aura of the suits also lend an added dimension of hilarity to the amateurish mistakes the men make, such as when Vincent shoots Marvin.
