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Comfort and materialism are the enemy of creative and moral achievement.
In “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” Harry claims that rich people are all tedious, citing Helen and her dull peers as examples of members of the upper echelons who do little with their lives besides drink and play games. However, the text argues more than just that the rich are tedious—it argues that wealth breeds tedium. Harry is not truly a member of the wealthy class; rather, he is a member of the working class who has climbed the class ladder through his marriage to Helen, who bankrolls his life. Harry is not a dull or shallow person by nature, as shown through his memories, which consist of a diverse range of experiences. Crucially, Harry’s increasing boredom and lack of creative inspiration directly correlate with his increasing wealth. In the past, his physical vitality and creative talents directly correlated with his working-class circumstances and minimalist lifestyle.
While Harry’s youth often consisted of poverty and traumas related to war, it was also the time when he was most energized and inspired. In contrast, although his marriage to Helen is one of relative contentment and comfort, Harry feels stagnant and depressed. Although Harry is literally dying from gangrene, he associates Helen with a metaphorical death—in allowing Helen to envelop him in a world of luxury and materialism, Harry has smothered the best version of himself, which thrives on challenge and genuine experience. The lack of stimulation in his life kills off his creative energy and causes him to avoid the arduous and painful intellectual and emotional work that writing requires. His comfortable, materialistic lifestyle has slowly turned him apathetic and passive, a state that is antithetical to his true identity. Harry is happiest when he is both intellectually and physically stimulated, but wealth has removed all conflict from his life, thus destroying any opportunity for growth or real happiness.
The pursuit of purity in an inherently impure world begets pain and depression.
In “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” Mount Kilimanjaro takes on metaphorical value as a symbol of divinity and purity. Both Harry and Helen are desperately searching for purity and salvation in some way. For Helen, purity might mean finding a lover who lives up to the memory of her late husband. She believes she has found this in Harry, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear that Harry not only does not love her but does not truly inhabit the traits of independence and confidence that initially attracted her to him. Rather than face Harry’s impurities, Helen deludes herself, begging Harry not to destroy the fantasy they’ve created. Meanwhile, Harry sees Helen as a manifestation of the impurities that plague his life. Most crucially, Harry no longer writes. Despite having many stories he means to tell, Harry has grown idle and lifeless due to the luxurious and materialistic life he leads with Helen. He believes that this wealth has ruined his soul.
Additionally, Julian’s naive hope that the rich are truly a special, flawless class of people is also a search for purity. If Julian’s hypothesis is true, it means that there is a pinnacle of humanity to aspire toward, and that these humans will be rewarded for their perfection with wealth. When Julian discovers that there is no moral difference between rich people and the working class, he is devastated. He had seen the amassing of wealth as a possible road to purity; in realizing that this is not the case, achieving purity becomes even more out of reach.
While Harry does not associate money with purity—rather, he understands wealth as an impurity—he does seem to view certain memories as the closest he’s come to achieving perfection. Skiing down a bright mountain in the Alps on Christmas Day, staying at a hotel during trout fishing season in Germany, and his loving former marriages are all recollections associated with freedom and happiness. However, each of these moments of purity is eventually destroyed by impurities. The Alps are marred by disturbing incidents connected to the war, the hotel owner kills himself, and Harry, emotionally immature and traumatized, causes the demise of his marriages. And, while Harry yearns for the vitality and creative intensity of his youth, he has destroyed that too by letting himself grow stale in the comfort and tedium of Helen’s wealthy lifestyle. The only way for Harry to achieve purity is to leave behind his sick, traumatized, heartbroken, and regret-riddled human life. His flight to the peak of Kilimanjaro at the story’s end suggests that there may be something joyful and awesome in death, as Harry has finally been released from the inherent impurity of being human.
