超越死亡-[乞力马扎罗山上的雪] 中死亡轨迹的探讨英语本科毕业论文

重庆大学城市科技学院本科学生毕业论文

超越死亡——《乞力马扎罗山上的雪》

中死亡轨迹的探讨

Graduation Thesis of City College of Science and

Technology Chongqing University

Beyond Death—A Study of the

Death Track in The Snows of Kilimanjaro

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the following people for making this thesis possible.

First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Chen Luoyun, not only for the precious time she has devoted to reading every draft of my thesis and the invaluable enlightenment she has provided to guide me through all the stages of my writing process, but also for her warm encouragement and unfailing patience which serve as a great comfort to me during the difficult times in the process of writing.

My appreciation also goes to all the teachers who gave me creative and edifying lectures in the fours years, from which I have benefited a lot in the English studies. My special gratitude goes to teacher Xu, who gives me a great deal of guides and encourages when I was lost during writing the thesis.

Finally I would like to thank all my dear friends, especially xxx, xxx and xxx whose support and encouragement is indispensable.

I

摘要

本篇小说《乞力马扎罗的雪》是围绕死亡这一主题展开的，无论是从秃鹰、土狼的出现，还是从主人公自己的预测，这些都预示着哈里死亡的到来。也许在外人看来，哈利的死并没有什么可遗憾的：他在自己的写作生涯中曾崭露头角，名利双收；在生活中，他不但有奢侈的物质享受，还有美女的投怀送抱。可是，他还没有放下这些虚无的东西，更是沉醉其中难以自拔。死亡，这个令人听之毛骨悚然的词汇，更别说超越死亡。然而，待经过长期病痛的折磨和对人生过往的深刻思考，再加上哈里正处于意志低迷、消沉时期，他会不自觉的地想逃离当下，升入天堂，希望在此找到自己最初的愿望和理想。透过小说的环境描写、对话描写、心里描写和意象的暗含意义都可以渗透出超越死亡这一主题。

关键词：《乞力马扎罗的雪》，死亡，超越死亡

II

ABSTRACT

The story of The Snows of Kilimanjaro is developed by the subject of death. All of these predict death is just around the corner, whether from the appearance of bold eagle and hyena or the protagonist of the story — Harry′s own forecast. Maybe in others′s eyes, there is nothing to pity for Harry′s death since he was successful in his writing and he once lived a life of luxury with beauties around him. However, he can not let it go at first and even get indulged in it deeply. Death, such a word makes people dread and tremble, and let alone beyond death. Nevertheless, after a long time of illness afflicting and the profound ponder over life in the past, in addition, he was in the misery or depression circumstance, he would generate the idea of escaping from time and return to paradise under unconsciousness. The Snows of Kilimanjaro bring him back to nature, reminding him of his primitive wishes and desire and truly reach the state of beyond death. The topic of beyond death permeates the whole story especially from the environment description, dialogue description, physical description and the implied meaning of the images in the novel.

Key words: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, death, beyond death

III

ABSTRACT

The story of The Snows of Kilimanjaro is developed by the subject of death.

All of these predict death is just around the corner, whether from the appearance of

bold eagle and hyena or the protagonist of the story — Harry′s own forecast.

Maybe in others′s eyes, there is nothing to pity for Harry′s death since he was

successful in his writing and he once lived a life of luxury with beauties around

him. However, he can not let it go at first and even get indulged in it deeply. Death,

such a word makes people dread and tremble, and let alone beyond death.

Nevertheless, after a long time of illness afflicting and the profound ponder over

life in the past, in addition, he was in the misery or depression circumstance, he

would generate the idea of escaping from time and return to paradise under

unconsciousness. The Snows of Kilimanjaro bring him back to nature, reminding

him of his primitive wishes and desire and truly reach the state of beyond death.

The topic of beyond death permeates the whole story especially from the

environment description, dialogue description, physical description and the

implied meaning of the images in the novel.

