The Snows of Kilimanjaro -Analysis Essay

Words: 1385
Pages: 6
Open Document
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro"

The story opens with a paragraph about Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, which is also called the “House of God.” There is, we are told, the frozen carcass of a leopard near the summit. No one knows why it is there.
Then we are introduced to Harry, a writer dying of gangrene, and his rich wifeHelen, who are on safari in Africa. Harry’s situation makes him irritable, and he speaks about his own death in a matter-of-fact way that upsets his wife, predicting that a rescue plane will never come. He quarrels with her over everything, from whether he should drink a whiskey-and-soda to whether she should read to him. Helen is obviously concerned for his welfare, but self-pity and frustration make him …show more content…
Helen wakes up in the middle of the night to a strange hyena cry and sees Harry dead on his cot.
ANALYSIS
This story focuses on the self-critical ruminations and memories of a writer dying of a preventable case of gangrene on safari. Its main themes are death and regret, and Harry’s morbid thoughts epitomize a classic case of taking things for granted. Harry takes his blessings, including his caring wife, his full life, and his writing talent, for granted, and on his deathbed muses on how he could have appreciated each more. His main regret, of course, is that he has not reached his full potential as a writer because he has chosen to make a living by marrying wealthy women rather than memorializing his many and varied life experiences in writing. The progression of his gangrene symbolizes his rotting sense of self-worth.
This last regret is made so bitter to Harry because, as he admits, it is his own fault he has not adequately exercised his great talent: “He had destroyed his talent by not using it, by betrayals of himself and what he believed in.” In a strange parallel, it is also Harry’s fault that he developed gangrene; by not using iodine on his scratch, he allowed it to become septic and is therefore to blame for his impending death.
Viewed in this light, Harry’s predicament is self-inflicted, and is therefore a fitting punishment for his repeated acts of self-betrayal over the years. The lingering question of the story is how Harry’s
Show More

Related Documents: The Snows of Kilimanjaro -Analysis Essay

Snows Of Kilimanjaro Analysis

In Ernest Hemingway’s and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s respective compositions, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and The Great Gatsby, characters express superficiality and corruption. Materialism, superficiality, and individuals’ moral and psychological corruption characterized the Roaring 20s. The decade also presented the modern society with numerous inventions including the automobile, railroad, and radio. A formerly propitious author, Harry, destroyed his career after leaving Paris for the pursuit of wealth…

Words 2142 - Pages 9

Critical Essay

hemingway’s “The snows oF KilimanJaRo” JENNIFER RIDDLE HARDING Washington and Jefferson College ERNEST HEMINGWAY IS KNOWN—AT TIMES EvEN PARODIED— FOR SHORT STORIES that rely heavily on dialogue interspersed with clipped narrative reports offering little evaluation or interpretation. This style is prominent in some of his best-known stories, such as “The Killers,” “A Clean, WellLighted Place,” and “Hills Like White Elephants.”1 How surprising, then, that “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” has joined these…

Words 6670 - Pages 27