A Tentative Study on Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”

Abstract：The thesis is mainly about Harrys salvation before his death. The first part is devoted to a general introduction about this story， the second part the discussion on Harrys redemption， the third a conclusion.

Key words：Kilimanjaro salvation non-salvation

中圖分類號：H319 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1672-1578（2018）09-0004-01

1 A general introduction

“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” is mainly concerned with a dying sometime writers attempt to explain， to rationalize， to escape from the guilty sense of his failure to be a great writer as he early promised. Some ten hours journey towards death provide us with much binary opposition： life vs. death， love vs. money， leopard vs. hyena. Thus， ever since it was first published in Esquire in August of 1936， Ernest Hemingways “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” has consistently enjoyed popular acclaim and scholarly attention. A large portion of critics interest focuses on the possible sources of this story--more precisely， the sources of the epigraph and the various elements within it， especially the frozen leopard. Another issue that arouses great discussion is concerned with Harrys salvation or non-salvation. So， lets go to our next section.

2 Salvation or non-salvation

Earnest Hemingway once said that：“The ethics of writing are fairly simple but very confusing to the public. The fact that a man lies， is cruel， betrays his wife， gets drunk， betrays his friends， has this or that odd or ugly sexual habit does not mean that he is not as honest in his writing as any Sir Galahad. No matter what lies he tells in his life he is an honest writer as long as he does not lie to or deceive in innermost self which writes.” In these words we could detect a strong defense for Harry. Although he always “slipped into the familiar lie he made his bread and butter by”， and always fell in love with another woman， who “should always have more money than the last one”， he can still have the chance to be an honest writer and get redeemed， for his innermost self never deceives.

But there are still many doubts lying here. Is it possible that a person could morally redeemed just for several hours self-examination before his death？ And furthermore， does such transitory reassessment of self would erase all these wrong deeds one has done in his long life？ Is it fair to blame a mans fault on a woman， in this case Helen， Harrys wife？

For these questions， Gennaro Santangelo renders us a definite answer in his “The Dark Snows of Kilimanjaro”： “Harry has lost this world and the next because he had neither character nor faith. His failure is caused by a lack of soul， not will， nor talent--he is not someone who could have been better and is now saved.”

A Chinese proverb says： “when a bird is dying， its cry is sad； when a person is dying， his words is kind.” Even those evil characters in Hell could regret what they did， and confess their self very honestly in despair. But this means nothing. If they were given the another chance for living， they would still walk the same route they did before. Nothing would change. Harry is the same kind. When his clock strikes， he admits “he had destroyed his talent by not using it， by betrayals of himself and what he believed in，

by drinking so much that he blunted the edge of his perception…”. However at the same time he was still blaming his wife， he called her： “this rich bitch， this kindly caretaker and destroyer of his talent.” A person， no matter man or woman， who is habitually to vent on other people for his wrongs， might never have the strength to overcome his own snobbery and laziness. That why the only solution for Harry is death， because he had been dead for many years before his physical perishment.

3 Conclusion

Harrys salvation is illusionary， just like his final rescue plane that lifted him onto the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

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作者簡介：周櫻（1981-），女，漢族，籍貫蘇州，蘇州工業職業技術學院講師，碩研。