Key words: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, death, beyond death

Graduation Thesis of City College of Science and Technology Chongqing University

Contents

1 Introduction………………………………………………......................................1

1.1 Brief introduction of the author………………………......................................1

1.2 About the fiction……………………………………………………………….1

1.3About the theme — beyond death.……………………………………………2

1.4 Thesis statement……………………………………………………………….3

2 Literature review…………………………………………………………………..4

2.1 The stream of consciousness.............................................................................4

2.2 Symbolism.........................................................................................................4

2.2.1 The image of snow..................................................................................4

2.2.2 The image of Kilimanjaro.......................................................................5

2.2.3 The image of leopard…………………………………………………..5

2.2.4 The image of bald eagle………………………………………………..5

2.2.5 The image of heyna.................................................................................5

2.3 The changing attitude toward death..................................................................6

3 Methodology………………………………………………………………………7

3.1 The manifestation of beyond death...................................................................7

3.1.1 Environmental description......................................................................7

3.1.2 Dialogue description...............................................................................7

3.1.3 Psychological description………………………………………………8

3.1.4 Implied meaning of images…………………………………………….9

4 Findings……………………………………..........................................................11

4.1 How the author reach the level of beyond death………………......................11

4.1.1 The hard experience of the author in the past .......................................11

5 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….…….12

5.1 The summary of subject………………………………………………..…….12

Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………..13

1 Introduction

1.1 Brief introduction of the author

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois and was an American

novelist, short story writer, and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate

community in Paris, as well as the veterans of World War One. Later he was regarded

as the spokesmen for the Lost Generation. He received Pulitzer Price in 1953 for The

Old Man and the Sea and the Nobel Price in literature in 1954. Hemingway's

distinctive writing style is characterized by economy and understanding. It had a

significant influence on the development of twentieth-century fiction writing. His

protagonists are typically stoic man who has an ideal described as “grace under

pressure” Many of his works are now considered canonical in American literature.

Hemingway incorporated the deep understanding of death into his own life

consciousness with unique, grave and stern sight. The Snows of Kilimanjaro has been

called Hemingway's short story masterpiece. He wrote the story after his first safari to

Africa and was so fascinated by the place that he told reporters he wanted to go to back

as soon as he had enough money. A wealthy woman read his remarks and offered to

finance the trip for Hemingway, his wife and herself. Hemingway turned her down, but

he wondered what the trip would have been like if he had gone, and the story was born

from that notion. In 1961, Hemingway committed suicide because he could not beer

depression and torment by failing artistic and physical power.

1.2 About the fiction

The fiction of The Snows of Kilimanjaro has just one theme- death. The author

demonstrates it from different aspects. From the perspective of symbolic meaning, for

example, bald eagle and the dead leopard on the top of the mountain Kilimanjaro, they

all imply the coming death. The theme, death, we all can feel through each one of word.

In the story, while facing the imminent death on an African trip, a writer goes in and

out of consciousness. On the one hand, during his clearly awareness, he argues with his

lover and seems on destroying her. On the other hand, during his unconscious or

dream-like states, he remembers his life and had insight into why he was so

degenerated. He has regrets, fears, and some wonderful memories. These memories are

based on Hemingway's own experience and professional career.

The story centers on the memories of a writer named Harry who is on safari on

Africa. He develops an infected wound from a puncture and lies awaiting his slow

death. This loss of physical capability causes him to look insight of himself -his

memories of the pass 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 has never found the true meaning of life and a mass of

emptiness stuff with his mind. He also quarrels with the woman with him, blaming her

for her living decadently and making him forget his failure. He wants to write what

really matter to him, namely his experiences among poor and interesting people, not

the upper class those who have fallen into lately. Originally, Harry has the potentiality

to make achievements in writing, but he wasted his talent due to lying, laziness,

incontinence, and indulgence in comfortable life. He has died spiritually even before

he gets an infection. Thus he dies, having lived through so much and yet having lived

only for the moment. In a dream he sees a plane coming to get him and take him to the

top of Kilimanjaro.

