Snows of Kilimanjaro, The

by Ernest Hemingway  |  Grades 10-12  |  Lexile 820

The story centers on the memories of a writer named Harry who is on safari in Africa. He has developed an infected wound from a thorn puncture, and lies awaiting his slow death. This loss of physical capability causes him to look inside himself—at his memories of the past years, and how little he has actually accomplished in his writing. He realizes that although he has seen and experienced many wonderful and astonishing things during his life, he had never made a record of the events; his status as a writer is contradicted by his reluctance to actually write. In a dream he sees a plane coming to get him and take him to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro as a hyena is heard from the distance.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is regarded as one of Hemingway's greatest works, holding its own alongside "A Farewell to Arms."

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