The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Essay Example

Harry is the protagonist in Hemmingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”; a hunter who is on his death bed at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, dying from a wound obtained from a thorn bush that had turned into gangrene. It is thought that Harry is actually based on the life of Hemmingway himself.  In his flashbacks Harry presents a life of remorse where he particularly focuses on his despise of women, his insecurities and his machismo.  Harry comes to regret many of the choices that he made in life.

Harry has the personality of a wreckless philanderer whose life has been undone by the simplicity of a scratch from a thornbush.  His decline from the  grandeur of his life illustrates the frailty of the human condition and how such moments are fleeting.  We all have choices in life and these define our very existence and the type of person that we become.  The irony is that only through the gangrene and waiting for death does Harry come to reflect on his former vanity and selfishness.  Harry is pre-occupied with death and this is reflected in the story by his fascination of the vultures, the dead  frozen leopard found on Mt Kilimanjaro and the scavenging hyena.  Harry comes to realise that he has sacrificed his many talents in life by succumbing to the lavish lifestyle presented by his wealthy wife Helen.  Even in death he fails to find the qualities of self-redemption The novel is full of symbolism and particularly the mountain ” the mountain represents the mystery of death, a mystery underlined by the double closure of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” (Anon, 2009)

Works Cited

Anon. (2009). The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Ernest Hemingway . Retrieved 11 12, 2009, from E Notes: http://www.enotes.com/short-story-criticism/snows-kilimanjaro-hemingway-ernest