1.3About the theme- death

Death is a grave and solemn theme. No matter people hold what kind of attitude

toward death, one point of view will not change—everyone is fear of it. Because

people live in the world where he has already very familiar with and he accustomed to

deal with it by harmonious ways. If one day, he have to enter a strange word that be

filled with dreads, he absolutely resist it with extremely reluctant moods. Human

beings can not sure what are waiting for them in another word. In addition, there are so

many of legends and books which vividly describe the cruel scene of the hell. People

always feel a burst of cold wind from the back spine when heard of the eighteenth hell.

On the other hand, due to people have mastered little information about death, human

beings also have a feel of mystery toward death. Besides, a person who died shall not

come back to the living word, let alone to say he had opportunity to tell us what on

earth the hell and death are. Therefore, faced with a subject of death, which not only be

full of fear and mystery, but also has a feel of helplessness. However, human beings

still want to explore this unsearchable area with unlimited dynamic.

In generally, Chinese people usually hold a conservative attitude to death. "Life is

a unknown area, how further talk about death." which comes from Confucius. Of

course, avoiding the issues of death does not mean ancient scholars did not make any

research of death. China's Confucianism serves as a school of thought emphasize the

value of human beings and it had made a good deal of study about the question of life

and death. Compared with death, Chinese focus on life. The views of life and death of

the Confucianism lays emphasis on keeping forging ahead when one is live, while

maintaining a state of tranquil when one died. Never delay hopes and dreams to the

next minute, just try to live this current word without any waste. So, in terms of

Confucianism, all of mental activities of people must be surrounded one center, that is

how to live better and how to gain the most of happiness in the contemporary era. The

point of view of Confucianism illustrates that they are coping with this question from

perspective of laying stress on life rather than death or talking about life without

mention any things of death.

In contrary, western countries writers had given so many of discussion on the

issue of death. Compared with China's reserved attitude, western writer attitude are

more bold and open. A more interesting thing was that there were few famous writers

who loved to depict the novel of death, for example, Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe and

so on. As far as I know, the reason why they do not avoid the subject of death is that

they are deeply influenced by their religion— Christian. In their religion ethic, people

are not feared of death, in return, to them, death radically is not a present of sorrow and

pain, while a kind of release. For every Christian believed that, he just is a transient

traveler in the word and the true meaning of home is not here but on the heaven.

Thereby, they can fright with death with relieved attitudes.

1.4 Thesis statement

By three ways to study the subject of death that has embodied in The Snows of

Kilimanjaro - the perspective of symbolic meaning, the perspective of the stream of

consciousness and the changing attitude toward death Harry taken- to reveal the reality

meaning of death and have a deep understanding of Hemingway's works on death,

further, readers can form their own ideas of death and possess the ability to hold on

one's own distinctive views and identify or appreciate it.

2 Literature review

2.1 The stream of consciousness

Among Hemingway's short stories, especially in The Snows of Kilimanjaro, he

successfully applied of stream of consciousness. Just as the scholar Wu Ling observes,

in this story, Harry′s consciousness unceasingly shifting between his imagination and

reality. His consciousness divided into two threads. During conversations between

Harry and Helen, Harry′s consciousness returns from imagination to reality. The

other is Harry′s remembrance of his pass life when his consciousness oppositely

flows from reality to imagination. These two threads advance forward according to

their consequence of time. And the story is made up the simultaneous development of

the two parts. Facing the coming death, he could realize that the hero's soul has

experienced a process from pureness to degradation, and finally to revival or salvation.

His consciousness vary from happiness to boredom or angry, and eventually to the

complicated and profoundly contemplates on death and life.

2.2 Symbolism

In addition, symbolism is another way for Hemingway to elaborate his theme

death of body and immortality of spirit.

Although at the end of the story, author do not given a definite ending, whether

Harry is die or not, all the readers have clearly known that this will be or must be a

tragic result since the whole story is pervaded by an atmosphere of death, which is

indicated by the image of snow, Kilimanjaro, bald eagle and hyena.

2.2.1 The image of snow

The snow that covered in the Kilimanjaro symbolized the purity and

immortality of spirit. Though a person could not avoid the physical death, his spirit

could be immortal as well as on the top of Kilimanjaro that never melt.

