Snow Of Kilimanjaro
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In this story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, the author Ernest Hemingway has basically two main characters, Harry and his wife, Helen. Throughout the story Harry has an infected leg, which seems to be seriously bothering him, it is actually rotting away. The author writes about Harrys time on the mountain with his wife just waiting for his death. In his story, Ernest Hemingway shows a great deal reality and emotion through his main character Harry, in the books themes, and its symbols.
The authors story is about Harrys spiritual death as much as his bodily one. From the beginning of the story Harry knew he was dying but knows it with intellectual detachment. In the story Harry says, “Cant you let a man die as comfortably as he can without calling him names? Whats the use of slanging me?Dont be silly. Im dying now. Ask those bastards.” (Hemingway,
In many modernistic stories the reader usually finds out that the main character is some what alienated from everyone. In this stories case that is true, also. Harry, goes through his own time and just wants to be left alone. He gets sick, and he just wants to give up all hope. It seems like once something goes wrong, or doesnt go his way he just gives up. He drinks a lot during this story to wash away his troubles and he doesnt care that his wife claims that it is harmful to his health. All he can say in return is that he is going to die anyways. This is a main part of the story.
The symbolism in this story adds to the depth of it. Symbols are used to represent ideas or qualities in a story. “Only by reading the story ironically, by regarding the symbols of permanence and purity as a mockery of Harrys unwholesomeness, can one maintain this critical position. It ignores the formal characteristic of irony, the implied meaning of snow and mountains in Harrys past, and the self-evident validity of Harrys final vision”(Dussinger,
This story also has symbols in the face of animals. In this story are the hyenas and the vultures, they of course of lingering throughout the story because they are the object of Harrys death. These symbols play a huge roll in the story, they make the reader more aware of what is going on, or they also foreshadow events.
This story has two endings. The use of these two endings kind of tricks the reader and makes the reader think a little bit more. This is a quote from when the plane rescues Harry and flies him toward the peak of the mountain. “…there all ahead, all he could see, as wide as the world, great, high, unbelievably white is the sun, was the square top of Kilimanjaro. And then he knew that there was where he was going”(Hemingway,
The many themes of this story make the reader contemplate on ideas even a tad bit more. Theme is an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature. “…broad significance, a persons need to make a good death, the fickleness of fate, the moral guidance a primitive, natural world such as Africa gave cynical Americans.”(Martin,
A common part of this story that is similar to modernism is its plot structure. The story has parts where Harry is talking with his wife Helen. It also has a narrator. Then, it also has parts of the story that are written in italic font. This is where Harry recollects parts of his