Todd Johnson
Literary Analysis
Dr. Weiland
October 31,2012
Regret in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
In “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway, the third person omniscient narrator tells the story of a man’s struggles as he approaches the end of his life. The story begins with an epigraph describing a “dried and frozen carcass of a leopard” at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro (1983). Initially, the epigraph is not connected to the text until the conclusion of the story when the leopard contrasts to the hyena. Early on, the reader discovers that the main character, Harry, is gradually dying due to a knee infection he suffered during his safari to Africa with his wife. As the couple lies stranded in the scorching hot African desert, Harry passes his time by evaluating his life. Harry aspires to possess qualities similar to those of the leopard; however, his characteristics resemble the hyena. The symbolism of animals and the internal and external expressions of rot help the reader see that Harry’s regret leads to his eventual death. The narrator’s use of symbolism through animals gives the reader a better understanding of the quality of life that Harry has lived. Upon reading the epigraph, the reader realizes that the noble leopard died with a purpose on his challenging quest to reach the summit of the mountain. It is clear that the leopard embodies traits including dominance, audacity, and poise. These defining qualities are those of which Harry could not achieve in his life. The hyena, conversely, is a symbol of cowardice, laziness, and death in the story. Harry’s cowardice is shown as he re-evaluates his once promising career in writing. Harry embodies qualities similar to those of the “filthy” hyena who attacks vulnerable prey (1990). His life was summarized by “never what he had done, but always what he could do” (1988). Rather than pursuing his remarkable talents in writing, he “sold out” for his wife’s wealth and “chose to make his living with something instead of a pen or pencil” (1988). Harry has lived his recent years completely dependent of his wife and her lavish wealth. His affection for her is described as the “lie he made his bread and butter by” (1987). Just as the hyena fulfills his hunger by consuming the remains of more experienced hunters, Harry completely relies on his wife in order to survive. Furthermore, he is overly pessimistic when he states, “or until the plane doesn’t come” (1983). He is giving up all hope on the possibility of getting rescued, and as his life comes to a close he begins to unleash his anger at himself onto his wife.
As Harry’s leg continues to rot due to his knee infection, one begins to realize that he is also rotting internally as he lives his last few days in regret of what he failed to accomplish in his life. Instead of facing his emotions, Harry decides to drink alcohol in order to avoid the realities of life. When his wife begs him to eat the broth she prepared for him, he replies, “What the hell should I fool with broth for? Molo bring whiskey-soda” (1993). Drinking his liquor, he reassures his wife that the alcohol is “good for me” (1988). As the gangrene destroys his knee, Harry’s intake of alcohol annihilates his liver. Harry’s alcoholic consumption eventually “blunted the edge of his perceptions” (1988). In his drunken stupor, he realizes that he will never write “the things that he had saved to write until he knew them well enough to write them well” (1984). By not exploiting his talents, Harry let “laziness, sloth, and snobbery take over his life” (1988). The narrator then turns from spectating the couple to Harry’s stream-of-consciousness in the italicized texts that describe Harry’s flashbacks of memorable events that occurred in his life. The five flashbacks Harry has indicate to the reader that he is clearly occupied with the past. Scared of failure, Harry never writes about his passions, and is therefore, a failure. Likewise, Harry also fails at taking care of his knee infection, which eventually leads to his deadly knee infection. He “didn’t pay any attention to it because (he) never infect(s)” (1985). Aside from his drinking problem, Harry’s irrational tone towards his wife is yet another sign of rot:
“You rich bitch. That’s poetry. I’m full of poetry now. Rot and poetry. Rot and poetry” (1987).
Harry’s wife does all that she possibly can to make him more comfortable and she is very encouraging; however, Harry is unappreciative of her kindness. In his final days, Harry’s true emotions towards his wife begin to unravel. His neglected wife is cooperative as Harry loses control of his emotions, and she listens to Harry’s complaints. When asked if he loved her, however, Harry replies, “I don’t think so. I never have” (1985). He used his wife to satisfy his desire to be wealthy, and her “damned money was (his) armour” (1987). The couple spent the majority of their time together traveling and that was “the only thing (Harry) ever really liked doing with (his wife)” (1987). Harry’s animosity towards his faithful, compassionate wife is due to the fact that he views her as the “destroyer of his talent” (1988). He is frustrated with his wife because he is convinced that she changed him into someone who did not want to become. Harry should not blame his wife, however, for it is he who killed his writing career by “betraying himself” (1988). By not writing about the rich when he was a “spy in their country,” Harry becomes lazy and loses his desire to write anything at all.
Moreover, towards the end of the story, the hyena is mentioned several times to alert Harry that his death is vastly approaching. He tells his wife that death can “be a bird or it can have a wide snout like a hyena” (1997). Harry’s death “had come and rested its head on the foot of the cot and he could smell its breath” (1997). Harry knew that his death was impending, and all he could do at this point was sleep.
The rescue plane finally arrives for Harry, and he is overjoyed. Upon boarding the plane, Harry is taken over the “square top of Kilimanjaro” (1999). Considering the text describing the rescue is not italicized, the reader is convinced that Harry has actually been rescued from the African desert. In reality, however, Harry’s rescue is simply a figment of his imagination in his final dream. Unlike the leopard’s courageous climb to the summit, Harry envisions a much easier route to the peak of the mountain. That very night, the hyena announces Harry’s death with a “strange, human, almost crying sound” (1999). While the reader is inclined to believe that it is the hyena that takes Harry’s life in the middle of the night, it is, in fact, his regret that ultimately kills him as he dies in his sleep. In the end, Harry dies as he lives, a hyena consuming the leopard’s leftovers on the way to his final resting place on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Todd Johnson
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature Seventh Edition Version D. Ed. Julia Reidhead. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007. 1983-1999. Print.