Ling .2012>

2.2.2 The image of Kilimanjaro

The mountain Kilimanjaro is also called “the house of God”, namely, this

mountain is the passage that toward death and then arise to heaven and a reborn place

after people's spirits are washed by purity and holy. Thereby, the mountain of

Kilimanjaro is a lofty and dignified place. But the will of conquering its summit also

symbolized the unyielding spirit.

2.2.3 The image of leopard

Leopard is an animal that living by prey. In order to survive, it must be prey and

pursue the targets one by one. Though the leopard here failed in its seeking, it still

comes to the west summit. It died but its carcass was never decayed and also becomes

the symbol of unyielding spirit.

2.2.4 The image of bald eagle

At the beginning of the story, Hemingway concisely describes the movements

of the bald eagle. Like what Harry side, it was the odor of the cut that brought these

carnivores. They waited outside, which foreboded the coming of his death. And

shadows that made by birds' flying also symbolize the near approaching the power of

death.

2.2.5 The image of hyena

Hyena is an important image in the story. Its appearance is closely associated

with the death in the story. It was the representative of his degenerative life and

spiritual death when he lives a parasitic life. It is know that hyena lives on the leftover

of the creature. It passively waits the leftover instead of actively seeking the food. This

way of living is the same with Harry's. Bing a promising writer, Harry gave up his

pursuit and traded his talent with his lover in order to enjoy the hedonic pleasure

without any efforts.

2.3 The changing attitude toward death

The attitude of Harry toward death are changing with the time goes. At first, he

was not aware of the concept of death at all and arbitrary waste his time. As a

promising writer, but he have lost himself in the face of wealth and desire and he

conquered by the abysm of degeneration. At this moment, he does not have spare time

to care about his writing. Then he starts to fear death when he got an infection on the

trip of Africa. When he threatened by the death, he begins to ponder over his life and

just realizes that so many of time and energy was idled without any significant. He

dreads of the role of loser he pays and in terms of his heart, he firmly does not want to

waste the talent that the God has endowed with him. In closing, he becomes long for

the new life. With the steps of death close, he finally clears up his status and he is filled

with regrets and despairs.

3 Methodologies

3.1 The manifestation of beyond death

3.1.1 Environmental description

The cot the man lay on was in the wide shade of a mimosa tree and as he

looked out past the shade on to the glare of the plain there were three if the big birds

squatted obscenely, while in the sky a dozen more sailed, making quick-moving

shadows as they passed.

From this passage we can infer that Harry begins to feel sick because of the

gangrene in his right leg. Especially, the word the author used “glare”, “obscenely”,

“shade”, those words mean the step of death is just around the corner and Harry faces

death with the resistance and hate.

He lay then and was quiet for a while and looked across the heat shimmer of the

plain to the edge of the bush. There were a few Tommie that showed minute and white

against the green of the bush. This was a pleasant camp under big trees against a hill,

with good water, and close by, dry water hole where and grouse flight in the

morning.

We can see that Harry′s heart becomes calm toward death by the passage.

Through the author′s brisk tone and the scenery the author presentation, Harry is

confronted with death without too much fear instead of a peace of mind. After long

time the illness′s torment, he maybe thoughts that death is a good way to get rid of

hurt and step into a new life.

3.1.2 Dialogue description

“It′s a bore,” he said out loud.

“What is, my dear?”

“Anything you do too bloody long.”

It is very sure that everyone fear and dread death, especially for the healthy

people. For example, if a young one gets a cold, he will take medicine immediately

before the disease go to worse. However, if an old man who has got serious diseases

for a long time, he might thinks that my illness can not be cured and there are so many

torments are left to bear in the rest time. Just like Harry thoughts, disease is a bore and

he does not want to sand it any more. And then, in this situation, death is a best

medicine to release their mind and body. At this time, people′s ideological

consciousness of death has reach a level, death is no more a object to fear and in turn it

is a revolution to apply.

