Ernest Hemingway’s contributions to the writing arts often contain regret and disappointment, with a distinct separation between author and characters. Hemingway’s short story, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” deals with many of the same subjects, but the separation between human and character is more blurred. The inspiration for the story in fact is an alternate ending to Hemingway’s life, where he potentially takes money from a rich woman to take a second safari to Africa. The dark parallel between his own life and the story leads to Hemingway connecting the character to much of the surrounding story. Through the writing, he inserts his shame into parallels of the character who is shameful of their own failure. With examination of the lurking hyena
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Even though the hyena is not mentioned until page 6, it is a prevalent overtone before, as Harry states, “That bastard crosses there every night,” the man said. “Every night for two weeks.”” (). The hyena stalks Harry before and throughout the entire African safari, a shadowy parallel of his life, where the hyena represents the poor life Harry lived, feeding off the rich women and wasting his talents. The hyena represents and mocks the regret laden life which Harry lived. “It is more likely a symbol of the psychological death that has already occurred because of his inability to act decisively for himself” (). Harry spent the entire life slowly dying inside as he fed off the rich and slowly lost the will to write. The hyena thus comes along and mocks him during his final days regretting how he spent life, all while being a metaphor for how his life looked and carried out. “The hyena moves closer and closer to him as death approaches.” (). As Harry grows more regretful, and continues heading toward his impending death, the hyena begins slinking closer and closer to him. The hyena continually slinking closer makes a mockery of Harry, as he cannot escape his fate, just like he cannot escape the hyena. The ever presence of the hyena upon …show more content…
The gangrene starts the story off with the first lines, setting the tone which the gangrene will parallel Harry´s life. ¨The marvellous thing is that itś painless,¨ he said. ¨Thatś how you know when it starts¨ (). When reading further into the story and seeing the life of Harry, the line clearly becomes symbolic for his degrading life. Harryś life became painless once he marries into wealth. The wealth allows Harry to no longer struggle, the source for why he writes, and without these struggles influencing his life Harry no longer desires to write. Without his writing, Harryś life begins degrading. ¨The impotence is physical as well as literary and is, of course, a consequence of his infection¨ (crit 8). The gangrene is a physical manifestation of the degradation of his life. Just as the wealth ate away his writing talents and will to work, the gangrene now eats away Harry’s body until his eventual demise. The gangrene also models the sickness of wealth which Harry long succumbed to. “...the external illness being but a symbolic manifestation of the sickness of the soul from which he has long been suffering:” (crit 8). The long suffering illness inside Harry is the addiction to comfort through wealth. Through the disease Harry found himself marrying rich women, and subsequently neglecting his writing talents. The gangrene arrives as a
Even though the hyena is not mentioned until page 6, it is a prevalent overtone before, as Harry states, “That bastard crosses there every night,” the man said. “Every night for two weeks.”” (). The hyena stalks Harry before and throughout the entire African safari, a shadowy parallel of his life, where the hyena represents the poor life Harry lived, feeding off the rich women and wasting his talents. The hyena represents and mocks the regret laden life which Harry lived. “It is more likely a symbol of the psychological death that has already occurred because of his inability to act decisively for himself” (). Harry spent the entire life slowly dying inside as he fed off the rich and slowly lost the will to write. The hyena thus comes along and mocks him during his final days regretting how he spent life, all while being a metaphor for how his life looked and carried out. “The hyena moves closer and closer to him as death approaches.” (). As Harry grows more regretful, and continues heading toward his impending death, the hyena begins slinking closer and closer to him. The hyena continually slinking closer makes a mockery of Harry, as he cannot escape his fate, just like he cannot escape the hyena. The ever presence of the hyena upon …show more content…
The gangrene starts the story off with the first lines, setting the tone which the gangrene will parallel Harry´s life. ¨The marvellous thing is that itś painless,¨ he said. ¨Thatś how you know when it starts¨ (). When reading further into the story and seeing the life of Harry, the line clearly becomes symbolic for his degrading life. Harryś life became painless once he marries into wealth. The wealth allows Harry to no longer struggle, the source for why he writes, and without these struggles influencing his life Harry no longer desires to write. Without his writing, Harryś life begins degrading. ¨The impotence is physical as well as literary and is, of course, a consequence of his infection¨ (crit 8). The gangrene is a physical manifestation of the degradation of his life. Just as the wealth ate away his writing talents and will to work, the gangrene now eats away Harry’s body until his eventual demise. The gangrene also models the sickness of wealth which Harry long succumbed to. “...the external illness being but a symbolic manifestation of the sickness of the soul from which he has long been suffering:” (crit 8). The long suffering illness inside Harry is the addiction to comfort through wealth. Through the disease Harry found himself marrying rich women, and subsequently neglecting his writing talents. The gangrene arrives as a