Ernest Hemmingway’s short story, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” shares a dying man’s last interactions and thoughts, whilst exploring all of the stories he procrastinated writing throughout his life. It begins with a man and a woman bickering as they wait for a rescue plane. The man has contracted gangrene and is close to death. The setting changes as the man experiences a series of flashbacks that carry a feeling of loss. Harry reflects on his life and takes ownership of his role in his wasted life. As scavenging animals draw near, he realizes that he is at the end of his life.
As he dies, he journeys to Mount Kilimanjaro, which is representative of heaven (or an afterlife), where he sees the legendary leopard mentioned at the beginning of the story. In contrast, the short story “Two Words,” written by Isabel Allende explores the life of Belisa Crepusculario who makes a living dealing in spoken words. The story opens with a description of her rough childhood and goes on to explain how she learned to read, write, and share stories. The men of a powerful bandit, “The Colonel,” roughly take her captive while at market one day.
She meets the powerful man and helps him sway the public campaign for ruler. The words she leaves him with eventually cause them to reconnect and they become lovers. Taken together, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “Two Words” are short stories that highlight the experience of coming close to death, the importance of sharing stories, and the power of reciprocated and unreciprocated love. The degree of emotional escape that each story creates is very different. Hemmingway draws the reader in with the first sentence, as the story begins in media res. The argument is between a husband and wife.
The husband, Harry, is on his deathbed. The reader is then engaged with a series of flashbacks as he reminisces about his life while going in and out of a coherent state of mind. When he is able to engage with his wife, he is blunt and stubborn. He reveals his lack of love for his wife after she questions him, “I don’t think so. I never have. ” He is self absorbed and destructive. This creates an interesting character complex for the reader to ponder. On the other hand, Allende uses long descriptive passages to provide background for the reader regarding the main protagonist of the story.
When she is captured by the bandit who uses her extraordinary skills with words to weave a speech that will sway the common people’s vote in the upcoming election, the reader is intrigued by the dynamic of tension and desire between The Colonel and Belisa. Words are explored as a means to connect people, as The Colonel achieves mass success in his campaign but is still driven mad by the weight that his special words place in him. Belisa and The Colonel are reunited and the connection that the words created is recognized as love between both weary and lonely souls.
The main force of interest for the reader is the mystery behind the significance of the words until it is revealed at the end of the story. Allende writes, “… the whole world could see the voracious-puma eyes soften as the woman walked to him and took his hand in hers. ” Though real life struggles are explored in each text, the degree of reality is skewed. Hemmingway romanticizes the idea of death. The man has lived on the in-between all his life and has gotten far too used to being “comfortable” with his situation.
The degree of reflection and insight that he gains about his life and the effects of his decisions in unrealistic in that it takes place is such a short amount of time. In addition, he has an out-of body experience around the time that the reader can infer that he has passed away. He journeys to the top of the mountaintop where he glimpses a legend (very unrealistic). Allende describes a young woman who grew up dirt poor and traversed drought-ridden lands as she sought a better life for herself.
This much is believable, as many third world countries regard children as adults at a much younger age than in first world countries. The less believable ideas of the story is the part about her path to literacy and her relations with the corrupted bandit (regarding business and pleasure). The emotional impact of Hemmingway’s story is minimal. It is difficult to relate to in all aspects sans two. The psychological impact of Harry’s unfinished work that he has procrastinated finishing resonates with the youth of today’s society. Beating procrastination can be very difficult as humans are bound to get distracted.
The man let himself choose the easiest routes in life. Hemmingway brings this point home again with the idea of a lack of true happiness and a sense of loss. When the wife learns that her husband has never truly loved her, her entire world is thrown off of its axis. It is especially important to note that the man is close to death, and has too many regrets to go quietly into the night. Allende gives the reader a suspenseful build up to resolution of the story as one ponders the significance of the two words that she left “The Colonel” with.
The story capitalizes on the importance of words and the true power to shape lives that they contain. Psychologically it is very pleasing that the young woman has risen out of tough circumstances and defied all odds to truly change a very powerful man. In doing so, she even alters her own country. Determining the underlying beliefs of the two authors is subject to the reader’s own interpretation of the text. Hemmingway believes in one’s ability to take ownership of their actions and reflect upon their lives when faced with imminent death.
He believes in the common ability of a person to choose the “easy way out. ” Harry chose the easy way out with his wife and in the majority of how he chose to live his life. Hemmingway believes in a higher power, afterlife, and a person’s ability to repent, as is shown in the final paragraphs of the story as Harry is journeying to the top of the mountain. Allende begins the story with the description of Belisa’s personal struggles. This alludes to the author’s belief that people have the ability to transcend social boundaries.
In addition, Allende shares the capacity of a person to change and the sheer impact of words alone on a person. Hemmingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, contains many unnecessary details and stories that can be categorized as tangents. The short story would retain its integrity if small passages and portions were eliminated. It does, however, retain internal consistency. The author switches back and forth between the couple’s bickering and the man’s thoughts and hallucinations constantly. Therefore, while all parts are not required to create an organic whole, the story remains whole.
Allende’s short story provides much background knowledge for the reader, some of which could be taken out and the story would still maintain its message and intrigue. The plot is fairly straightforward, yet not necessarily consistent, as it does not follow a pattern as Hemmingway’s story does. Taken together, the short stories of Hemmingway and Allende lead one to believe in the extraordinary ability of humans to function under pressure or in difficult situations. In “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” Harry is able to reflect and come to terms with his actions and lack of accomplishments as he prepares to face his imminent death.
He does not do so calmly, yet he is still able to accomplish his task and achieve peace. Similarly, “Two Words” portrays Belisa as an accomplished young lady who can hold her own in trying circumstances (traversing the plains by herself and in the face of a bandit). She is able to use her own intelligence and wit to plant words in people’s heads and manipulate her own circumstances. When faced with fight or flight decisions, people who choose the fight option are challenged mightily, but can come out on top as exemplified by Belisa and Harry.