In this paper,I would like to examine the images of barren cleanliness and fertile dirtiness for a writer through the contrast between the descriptions of "dirtiness" that surround the protagonist Harry and of "cleanliness" related with his wife Helen in Ernest Hemingway's short story. "The Snow of Kilimanjaro"
Throughout his life as a writer,Hemingway continued to pursue the subject of life and death by using the motifs of cleanliness and dirtiness. He basicallcorelated "cleanliness"
with life,health,morality,and peace,while considering "dirtiness" in relation to death,illbess,immorality and war.
In this short story,however, "cleanliness"plays an ironical role as the destroyer of a writer's
"life." On the other hand,"dirtiness" is represented as a symbol of the productiveness by the writer even though the very "dirtiness" causes Harry's death. By putting a focus on the various images of "cleanliness" and "dirtiness" in Harry's retrospectionson Europe and in his present envionment in Africa. I would like to clrify the contradictory meanings of "cleanliness" and "dirtiness" in "The Snow of Kilimanjaro."