"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a short story by American author
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
first published in August 1936, in ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' magazine.
It was republished in ''
The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories
''The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories'' is an anthology of writings by Ernest Hemingway published by Scribner's on October 14, 1938. It contains Hemingway's only full-length play, ''The Fifth Column'', and 49 short stories.
Many of ...
'' in 1938, ''
The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories'' in
1961
Events January
* January 3
** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015).
** Aero Flight 311 ...
, and is included in ''
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigía Edition'' (1987).
Plot
The story opens with a paragraph about
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...
, the highest mountain in Africa, whose western summit is called in Masai the "House of God." There, we are told, lies the frozen carcass of a
leopard near the summit. No one knows why it is there at such altitude.
The reader is introduced to Harry, a writer dying of
gangrene, and Helen, who is with him on
safari in Africa. They are stranded in the camp, because a bearing in their truck's engine burnt out. Harry's situation makes him irritable, and he speaks about his impending death in a matter-of-fact, sarcastic way that upsets Helen. He quarrels with her over minute things, from whether he should drink a
whiskey and soda, to whether she should read to him. Helen is obviously concerned for his welfare, but Harry's frustration makes him talk unpleasantly towards her.
Harry then begins to ruminate on his life experiences, which have been many and varied, and on the fact that he feels he has never reached his potential as a writer because he has chosen to make his living by marrying wealthy women. In
italicized portions of the text that are scattered throughout the story, Hemingway narrates some of Harry's experiences in a
stream-of-consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First Li ...
style. Harry's first memories consist of traveling around Europe following a battle: hiding a
deserter
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
in a cottage, hunting and skiing in the mountains, playing cards during a blizzard, and hearing about a bombing run on a train full of Austrian officers.
Harry then falls asleep and wakes in the evening to find Helen returning from a shooting expedition. He meditates on how she really is thoughtful and good to him, and how she is not to blame that his talent as a writer has been destroyed. Helen, he remembers, is a rich widow who lost her husband and a child, was bored by a series of lovers, and eventually "acquired" Harry because "she wanted some one that she respected with her"; she loves Harry "dearly as a writer, as a man, as a companion and as a proud possession", while Harry makes it clear that he does not love her. Harry then recalls how he developed gangrene two weeks earlier: they had been trying to get a picture of some
waterbuck
The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies ar ...
, and Harry scratched his right knee on a thorn. He had not applied
iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
right away, and the wound got infected; because all other antiseptics ran out, he used a weak carbolic solution that "paralyzed the minute blood vessels", thus the leg developed gangrene.
As Helen returns to drink
cocktails with Harry, they make up over their quarrel. Harry's second memory sequence then begins. He recalls how he once patronized prostitutes in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
"to kill his loneliness", pining for the very first woman he fell in love with, with whom he quarreled in Paris and broke up. Harry had a fight with a British soldier over an
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
n prostitute, and then left Constantinople for
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, where, after running from a group of
Turkish soldiers, "he had seen the things that he could never think of and later still he had seen much worse". Then Harry recalls that upon his return to Paris, his then-wife inquired about a letter that was actually from Harry's first love—a reply to the letter he wrote to that woman (mailed to New York, asking to write to his office in Paris) while being in Constantinople.
Helen and Harry eat dinner, and then Harry has another memory—this time of how his grandfather's
log house
A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term " log cabin" generally refers to a sm ...
burned down. He then relates how he fished in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
, and how he lived in a poor quarter of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and felt a kinship with his poor neighbors. Next, he remembers a ranch and a boy he turned in to the sheriff after the boy protected Harry's
horse feed
Equine nutrition is the feeding of horses, ponies, mules, donkeys, and other equines. Correct and balanced nutrition is a critical component of proper horse care.
Horses are non-ruminant herbivores of a type known as a " hindgut fermenter." Ho ...
by shooting and killing a thief. Harry ponders: "That was one story he had saved to write. He knew at least twenty good stories from out there and he had never written one. Why?". Then he felt once again that he'd prefer to be in a different company rather than with Helen, as "rich were dull". Next, his thoughts wander to beating the fear of death, and the limits of being able to bear pain. He remembers an officer named Williamson who was hit by a bomb, and to whom Harry subsequently fed all his
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a analgesic, pain medication, and is also commonly used recreational drug, recreationally, or to make ...
tablets. Harry considers how he does not have to worry about pain in his current condition.
As Harry lies on his
cot remembering, he feels the overwhelming presence of death and associates it with the
hyena that has been spotted running around the edge of the campsite. He is unable to speak. Helen, thinking that Harry has fallen asleep, has him moved into the tent for the night. Harry dreams that it is morning, and that a man called Compton has come with a plane to rescue him. He is lifted onto the plane (which has space only for him and the pilot) and watches the landscape go by beneath him. Suddenly, he sees the snow-covered top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and knows that is where he is bound. Helen wakes up in the middle of the night to a strange hyena cry, and finds Harry unresponsive on his cot.
Adaptation
A
film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
of the short story, directed by
Henry King, written by
Casey Robinson
Kenneth Casey Robinson (October 17, 1903 – December 6, 1979) was an American producer and director of mostly B movies and a screenwriter responsible for some of Bette Davis' most revered films. Film critic Richard Corliss once described him ...
, and starring
Gregory Peck as Harry,
Susan Hayward as Helen, and
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
as Cynthia Green (a character invented for the film) appeared in 1952. The film's ending does not mirror the story's ending.
References
External links
Short story text"The Snows of Kilimanjaro"at the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snows Of Kilimanjaro, The
1936 short stories
Short stories adapted into films
Short stories by Ernest Hemingway
Works originally published in Esquire (magazine)
Tanzania in fiction
Mount Kilimanjaro