“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest HemingwayPresentation

Pilar FarcyAndrea MacorettaGraciela López López

April 2009

Structure and style

Hemingway opens his story with an epigraph, a short observation, about a lone leopard who sought the tip of Kilimanjaro (which literally means “The House of God”). The writer later divides the story into six sections and within each of these sections inserts a flashback that appears in italics, continualy juxtaposing the hopeless, harrowing present with the past which seemed full of promise. All of the flashbacks deal with brief scenes or vignettes about the things that Harry (the main character) experienced in the past. It is clear also that he had meant to write about them but never did. Some critics refer to these flashbacks as “interior monologues”.

Hemingway opens this story with a typical Hemingway narrative device: Two people are talking; moreover, they are talking about pain and a horrible odour. Hemingway touches upon the immediate problem as soon as the story begins, but he does not immediately identify the people who are talking; and the readers don’t yet know the names of the characters, the place, the time, or any other kind of background. Readers know only that someting is terribly wrong with the male character, causing a potent stench and that three big birds squat close by. The woman’s first comment- “Don’t! Please don’t!”- indicates that tension exists between her and the man. Through conversation readers learn that the man has some type of injury and that the pain has disappeared.

The narrative of the second section is divided into two sections, separated by three asterisks. The first section of this narrative resumes the conversation between Harry and his wife. The second section shows Helen is away hoping to shoot a Tommie (a small gazelle) for meat and broth.

In the linear development of the story, as well as in the desultory excursions to Harry’s past there is a consistent feeling of destruction, loss and wasting. The narration, split into two time and spatial levels, makes it possible for Hemingway to incorporate wider experience to the story. The first level is defined in time and space whereas the second level is not restricted in this respect. Hemingway uses Harry’s words on the edge of a dream, so they belong rather to that surreal world. The combination of both levels gives strong sense of deep feeling and bitter experience of this violent world. Life is shown as a constant flow of conflicting realities.

The different styles of narration above considered is depicted by Hemingway by the use of roman type sections and italic type sections which reflect the distinction between Harry’s exterior persona and his interior memories. The story moves by means of oscillaion. It is structured as a pendulum that swings between two extremes and this motion works on many levels. Typographically, it moves from roman type to italic type. On othe level it oscillates between dialogue-driven, adjective-free prose and a run-on style of thinking about the past.

As the story develops the oscilation between Harry’s present situation and his reminiscences accelerates and each section becomes shorter. Finally the “reminiscence”section blurs into the “real-world” section as Harry imagines that Compton has come to take him to the city to be healed. Only at the end of the section, when he flies into the snow-white peak of Kilimanjaro, does the reader realize that this takes place in his own mind and not in the real world.

Some critics sustain that there are two endings to the story. One occurs when the hyena presses on Harry’s chest, signifying his death. The other ending occurs when the plane flies Harry toward the square top of Kilimanjaro. This endings are also considered the literary and symbolic climax of the story.

Characters

Harry

Once a promising writer, he sacrificed his talent for the comfort of his wife’s money. Now, dying of gangrene, he realizes that he will never be able to write the great fiction that he had envisioned. He is painfully conscious of his defeat and loss.Harry is a classic macho Hemingway character, staring death in the face and not seeming to blink. He is shown to be an egotistical,cruel,callous and mean-spirited man. As the story progresses he takes his frustrations out almost exclusively on his wife.

Helen

Harry’s wife; he married her because he thought he loved her; in truth, however, he married her because of her money. Helen is a loyal, loving, affectionate, and courageous woman. The portrait of Helen that readers have is created by the narrator but Hary’s prejudices colour it and the descriptions of his wife become the battlefield on which he fights his inner conflict about who is responsible for the atrophy of his talents.The character of Helen can be interpreted, on a symbolic level, as representing the destruction of creativity.

Molo

The servant who tends to Harry; his main function is to pour enough liquor in Harry so that Harry can stand the pain of his wound and that of utter disappointment.

Compson

The aviator who is supposed to arrive and take Harry to a hospital.

Symbols

a. The symbolism of Kilimanjaro is contrasted with the symbolism of the plains. Harry is dying in the plains from gangrene, a stinking, putrid and deadly infection, causing his body to rot. Agains harry’s background of dark, smelly horror and hopelessness, Hemingway contrasts harry’s memories of the mountans. Good things happen in the mountains; bad things happen on the plains. Hemingway ends his story with Harry’s spirit travelling to the summit of the mighty mountain.

b.Harry sees the legendary leopard during his flight over Kilimanjaro. The dead, preserved leopard can be seen as a symbol of immortality, a reward for taking the difficult road.

c.Hemingway uses the symbol of the vulture in its natural setting, Africa, to convey the horror of the apporaching death and the agony of waiting for death

d.The plane is another symbol. The airplane is airborne-frin the heavens- and it is a symbol that is filled with hope; it expresses the possibility of escaping from the plains and the horrible vultures.

e. Snow becomes a powerful symbol, especially throughout the flashbacks. The snows sets the stage for spiritual ascension and release. Spiritual ascension in terms of being released during death

f.Harry’s festering leg can also be seen as a symbol of his talent that is rotting .

g.The hyena is another prominent symbol of Harry’s deterioration. The hyenna is another carrion eater that is probably the most despised of all Afrincan animals because of its filth and aggressive team efforts to destroy and to steal other animals wounded and suffering on the plain. In this sense, the hyenna can represent Harry’s choice of material comfort over true love because it is these two elements intermingled in his marriage that are the msot destructive to him as a writer. Therefore, although the hyena is a symbol of death, it is a spiritual as well as a physical one. The hyena becomes a very dominant symbol when it sits “pressing” on Harry’s chest.

We can say also that some of the symbols in the story are polarities as well.; the hyena at the end of the story and the leopard at the beginning are different extremes of the same pendulum, as are the clean white peak of the mountain and the fetid humidity of the plain.