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been in it and he had watched it and his duty was to write of it; but<br> | been in it and he had watched it and his duty was to write of it; but<br> | ||
now he never would (“Snows,”).</blockquote> | now he never would (“Snows,”).</blockquote> | ||
“Snows” is a complex and beautifully told story, certainly one of Hemingway’s best. The structure, however, seems fragmented and the tone is dark.4 So, what is happening? This story is a tale not of what is but of what might have been. To use Jennifer Harding’s useful term, the story is all about counterfactuals. | |||
<blockquote>The central theme of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” I believe, is the exploration of unrealized alternatives and the coincident judgments of these alternatives by characters, narrator, and implied author. The explorations of “what might have been”— which appear in some form in every section of “Snows”—unite the story’s fragments and provide the key to its total thematic effect, inviting the reader to participate in the process of judgment. (Harding –)</blockquote> | |||