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After Harry’s thorn scratch becomes gangrenous, the infection moves slowly up his leg. Immobilizing him and weakening his physical and mental state, the steady yet painless progress of the gangrene—which ultimately kills Harry—mirrors the steady yet almost imperceptible deterioration of his life as a writer. Although gangrene is killing him, Harry notes this manner of dying is easy compared with others he has seen, the only discomfort being his inability to move around by himself. In a similar manner, despite seeming innocuous, too much comfort in his life has undermined and prevented his success as a writer: “each day of not writing, of comfort…softened his will to work so that, finally, he did no work at all.” Harry’s talent and passion gradually died after a life of comfort ensnared him, much as he will eventually pass away under the painless clutches of his gangrene infection.
Gangrene Quotes in The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The The Snows of Kilimanjaro quotes below all refer to the symbol of Gangrene. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” Quotes
So now it was all over, he thought. So now he would never have a chance to finish it. So this was the way it ended, in a bickering over a drink.
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Early in the story, Harry has been bickering with his wife Helen about whether or not to have a whiskey-soda, as their medical guide advises against drinking when infected with gangrene. Having realized this is truly the end of his life—tghathe has run out of time to do all he had hoped to achieve—Harry deflects his frustrations into quarreling over whether or not to drink. This reflects the way he has, for years, focused on the desire to live in comfort rather than strive to achieve his calling. In this way, Hemingway sets in motion Harry’s, and the readers’, gradual Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam
And just then it occurred to him that he was going to die. It came with a rush; not as a rush of water nor of wind; but of a sudden evil-smelling emptiness and the odd thing was that the hyena slipped lightly along the edge of it.
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Harry is talking with Helen when he suddenly feels an ominous foreboding. While he was previously stoic and pragmatic about his death, the significance of his situation suddenly dawns on him. The imagery of this realization illustrates Harry’s perception of death and the nature of his fear. He does not picture death as a dramatic physical force overwhelming him bodily. He dreads death primarily because it brings to an end his psychological existence. It is not the pain or struggle that worries Harry, but the finality of the end. Ultimately, he fears the unknown—the “emptiness.” This “evil-smelling” emptiness in turn Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus volu
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Gangrene Symbol Timeline in The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The timeline below shows where the symbol Gangrene appears in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
...now he’ll never have the chance to “finish it.” He thinks about how since the gangrene started in his leg, the pain had left, and with it the horror of death....
(full context)
...them, and Harry answers that he hadn’t treated his thorn scratch properly, leading to the gangrene. Or maybe it was the truck driver that had burned out the truck, he suggests,...
(full context)
...him not to be melodramatic, but he tells her to use her nose, as the gangrene has rotted halfway up his thigh. He demands a drink instead. Helen asks more softly...
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