The Mountain at the Middle of the Earth

Hemingway once recounted receiving an offer from a woman who would happily bankroll his return to Africa provided she could join him on safari. He noted the offer was tempting, and stated that he turned it down because he feared it would, in terms of his writing career, prove lethal. The thought of not having to work was just too dangerous.

Thus Harry of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is Hemingway: a Hemingway who succumbed to temptation, who became soft and lazy, who allowed his talent to rot, and who fell into a stinking living death. We might call Harry Hemingway's lazy twin (rather than evil twin). Hemingway is taking Harry to the place of judgment, is offering the review of his life, is apparently passing judgment, and is sending him off to {is it hell or heaven?}.

The Place - the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro

• We note from the beginning of the story that the natives call Kilimanjaro's western slope "The House of God."
• In The Inferno, Dante located his Mt. Purgatory at the middle of the earth, and rising from a wooded plain; Mt. Kilimanjaro is at the middle of the earth (on the equator); it rises as "alone" as a mountain might be, as it is not part of a long or extensive chain.
• The entrance to Dante's Mt. Purgatory is guarded by a leopard; Hemingway mentions the frozen carcass of a leopard near the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in his opening words.
• In Dante's vision (based on Aquinas's theology), the levels of Purgatory rise in the mountain, Hell extends downward into the earth beneath it, and Heaven is above the summit; Hemingway may be associating the snow-capped summit of Kilimanjaro with Heaven.
• Thus, the foot of Kilimanjaro, symbolically (and in Harry's case literally) just short of the entrance to the Afterlife, should stand as the place of judgment.
• Harry, rotting beside his tent, takes full advantage of the place and situation to review his own life and pass judgment on himself.

Snow and Snows

• Linking the interpolated stories to the title, one can look at "snows" as seasons, years, or periods of life; one can measure Harry's life in "snows," even as many (though not all) the recounted memories include snow.
• The pristine white snow of the summit may represent purity or a cleansing and return to innocence.
• Snow may also represent freezing, as the interpolated stories include accounts of young girls dying in the snow, and of others freezing in the snow.
• In many of the interpolated stories the snow is dirtied, polluted by blood, yellow with urine, or turned to cold and dirty ice.
• Each interpolated story also reflects one or more of the tasks Harry has not completed. He is a writer. It is his job, his earthly purpose, to turn each of those scenes into some work of art or journalism. He has left the stories all unwritten.

The nature of Harry's sins

The story focuses on just one of the seven deadly sins, sloth (a sin traditionally represented by a leopard, offering a second allusion for that frozen leopard). We might suggest that Harry has drunk too much, gambled too much, fought too much, betrayed too many women, caroused too much, and has likely been abusive toward every woman except Helen, the last one, the one he "doesn't love." None of these sins appear to matter, as they appear to provoke little or no guilt in Harry and no sign of reprobation in the narrator's voice. [Reminder: In an interpretation Harry's "destination" of heaven or hell must be decided by internal evidence; we must judge based on the Harry's and the narrator's apparent standards, not on whether or not we approve of much of Harry's behavior.]

However, sloth is inexcusable. Harry notes he has "gone soft" from not writing. He has used his talent to impress, rather than produce, and has lived off a succession of women -- each richer than the last. He has enjoyed, not the fruits of his labor, but the unearned adulation of the rich.

As a result, Harry stinks {note: he literally stinks}. He is rotting {also literally as well as figuratively, from the gangrene}. His physical disease corresponds closely to his moral failing and its consequences.

From the Williamson story: the pain doesn't end until you pass out or die. Harry feels no pain; is this a suggestion that Harry is already "dead"? He may have killed his talent by sloth and easy living and remain, just pointlessly repeating an already lived and ended life.

Some other points for possible exploration

1. Why is Helen named Helen? Is she the "ideal woman," in the style of Helen of Troy?
2. What images of approaching death does Hemingway play with in the story? (Vultures, hyena, etc.) And what are their connotations?
3. Why is Harry's relationship with Helen (who he says he does not love) so much better than that with the women he has loved? Does his continuing petty bickering suggest a deep hostility, one more pronounced in the earlier relationships?
4. What does Harry offer Helen? What does he represent for her?
5. What is going to happen to Helen? Old Compton tells Harry he will come back for her; does that mean soon or in his (Death's) own good time? Is that second hyena cry for Helen? Or is it mentioned to reinforce the imagery of Harry's death?

The Dream/Death Scene: Destination Heaven or Hell?

The Angel of Death arrives in the disguise of Old Compton, a friend of Harry's who may or may not be among the living. He "rescues" Harry in a scene that at first appears to be an earthly rescue. On our second reading, we see that the structure resembles an NDE (Near Death Experience) from which Harry does not come back:

• Harry leaves the Earth
• Ascends, viewing the Earth below in amazing detail
• Travels through dark rainstorm like a waterfall (equivalent to the passage through "the dark tunnel")
• Emerges with the White Light (the Summit of Kilimanjaro!) in front of him
• Knows that is where he is going.