"the snows of kilimanjaro” ernest hemingway assignment

He sells and trades his talent for money. He lives his life emotionally distant from the several wives he has, he never loves any and changes one for another who has more money. A woman is a source of money for him. He does not even identify himself with or belongs to the wealthy society, he lives there using all privileges of wealthy people and behaves as a worthy member of that society. Harry gives his view of the difference between rich and of very rich on the recalls talking with Julian who says: “ The very rich are different from you and me. Harry replies: “ Yes, they have more money. ” Now, facing death from a gangrene that has infected his leg, when he does not apply the iodine after he scratched it. At the base of the mountain Kilimanjaro Harry regrets that he never took the time to write about things that really matter to him. He wants to write and wonders if his wife can take his dictation so he can write one perfect paragraph, one last time, and can “ get it right. ” Realizing the truth so late, Harry spends his last moments of life in the middle of nowhere trying to put words on paper.

He thinks of people he never wrote about. He also thinks about many places he visited and many things he saw, but never wrote about any of them. He knows now that he will never “ write the things that he had saved to write until he knew enough to write them well. ” He realizes how often and how much he wasted his life, avoiding to write the things he wanted to. When Helen asks him what he is doing, he answers that he is writing. There in Africa, he realizes that the exchange he makes in his life is not worth it.