He was ill; he is on the verge of death as his life began to catch up with him. Harry, the protagonist of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Ernest Hemingway, lies on a cot on the plains of Kilimanjaro dying of gangrene due to a self-inflicted wound that he never treated. As he stands on the brink of death, his true identity as a person begins to shine through. Is Harry a good man who is simply preparing for death in a terrible way? Or did his truly deceitful and violent personality shine through in his final moments of life? While these questions are much debated, there is evidence to show that Harry was, indeed, a terrible man receiving punishment for the life he lived. Harry was a crook, a thief, an abuser and a lazy man and now he was getting his poetic justice. As he lies on the cot waiting for the plane that will save his life, his true character and identity begin to shine through. As he sits and remembers all his regrets, he becomes bitter towards his wife, Helen's, money. He believes that because his money has allowed him to live luxuriously, it has made him lazy towards his writing and art. He says, “Your damn money was my armor. My swift and my armour” (Page 830). Although he blames his money for this character flaw, he recognizes that he is, in fact, to blame for his lack of writing. As he continues to rail against Helen's legacy, he admits that he never truly loved her. “It was also strange, wasn't it, that when he fell in love with another woman, that woman always had more money than the last one” (Page 832)? This statement, although he doesn't say it correctly, implies that he is suggesting that he only married Helen for her money; and if it hadn't been Helen, it would have been... middle of paper... he had decided to take the trip to Kilimanjaro to end his laziness with writing and to become inspired. On his way there, he cuts his leg and contracts gangrene at the foot of the mountain. At the moment of his death, his soul is taken to the top of the mountain considered the "House of God" where the corpse of a leopard was preserved. “When Harry looks at Kilimanjaro, he sees it as a symbol of truth, idealism and purity. When he dies, tragic irony exists. The leopard died in a high, clean and well-lit place; Harry, in contrast, dies rotting and stinking on the plains, lamenting his wasted life and failure to complete his desired plans. (Notes on the cliff). This death means punishment for the life he lived. While many argue that it was a symbol of his lack of writing, many others argue that it was because of his abusive and cheating behavior.