SOURCE: "The Real Thing," in Ernest Hemingway, Twayne Publishers, 1963, pp. 35-9.

In the following excerpt, Rovit examines the theme of artistic failure in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."

Although many of Hemingway's heroes might nominally qualify as artists—Jake Barnes, writer; Nick Adams, writer; Frederick Henry, architect; Richard Cantwell, expert in general; Robert Jordan, writer—only Harry of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is presented convincingly as a writer; and only he seems actively concerned with the problems created by his calling. Structurally the story is rather simple—a variation on Ambrose Bierce's classic "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Harry, the writer, tries to come to terms with the fact of his approaching death; he has a badly gangrenous leg which is too far advanced to be cured, even though a rescue airplane is expected on the following day to carry him out of the African bush to the...