3.1.3 Psychological description

Harry′s life has changed completely after a thorn had scratched his knee as they

moved forward trying to photograph a herd of waterbuck standing. Before that

happened, he has litter time to recall his life. For he is a vigorous man, he is eager for

outside world from which he can gain a lot of materials to fill in his stories. So he

spends a great deal of time to travel. Until got gangrene, he has to lie down to have a

rest and at that time he has enough time to ponder over his life.

When he was young, he was addicted to gamble and he had whored the whole

time, when those were over, and he had failed to kill his loneliness, but only made it

worse. In his heart, he loved the first girl and when he missed her very much, he would

write to her a letter which telling her how he had never been able to kill

loneliness…How when he thought he saw her outside the Regence one time it made

him go all faint and sick inside, and that he would follow a woman who looked like her

in some way, along the Boulevard, afraid to see it was not she, afraid to lose the feeling

it gave him. How everyone he had slept with had only made him miss her more. How

what she had down could never matter since he knew he could not cure himself of

loving her. Harry of course had seen so many of beautiful ladies, who gave him a feel

of over-ripe. They looked but smooth, rose-petal, syrupy, smooth-bellied, and

big-breasted and needed no pillow under their buttocks.

Those degenerations make him more loneliness and helpless. Believe that every

time the mistake he made, his heart always fallen into the deep self-accusation and

confession. As the bible saying, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Harry could get what

he wanted from those rich women, whatever the substantial material or the desire that

every man longs for, since, on the one hand, he possesses the noble quality of the upper

classes and profound cultural background, frankly speaking, which is also called

prestige. On the other hand, he knows woman very well and he can chase and control

them wisely by using lie. After together with a lot of women, he concluded that a

woman could not know that you mean nothing that you said, maybe what you spoke

only from habit or to be comfortable. After he no longer meant what he said, his lies

were more successful with women than when ha had told them the truth.

He could obtain what people pursue for easily, such as money, charming lovers

and the life of the upper classes. He had destroyed his talent by not using it, by

betrayals of him and what he believed in, by drinking so much that he blunted the edge

of his perceptions, by laziness, by sloth, and by snobbery, by pride and by prejudice, by

hook and by crook. It was a talent all right but instead of using it, he had traded on it.

Of course, he wanted change it, but, he had lost himself too long and so deep. So, he

did not have enough power to defeat it. Faced with a world which he could not change

and tolerate, he would rather break away from this reality world and go to a totally new

world in which he possible has chance to retain his confidence and what he believed in.

3.1.4 Implied meaning of images

There, ahead, all he could see, as wide as all the world, great, high, and

unbelievably while in the sun, was the square top of Kilimanjaro. And then he knew

that there was where he was going.

Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the

highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the House of God. Close to the

western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a leopard. No one has

explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.

First, let us talk about the dead leopard on the top of the Kilimanjaro. Leopard

is a kind of animal that live on the prairie where it can catch its prey. Why the leopard

leaves the carefree life on the prairie and chooses to scramble hardly the highest

mountain in Africa? The question was left by Harry′s uncle, he was a man be fond of

hunting. In his eyes, only on the prairie man′s natural instincts show thoroughly or

this kind of passion will be shrink. That is one of reason why Harry looks forward to

the life on the prairie. When his uncle dead, he does not leave a lot of money for him

just as usual people did, unexpectedly, he only gives him a riddle which can not unfold

easily. Surely, this riddle has confused him too long time until a bar owner gave a

relatively reasonable explanation, that is, the leopard′s scent is not very well and it

always follows the mistake smell to go up to the top of the Kilimanjaro. That is also

mean, the leopard gets lost at the beginning when it takes the first step.

As far as I know, the fate of leopard indicates the fate of Harry because of the

both of them on every aspect have in common. First, both of them enjoy the carefree

life on the prairie. For leopard, the prairie is a good stage to show its speed and

advantages. For Harry, the prairie is the last piece of pure land where he can lay down

all the lies and uneasy and just do the really one. There is no need mask to cover his

hypocrisy any more and he can freely do what he wants to do. It must be the most relax

time in his life, since as the words saying the most exhausting in life is being insincere.

