The Snows of Kilimanjaro Flashcards
by Ernest Hemingway — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Why are Harry and Helen stranded on the African plain?
The truck that was supposed to take Harry to a doctor broke down — a bearing burned out in the engine.
What injury is killing Harry, and how did he get it?
Gangrene from an untreated thorn scratch on his knee that he failed to apply iodine to.
What do the italicized passages throughout the story represent?
Harry's stream-of-consciousness memories — vivid experiences he intended to write about but never did.
What does Harry dream happens at the end of the story?
A pilot named Compton arrives with a rescue plane and flies Harry toward the snow-covered summit of Kilimanjaro.
How does Helen discover that Harry has died?
She wakes to the strange cry of a hyena in the night and finds Harry unresponsive on his cot with his leg hanging down.
Why does Harry blame Helen and their marriage for his artistic failure?
He believes marrying wealthy women gave him comfort and luxury that destroyed his hunger and discipline as a writer.
What real-life writer did Hemingway originally reference in the story, and why was it changed?
F. Scott Fitzgerald, cited as a writer ruined by wealth. Fitzgerald was humiliated, so Hemingway changed the name to "Julian" in later editions.
How does Harry treat Helen as his death approaches?
He is alternately cruel and apologetic — lashing out at her for representing the comfortable life that destroyed his talent, then admitting he doesn't mean it.
What is Helen's background and why does Harry resent her?
She is a wealthy woman who adores Harry and finances their lifestyle. He resents her because her money enabled the comfort that replaced his artistic ambition.
Who is Compton in the story?
The bush pilot who appears in Harry's final dream-vision to "rescue" him by plane — the flight is actually Harry's experience of dying.
What kind of writer was Harry before his decline?
A talented, disciplined writer who had survived wars, lived in Paris among artists, and accumulated rich material — but chose comfort over craft.
How does the story illustrate the theme of wasted artistic talent?
Harry's flashbacks prove he has extraordinary material and sharp observational skills, yet he never wrote any of it down — his talent dies with him.
What is the central irony of Harry's death?
He dies from a trivial scratch, not the wars and adventures he survived — suggesting his real destruction came from comfort, not danger.
How does Hemingway portray the relationship between wealth and artistic integrity?
As fundamentally corrosive — Harry's access to money and comfort removed the urgency to write, trading artistic truth for security and ease.
What does Harry's vision of Kilimanjaro's summit suggest about redemption?
That spiritual purity is achievable in death even when it was squandered in life — he reaches the clean, white summit only as he dies.
What is the "iceberg theory" and how does Hemingway apply it in this story?
The principle that a story's deeper meaning lies beneath the surface. Harry and Helen's sparse, tense dialogue conceals vast unspoken emotions underneath.
How does Hemingway use the contrast between mountains and plains symbolically?
Mountains represent purity, aspiration, and artistic integrity; the hot African plain represents corruption, decay, and the comfortable life that ruined Harry.
What narrative technique does Hemingway use to blur the line between Harry's death and rescue?
He presents Harry's dying hallucination as if it were real narrative, then abruptly shifts to Helen's perspective revealing he is dead on the cot.
Why are Harry's memories presented as fragments rather than complete stories?
They are raw, unwritten material — sketches and vignettes that demonstrate what Harry could have produced but never shaped into finished art.
What is gangrene, the condition killing Harry?
The death and decay of body tissue caused by insufficient blood supply or bacterial infection, often producing a foul odor.
What is a "bush pilot" in the context of the story?
A pilot who flies small aircraft in remote, undeveloped regions — here, the only way to evacuate Harry from the African wilderness.
What does "the House of God" refer to in the story's epigraph about Kilimanjaro?
The Masai name for the western summit of Kilimanjaro, "Ngaje Ngai" — the destination the leopard was seeking when it froze near the peak.
What does Harry mean when he says, "I've been writing. But I got lazy"?
He admits he had the talent and material but chose an easy, comfortable life over the hard discipline required to produce honest writing.
What does Harry see in his final vision as the plane approaches Kilimanjaro?
"The square top of Kilimanjaro, wide as all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun" — the peak representing purity he could only reach in death.
What is the significance of the story's opening line about pain?
"The marvellous thing is that it's painless" — Harry notes that death itself is painless, establishing the story's detached, unsentimental tone toward mortality.