The Snows of Kilimanjaro | Themes

Death
As the story of an imminent death, ‘‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’’ is suffused not only with images of death but also with a pervading sense of death’s presence. The story begins with death—‘‘it’s painless,’’ Harry says in the first line, referring to his oncoming demise—and ends with the ironic comparison of the woman’s heart beating loudly and the stillness of Harry’s lifeless body. Death is symbolically figured both as the pristine whiteness of the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and as the creeping, filthy hyena that lurks outside...

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