An Interpretation of The Snows of Kilimanjaro from the Perspective of the Narrative Person

夏梅花，明 珠，吳廣平

Ⅰ.Introduction

The Snows of Kilimanjaro has been written in 1938 by Ernest Hemingway，a novelist and short story writer，and one of the most celebrated and influenced authors of the 20thcentury.The protagonist Harryhas suffered emotionally and mentally during the war.He has been living a dying life these years before he comes to Africa.He has planned to start again in Africa which has been the happiest one in the good time of his life.Unfortunately，a thorn has scratched his knees，which results in his right leg infected with gangrene.During that day，he looks back on what he hasn’t started to write and regrets what he has no time and chances to do.At last he hasn’t waited for the plane to rescue him and died.

Since the short story has been published，it has aroused much notice.The paper will focus on analyzing it from the narrative person so that we can establish and foreground the them:beginning is the end，the end is the beginning.

Ⅱ.An analysis of The Snows of Kilimanjaro

The third person narrative refers to narrator who is someone outside the story(Prince，1987).Under the third person narrative，the narrator addressed the character in fiction by the name of“he”，“she”and“they”.The third person narrative can be the omniscient narrator in accord with the convention who knows about the agents，actions，and events and has privileged access to the characters’thoughts，feelings and motives(Abrams，2010:272).In addition，the narration is objective and impersonal relatively.

From a third－person narrative we can know who they are，what has happened where they have been，why they are and so on.At the beginning of the short story，The readers know where the story has happened.The story has happened in the Kilimanjaro.Even more we know the implied meaning and main idea.Why does the lion come here probably?The lion comes Kilimanjaro to search for food to maintain his life.Why do Harry and his wife come here?“Africa was where he had been happiest in the good time of his life，so he had come out here to start again” (61).Harry has realized he needs some new strength to enlighten him.Therefore Harry and his wife come here not only for travelling and hunting，but also find himself.

As the narrator continues presenting us the story，the readers gradually know something about Harry and his wife，including their past stories，present situation and their inner mind and desire.From Harry’s five streams of consciousness，Harry has been a writer，and taken part in the First World War.He has witnessed the death in person，experienced the war and killing.He has spent his days gambling，drinking and smoking.Flirting with various girls has become one of his life.In addition，after the war，the whole society has been in a mess.Stagflation is fraught with the society，counterfeit，profiteering or speculation，drunkard，homeless children，poverty and dirty exist in such a society.People has been disillusioned by their war experiences and alienated by what they were perceived was the crassness of A-merican culture and its puritanical repressions.The whole society is in a paralysis.Now he comes Africa to start again.Unfortunately a thorn has scratched his right knee and the gangrene starts in his leg.Without using iodine two weeks ago properly，his leg begins to rot，and even endangers his life.He feels the coming of death.After the war，the death spiritually obsessed him.Now he feels the real death，physical death.He starts to look back on his life and reflect on it.He begins to repent of his past and he confessed.At the same time He regrets not to write those rich materials and never has chances to write.Our readers know he hasn’t written for many years.His ridiculous and degenerated life has weakened his will，his talent and his dream.Jokingly only in this way can he get along well with his social network.He hates himself，his degeneration，ridiculousness and the women around him.That kind of life destroys him.Even more he destroys himself.As readers，we know his past stories.He makes a living by lies，drinking，laziness，sloth，snobbery rather than a pen and pencil.In a word，Harry confesses his mistakes，and meanwhile feels sorry for not having enough time to finish writing.

At his last stream of consciousness，although Harry is dead，his spiritual life has been sublimed.“ahead，all he could see，…And then he knew that there was where he was going”(74).To our readers’relief，Harry finds his aim and belongings.He may not have any pity.Geographically he has realized his life is an end spiritually although he is alive.He plans to start again in Africa.Unluckily he is dead physically and starts his spiritual beginning.So beginning is an end，end is the beginning.

The short story is narrated by the third person narration，but interspersed with several simple second person narration.The second person narration maintains that the story gets told solely，or at least primarily as an address by the narrator to someone he calls by the second－person pronoun“you”，who is represented as experiencing that which is narrated.Here it is used to describe“human inner world”(Prince，1987).

Through the transition from the third person narration to the second person narration，it enhances the reliability of our readers’impression.At first we receive information for the third person narration，sometimes we doubt about it.Through the second person narration，it strengthens the authenticity and objectivity of events.It adds our readers’impression，guarantees the objective of events，and explores Harry’s real and inner world.

Ⅲ.Conclusion

In the short story，it is through narrative person that we can understand the whole short story.The omniscient third person narrator presents our readers an introduction to the characters，setting and surroundings，while the second person narrator tells us Harry’s inner world and strengthens its authenticity of the story.Although Harry is dead，he can reach for where he wants to.Prior to coming Africa，he is alive but he is dead spiritually.So Beginning is the end，the end is the starting point.

Abrams，M.H..，“A Glossary of Literary Terms.Beijing”，Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press＆Cengage Learning.

Prince，Gerald，“A Dictionary of Narratology”，U-niversity of Nebraska Press，1987.

Hemingway，Earnest.，“The Short Stories of Earnest Hemingway”，New York，Charies Scribner’s Son，1938.