Second, on pursuing dream road, they all lost themselves. The leopard follows the

wrong smell to go up to the top of Kilimanjaro, and finally, which leads to death. There

is something wrong with the leopard′s scent, and as the result, it goes to the wrong

way and must be pay the price for its wrong choose. Harry should have a decent and

comfortable life by using the talent God has endowed with him. However, he would

rather live a degeneration life. Obviously, Harry also lost himself in this complex

society. Although he has an affluent material life, his spirit world is extremely

deficiency. Third, they all yearn for the satisfaction of spirit. But, the current world can

not content this kind of needs, so, they dare to beyond death to gain a new and

spirit-level life.

Second, the mountain of Kilimanjaro is the mark of sacred and inviolable. At so

high summit of Kilimanjaro, there is no life existence at all. So, to some extent, the

eager for the mountain of Kilimanjaro is mean the eager for holy, and in another words,

yearn for the death.

4 Finding

4.1 How the author reach the level of beyond death

4.1.1 The hard experience of the author in the past

He became frustrated when he indulged in young women. At first, he should have got inner heart relief and satisfaction and to make up with spiritual emptiness and depression. However, on the contrary, his needs not only did not get satisfied as he expected, but also, further, make the things turn into worse.

And the most important is that he gave up his dream and betrayed what he

believed in. Since then his life just like the grass on the river without any aim and goal. Without aim in the life which means without the existence′s value. What a pity thing it is!

In his life, indeed, there were good times to worth remembering. Then, he was a man who gains both fame and wealth by his talent in literature. But, good time dose not last long, cloudy days take over the most time of his life. After he going through the life road which was filled with ups and down, he started to scoff at the vanity of all things, including the indulgence life of the upper class, reputation all the people in the world would make great effort to obtain, pleasures of flesh and all the dark things that can not present under the sun shine. Ridiculously, he once had a good impression of the people of the upper class. He thought they were a special glamorous race and when he found they were not it wrecked him just as much as any other thing that wrecked him. Finally, he feds up with a variety of hypocrisies in the world and death is a good via to get the place where he always looks forward to.

5 Conclusion

5.1 The summary of the death

The whole story is based on a word death to develop, so we can feel death gradually erode the author′s body and mind. But he never wants to submit to it. In the story, death often moves on Harry, at the beginning, but it has no shape any more. It simply occupies space. Then, it moves up closer to him still and he can not speak to it, and further, its weight is all upon his chest, and while it crouches there and he can not move, or speak, or even breathes. It slowly gets the upper hand. But, finally, it jumps the body of Harry and recovers him a free will.

Harry reaches to the top of the Kilimanjaro following his will in the end, which means he gets rid of the limit of death, or even we can say he is finally beyond death and goes to the place he always look forward to, where he can remind of his primitive wishes and desire.

Works cited

[1] Wang Yana. Africa as a Spiritual Patadise [J], Yunnan: Read and Write Periodical. 2009.

[2] Wu Ling. An Analysis of the Writing Techniques in The Snows of Kilimanjaro [J]. Liuzhou,

Guangzhou : Read and Write Periodical. 2012.

[3] 曹圣华．谈《乞力马扎罗的雪》象征手法的运用[J]．菏泽师专学报．2002．

[4] 黄珊珊．象征主义在《乞力马扎罗的雪》中的体现[J]．学理论．2009．

[5] 李晓利、王欣.《乞力马扎罗的雪》中的生与死[J]．哈尔滨：绥化学院学报．2011．

[6] 李忠华．浅谈《乞力马扎罗的雪》中的象征[J]．解放军外国语学院学报．2000．

[7] 刘瑾．To Have and Have No [J]．上海：上海翻译出版社．2009．

[8] 鹿金．海明威．乞力马扎罗的雪[A]．上海：上海译文出版社．1981．

[9] 罗晓蓉．活着还是死去[M]．北京：中国书籍出版社．2008．

[10] 王丽．解读《乞力马扎罗的雪》中的象征[J].长春工业大学学报．2010．