The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Summary:
In "The Snows Of Kilimanjaro" there is a man named Harry who is on a trip in Africa. At the beginning you hear he has been pricked by a thorn and has gotten a disease called gangrene. As the writer name Harry lives his last hours with his wife in Africa he reflects on his life. He looks at how he was going to write a book and kept delaying. He looked back on all the women he married and how much money he stole from them. His current wife cares for him in his last hours but he doesn't seem grateful and just yells and tells her he doesn't love her. As he slowly awaits his death he reflects on his busy life and all the things he did. As he remembers his life he realizes he never wrote anything about what he did during his years on earth. He ends up dying realizing he lived his life for what he had and not what was to come.
Comments:
In The book Ernest Hemingway uses the perspective of a dying man to show the world and how it should be lived. It's not that he has written it in a different way or uses good wording, it is how the life of the dying man is portrayed. Thinking about how this man is about to die and he never did any of the important things he had to do. He just lived for the moments he had. Ernest Hemingway builds up the character of Harry perfectly and shows every aspect of his life and why he chose those aspects. He builds up his death and the conflicts with the woman who is with him in Africa. Some say that the character of Harry is actually Ernest Hemingway describing himself. That is why the character feels so real and is perfectly developed during the story.
Quotes:
"No." This simple line holds a lot of power and meaning because the woman he is with in Africa says "don't you love me?" and Harry answers back "No." He says no because he is about to die and he is letting out all the frustration he was holding in about the stuff he never did in his life.
"You rich bitch. That's poetry. I'm full of poetry now. Rot and poetry. Rotten poetry." This is also a line Harry says to the woman. It is him revealing his frustration of dying and how he can say poetry but cannot write anything about what he has done in his life.
"Death had come and rested its head on the foot of the cot and he could smell its breath." This is significant because it shows Harry's vulnerability and he is actually scared about dying. Once someone walks in the room death seems to go away and he realizes he takes other peoples presences for granted.
By: Geordie Lounsbery
