For Harry, death has been easy compared to the soldier who was impaled on the wire fence; in fact, death has become boring for Harry—he’s as bored with it as he is with everything else.
Also, he tells his wife that “I’ve been writing.” At this point in the story, Harry’s intention is as good as his deed. In his current situation, Harry feels that he has done everything he can (in intention) to redeem himself and be worthy of Heaven before he dies. This is the final of the three deeds that facilitates Harry’s eventual flight over Kilimanjaro.
At that moment, he feels “death come by again”—a hyena—resting its head on the foot of his cot.
Harry tells his wife, Helen: “Never believe any of that about a scythe and a skull.” These traditional Western-world medieval symbols of death are not valid in Africa. Here, the vulture and the hyena dominate Harry’s sure knowledge of his inevitable death. Indeed, the hyena becomes the more dominant symbol when it sits, “pressing,” on Harry’s chest.
At this point, readers should realize that Harry has died. At the point of death, ideas and dreams are reality for Harry, so the trip to Kilimanjaro (Heaven) is not in italic. For Harry, the reality is that the rescue plane has come and he has been saved and rewarded. There are two images of Harry ascending—one, when he is lifted from the cot to take him inside, and the other, when the plane lifts off and heads toward Mount Kilimanjaro. For some readers, there are more endings than simply this one. One occurs when the hyena presses on Harry’s chest, signifying his death. The other ending occurs when the plane flies Harry toward the square top of Kilimanjaro.
Metaphorically, a few things happen here to indicate that the flight to Kilimanjaro isn’t a worldy trip:
Compton refuses the cup of tea before he and Harry leave
There is no room in the plane for any passengers except for Harry
The plane doesn’t go to Arusha to refuel
The plane veers toward the white, shining, square top of Kilimanjaro, for, at that moment, Harry knows “where he [is] going.”
To summarize, the deeds that Harry does that secure his flight to Kilimanjaro are:
He gives his morphine pills to Williamson
Harry’s intention to write (the mentally composed flashbacks) in a painful stupor
He sacrifices himself to his wife by not telling her that he never really loved her to absolve himself
For Harry’s wife, the reality is that Harry is dead and she is alone again.
