Snows of Kilimanjaro

Please complete the book by reading the last two stories: "Fifty Grand" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". Hemingway believed that "The Short Happy Life..." was one of his finest stories. Within it, he felt, he covered as much ground as a novel, but did it in about 34 pages.

Taken together many of the short stories in this collection respond to each other by way of contrasting characters, outlooks, and point of view while retaining the comparison of theme: that of death and/or transition.

Some motifs found in the collection include:

paralysis or stasis (many of the characters are stuck (often in the hospital) in a sort of purgatory. They can neither go forward with their lives or backward.)
Relationships (The relationships between husband and wife or males and females seems a little one sided; alternatively, the relationship between men (particularly between fathers and their sons) reflects the relationship between the sexes because at its core there is often a challenge or conflict; each side struggling to "win" a goal.)
Gambling (many of the characters gamble or get into trouble because they gamble; gambling is risk taking...something that Hemingway had an interest in.)
Boxing (quite literally the struggle between two people--in this case made into a sport or game)
Hunting (along with boxing, hunting is the struggle between human and animal made into recreation or simple pastime. It involves risk (like gambling) and shows how men (particularly) are at odds with their environment.)