Pain Killers

Each person experiences some kind of a traumatic event at least once in his/ her life. During that period of time people usually feel pain, loneliness and sadness; sometimes they also feel angry or desperate or guilty or even dying. The examples of such stage could be found not only in real life but also in the most famous American novels and stories.

There are numerous examples of pain killers in the short stories of Hemingway; one of them is called "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". The main character in this story, Harry, is suffering from the gangrene in his leg which reflects his pain and conflict inside of him. He had lived the life and he was not satisfied with what he accomplished; he is full of anger, irritation, guilt for not achieving everything he planned to reach, and fear of death that he projects into the world and gets it back in real signs (his rotting leg, vultures circling in the air, and hyena walking around and making noises). All in all, Harry feels weak, bored, and alone; he is seeing everything in "dark colors" and projecting his anger of his wife. He is also unconsciously living in his past, having multiple flashbacks, and thinks about the future that he thinks will never become a reality for him. Because of the traumatic event in his life, Harry feels empty because of the wasted time and talent and finally suffers not from the physical pain but already from the one coming from the inside of his mind and soul. The main hero of the story never really gets into the present moment and keeps projecting his perception of himself and everything around into the world. Consequently, because of not being in the present moment, Harry cannot find any other solution to his conflict situation except to pass away and therefore starts accusing everything and everybody that has place in his life, even his wife that loves him. The world responded to Harry in a way that he expected it to respond and what he was already feeling inside