摘 要

《乞力马扎罗山的雪》被认为是海明威最伟大的作品之一，这个故事是他最有代表性的描写死亡主题的小说。本文试图对海明威的《乞力马扎罗山的雪》中的死亡主题进行分析。基于他在一生不同时期的经历，以及其在不同时期对死亡不同的态度，分析他态度变化的原因和小说死亡主题的升华。同时也通过对故事中死亡意象的分析，可以让我们更深刻地理解这部小说的死亡主题。

关键词：欧内斯特·米勒·海明威；《乞力马扎罗的雪》；死亡主题

Contents

1. Introduction.......................................................................................... 1
2. Demonstration...................................................................................... 2

2.1 During the war—shock of death......................................................... 2

2.1.1 Fear of death—in the war................................................................. 3

2.1.2 Snow as a symbol of death in the war.............................................. 4

2.2 After the war—the demise of soul....................................................... 5

2.2.1 Harry’s life after the war................................................................... 5

2.2.2 A dying soul—after the war……………………………………...... 6

2.3 After he came to Africa—Re-understanding of death.......................... 6

2.3.1 The shadowing of death in Africa......................................................7

2.3.2 Regret for a wasted life..................................................................... 8

2.3.3 The sublimation of death................................................................... 9

1. Conclusion........................................................................................... 10

Works Cited.............................................................................................. 11

Bibliography............................................................................................. 12

Death of Body, Rebirth of Spirit: An Analysis of the Death Motif in Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”

1. Introduction

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 - July 2, 1961) was an American writer. He is generally thought to be a member of the Lost Generation. Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899. He grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, near the midwestern city of Chicago. Hemingway's first book of short stories was called In Our Time. Hemingway is especially famous for his stories. The representative works of his stories are: The Sun Also Rises, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea, etc.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro” was first published in Esquire magazine in 1936. It was republished in The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories in 1938, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories in 1961, and is included in The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigía Edition (1987). The protagonist of this short story, Harry, had three important periods of his lifetime. During the war, Harry experienced a bloody war, the brutality of the war made him shocked. After the war, he began to write and met a lot of rich women, and later he became addicted to lead a voluptuous life. However, he wanted to go to Africa to restart his life. Unfortunately, after gangrene in the right leg, he was very fidgety waiting for end of life in pain, seems to have felt death's footsteps. On his deathbed, Harry felt very specifically the ghastly form and the strong force of death.

“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” epitomizes Hemingway’s real experience of his life. The story filled with the sense of death. The writing background of the story is when Hemingway found he lost himself, and felt disappointed in himself, and he wanted to search for the past glory. The death motif in this story is also very evident. On the one hand, Hemingway’s own understanding of death is unique. The formation of his view of death has gone through a long time, and is constantly changed because of the writer's sensitive consciousness as well as his own experience, especially the influence of World War I. Through his novels, Hemingway illustrates his unique understanding of death that death is not the end of life, but is a reverse confirmation of life. On the other hand, by describing the protagonist, Harry, with simple but powerful words, readers can easily understand the death motif. Death has special meaning both for his life and works. Hemingway's works have a close relationship with death. Death became his eternal motif, which draw much academic attention.

Scholars’ study on the death motif of this novel is mainly through the analysis of the death images, and most people study the death images through the study of symbolism. However, the causes for Harry’s changes were ignored. My research not only has the analysis of death images, but also has the research of the details of the novel, including the changes of Harry's attitude towards death, and how the theme of death is better conveyed through the use of symbols.

This thesis attempts to analyze the death motif in Hemingway’s “The Snow of Kilimanjaro”. In the first part, the paper mainly analyzes the war experiences of Harry and the attitude towards death in this period. In the second part, after the war, Harry was intoxicated with luxury. The paper analyzes the reason why he gave up writing and was willing to degenerate. In the third part, the paper analyzes the images of death in Africa and analyzes the influence of the environment on Harry's attitude. Harry finally got the purification and rebirth of his soul.

1. Demonstration

2.1 During the war—shock of death

Just like other young patriots, Harry had voluntarily entered the war, went to the war front, fought for his country. He used to be an outstanding young man, and also had glorious ideals, and dreams of a beautiful love. However, Harry has witnessed too many deaths in the war, and he had been shocked by the brutality of war. Because of the bloody, brutal war, Harry became frightened by death, which has directly affected Harry’s attitude to death. During the war, death means destruction. In the war, death death became ubiquitous. Anything might be filled with the smell of death. In the short story, the author also used symbol to show the terrible death in the war, and it is helpful to show the protagonist's feeling.